Joseph Allen Skinner engaged Donald Ross to lay out a private nine-hole course across from Skinner’s home; the first nine opened in 1922. Contemporary club history and secondary Ross directories agree on this initial phase, undertaken on what is now the front-nine dominant landforms. Ross returned in 1927 to add a second nine, completing the 18-hole course that has served as the club’s essential framework ever since.
Mount Holyoke College acquired the course in 1941 and has retained ownership since; club and regional histories differ on whether this was a donation or a $25,000 purchase, but all agree the transfer occurred that year. The College’s involvement, together with the club’s early association with Elisabeth Skinner—a strong player for whom the course was created—helped embed women’s competitive golf at The Orchards from an early date.
The course opened originally as nine holes in 1922; for 18-hole play the first loop used forward tees and the second loop used back tees. Mass Golf’s centennial research maps those original nine to present-day holes 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, and most of 16; an early par-3 that climbed toward today’s upper parking area was later eliminated. This provides a useful anchor for evaluating which green sites and corridors most closely reflect Ross’s first phase.
Through most of the 20th century the club emphasized maintenance rather than redesign. A notable exception occurred in 1977, when the College retained architect Al Zikorus to “reconstruct” greens; Zikorus raised and flattened the 3rd green (originally sloped back-to-front) and enlarged/flattened the 8th green before further work was halted amid member pushback about approach-shot playability.
In the late 1990s the club commissioned Ross-specialist Ron Prichard to address drainage and bunkering and to rebuild the 2nd green; the work was part of a broad refresh during a period when Arnold Palmer Golf Management briefly oversaw operations (1999), later replaced by other management firms.
The Orchards hosted the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open on a USGA setup of 6,473 yards/par 71 (Mallon –10), a modern championship moment that tightened mowing lines and bunker edges without altering the course’s fundamental Ross routing.
Unique Design Characteristics
The present layout still expresses Ross’s routing logic on sloping, wooded ground with a meandering creek that influences multiple lines of play; Golf Digest’s profile of The Orchards emphasizes how the architect leaned on the terrain, modest-scale bunkering, and the watercourse rather than earthmoving, a reading corroborated by the way the holes step across the site’s natural benches today.
Several holes provide tangible, hole-specific windows into Ross at The Orchards. The par-5 13th (part of Ross’s 1927 second nine) produced a USGA record number of eagles for a single hole during the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open—evidence of a reachable risk-reward par-5 with green approach options that, even under championship firmness, invited bold play. That strategic elasticity is consistent with how the hole reads from the tee: room for placement followed by an angled advance to a green that accepts both aerial and bounding entries.
On the early (1922) side of the course, the long par-4 4th occupies high, open ground that once featured an apple tree near the green—the site where Mallon holed a pivotal 54-footer in 2004. Although the tree itself is gone, surviving stone markers and the open fronting of the green complex underline how Ross used the hillside’s shoulder to create a demanding approach without resorting to over-bunkering.
The 14th illustrates how vegetation can obscure original hazards: a cedar grew in front of its fairway bunker and for years members assumed the tree was “meant to be there.” Its late-1990s removal re-established the bunker’s intended role guarding the preferred angle into the green.
Changes in the 1970s complicate the reading of greens at the par-5 3rd and the 8th. The 3rd’s original back-to-front slope—intended to keep running balls from trickling off—was raised and flattened; the 8th was enlarged and flattened. These alterations are well-documented and therefore limit the historian’s ability to cite those two greens as pure Ross exemplars absent pre-1977 photos and plans.
By contrast, corridors and complexes on holes 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, and most of 16, all part of the original 1922 nine per Mass Golf’s mapping, appear to preserve Ross’s first-phase routing intent, with only customary evolution (bunker edging, tree canopy) affecting how they play. A definitive statement would require overlaying 1920s drawings and aerials; nonetheless these holes are the strongest candidates for “clearest surviving” Ross ground-game intent at The Orchards.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s body of work, The Orchards is unusual for its origin story: a course commissioned by a benefactor specifically so his daughter, Elisabeth Skinner, would have a place to play. That unusually explicit purpose—combined with the College’s stewardship—nurtured a century of women’s competitive golf, culminating in the 1987 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open. The 2004 championship yielded several USGA records (including most eagles on a single hole in one championship at the par-5 13th), anchoring the club’s national profile.
Modern raters have kept The Orchards in the conversation: Golf Digest lists it among “America’s Greatest College Courses” (No. 18 in 2023) and has placed it within Massachusetts’ “Best in State.” Such recognition reflects the course’s continued coherence as a Ross design even after a century of play and episodic modern maintenance.
Current Condition / Integrity
Mass Golf’s centennial research notes that, aside from the halted Zikorus program in 1977, The Orchards largely prioritized upkeep over alteration, leaving the 1927 Ross routing fundamentally intact. Known departures from Ross include the rebuilt 2nd green and reworked bunkering and drainage undertaken by Ron Prichard in the late 1990s, as well as the Zikorus changes to the 3rd and 8th greens. Tree management has been extensive: more than 10,000 (mostly red pines) were removed in recent years to improve sunlight and agronomics and to reopen intended sightlines—most visibly at holes like 14 where a cedar had obscured a fairway bunker.
Tournament setups have occasionally tightened fairway widths and green surrounds, but the championship yardage and par used by the USGA in 2004 align closely with the course’s modern club scorecard distances, underscoring how Ross’s routing accommodates elite play without the wholesale remakes seen at some peers. Presently the club’s card shows 6,527 yards (par 71/72) from the back tees; the USGA’s 2004 setup was 6,473 yards (par 71), a relatively modest delta driven by tees and hole-by-hole setup choices.
Operationally, Mount Holyoke has engaged outside management periodically (Arnold Palmer Golf Management in 1999; later firms thereafter), but those business arrangements have not altered the Ross routing. The club remains private, with practice facilities and clubhouse services in keeping with modern member expectations, and with a current scorecard that still names the course’s major hosted events—from the 1987 U.S. Girls’ Junior to the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open and recent Mass Golf championships.
Primary-source limitations. This narrative is constrained by the absence, online, of Ross’s original plan set and contemporaneous construction correspondence for The Orchards. Where site-specific green slopes, bunker dimensions, or creek alignments are discussed, claims rely on the club’s published history, Mass Golf’s centennial research, and reputable secondary directories. Definitive conclusions about the original contours of specific greens (especially 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 16) would require access to original Ross drawings, 1920s-30s aerials, and club minutes.
Scope of late-1990s work. Top100 Golf Courses attributes late-1990s restoration tasks (drainage, bunker work, rebuilt 2nd green) to Ron Prichard; specifics such as extent of sandline reshaping versus wholesale relocation are not fully documented in publicly accessible sources.
Sources & Notes
Club website – “Welcome to The Orchards” and “Course Details,” basic history, facilities, hosted events.
USGA – Championship article confirming 2004 U.S. Women’s Open yardage (6,473) and par (71) at The Orchards.
Mass Golf (2022) – “7 Things You Might Not Have Known About The Orchards,” including original-nine mapping; 1977 Al Zikorus green changes; tree removals; 14th-hole bunker/cedar; early operations; centennial book reference.
Top100GolfCourses – Course profile noting 1922/1927 Ross phases; ownership/management timeline; attribution of late-1990s restoration items to Ron Prichard; present championship length/par summary.
Golf Digest – Course profile and rankings context (“America’s Greatest College Courses,” No. 18 in 2023); editorial description of Ross’s use of sloping ground, modest bunkering, and a meandering creek at The Orchards.
GazetteNet (Daily Hampshire Gazette) – Local feature identifying Orchards as Hampshire County’s only private club and citing the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open context.
USGA Records & Stats – U.S. Women’s Open records confirming most eagles at one championship and most eagles on a single hole (No. 13) at The Orchards in 2004.
Women’s eNews (2004) – Background on the course’s construction for Elisabeth Skinner and the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open context.