Long drives rewarding: Mark Hobby of Leicester enjoys playing at The Orchards in South Hadley

No matter how well Mark Hobby plays golf at The Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, he’s a safe bet to win the longest drive contest among his friends.

Not the longest drive with a golf club, but the longest drive from his home to the course.

The 70-year-old retiree enjoys playing The Orchards so much, he makes the two-hour-plus round trip from his home in Leicester three or four times a week to walk 18 holes. He’s been making the drive since he became a member at the private club 22 years ago.

“I don’t even think of it as a long drive anymore because I’ve done it so often,” he said. “I just put my music on and drive out there. The only time it gets really long is on the way back because I’ve played 18 holes. It’s an eight-hour day for me when I come out here.”

“The fact that Mark drives an hour to come play here four times a week, if not more, I think it says a lot about the golf course, but also the membership,” general manager Chris Tallman said. “We have a membership that’s supportive and passionate about the golf course and it’s the membership that keeps things together.”

Tallman said most members live in the South Hadley area.

Hobby has lived in Leicester his entire life, but he first played The Orchards 25 years ago when the club used to make available a handful of weekday afternoon tee times to the public and he fell in love with it. Three years later, he received a card in the mail from the club inviting him to join. He’s not sure how the club got his name, but his three daughters were grown and he became a member with the blessing of his wife, Denise. He usually plays about 90 rounds per year at The Orchards and a few more at other courses.

Once a year, about 20 members at The Orchards play at Highfields Golf & CC in Grafton, so Hobby has the shortest drive then. He has also golfed at St. Andrews in Scotland and Ballybunion in Ireland.

Hobby likes the layout and the people at The Orchards, but he also appreciates the reasonable membership fee. When he first joined the private club, he paid only $125 per month. Even now, he’s paying just $325 per month, or $3,900 a year, because he has a discounted regional membership for living beyond 40 miles away. That discount is no longer offered to new members, but the grandfather of six was grandfathered into that deal. Tallman said memberships now range from $3,000 to $5,000 per year.

Friends at course

“It’s not about price at this stage of my life,” Hobby said. “It’s more the membership, the people I’ve made friends with over these 22 years. That’s what keeps me going back.”

Hobby retired in 2015 after working in the ceramic division at Saint-Gobain Abrasives for 43 years.

Each morning at 10, Hobby plays with a group of 12-20 golfers who put $5 each into a pool that goes to the winning team. He has the longest car drive among his group, but Hobby knows of other members who drive farther from Holden and others who drive almost as far from West Brookfield and North Brookfield.

The Orchards is a Donald Ross design that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. With six sets of tees ranging from 5,338 to 6,527 yards, the course is not overly long, but the greens make it challenging.

“After 22 years, I still can’t read these greens the right way,” Hobby said.

In typical Ross fashion, the greens are quick and sloped from back to front so chipping and putting well are vital.

“It never plays the same way twice,” Hobby said. “It’s just that difficult. It’s a good challenge.”

Playing The Orchards has sharpened Hobby’s game. His handicap dropped from a 15 to as low as a 6.8 four years ago. He shot even-par 71 at The Orchards twice. Now he’s a 9 handicapper.

When we played The Orchards recently, he shot a 78 from the white tees to tie his low score of the year. I shot an 84 from the gold tees. Dr. Bill Dupont, 81, a retired dentist who lives in South Hadley, shot an 80 from the red tees. Tom Wylie, 84, of Easthampton shot a 90 from the white tees. Our team took home the money.

Dupont began playing The Orchards in 1957 with his father and he has been a member since 1969. He has carded 14 holes-in-one, including nine at The Orchards, eight of them on the fifth hole.

“The golf course, you never get tired of playing here,” he said.

His best round at The Orchards was a 3-under 68 many years ago.

Dupont called the par-4 18th hole, which plays 444 yards from the back tees, the hardest and best finishing hole in Western Massachusetts.

“First of all, it’s long,” he said. “Second of all, it’s not easy. It’s uphill, and you need to hit some great shots to get to the green in regulation, and the green is two-tiered, and if you get on the wrong tier and pin is on the bottom, you have a problem getting it to the hole. If you make a par on this hole, you can tip your hat to yourself.”

Thankfully, I parred it.

Wylie has been a member for 30 years. He carries an 8.8 handicap and often shoots his age or better.

“The challenge is there every day, it’s not taken for granted,” he said.

Tallman said The Orchards has about 400 individual members, about 18 shy of the cap which hasn’t been reached in 15 years or so.

Centennial for The Orchards

Hobby has an autographed copy of the 100th anniversary book written by William S. Armistead, great nephew of Elisabeth Skinner. Industrialist Joseph Skinner of South Hadley hired Donald Ross to design and build The Orchards for Elisabeth, his daughter, to play.

Nine holes opened in 1922, and another nine opened five years later. Arminstead wrote that in 1941, Skinner sold the course for $25,000 to nearby Mount Holyoke College, which still owns it. The Orchards is ranked as one of the top 10 college courses in the country. CBIGG Golf Management, which owns or manages 26 golf courses, oversees the club.

The Orchards has a practice area, clubhouse, locker rooms and outside patio overlooking the course, but no pool or tennis courts. It’s a golf club, not a country club.

Members consider the club to be a hidden gem.

“More and more people know about it,” Tallman said, “but we have a lot of residents here in South Hadley that don’t even know this golf course is here.”

The Orchards has hosted a number of state and USGA events, including the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open, which Natick native Meg Mallon won by two shots over Annika Sorenstam.

Hobby was in the stands when Brittany Lincicome, then an LPGA Tour rookie, eagled the par-4 15th hole in the U.S. Women’s Open while shooting a 5-under 66 to grab the first round lead.

“The 15th hole is the toughest hole on the course for me,” he said.

Brendan Hester of Pleasant Valley CC won the 2001 Mass. Amateur at The Orchards and the club is scheduled to host the Mass. Women’s Amateur Championship Aug. 15-19. The club also hosted the 1987 U.S. Girls Junior.

Tallman said hosting women’s golf events is important to The Orchards in part because Mount Holyoke College is a women’s college and that the course sets up well for a women’s championship.

Golf is Hobby’s hobby.

“It is,” he said. “I love the game of golf. Some days we have good days, some days we have bad days, but it’s my way to relax.”

Hobby gets frustrated on the course once in a while, but he never throws a club because long ago his father told him if he ever did, he’d never play again.

Hobby began playing golf at age 8 with his father at Pakachoag Golf Course in Auburn and for two summers while he attended Quinsigamond Community College, he worked on the grounds crew at Green Hill Municipal Golf Course for superintendent Paul Murphy. But didn’t begin playing regularly until he was in his 30s, and he didn’t belong to a club until he joined The Orchards. He’s glad he did.

—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on Twitter@BillDoyle15.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Long drives are worth it for Leicester's Mark Hobby, who enjoys playing at The Orchards in South Hadley