IN PHOTO: A scene from Spring Meadows during the 100th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship in 2016.
LINDEN – Spring Meadows Country Club, a club that has emphasized family since its 1957 founding, is hosting the 27th Women’s Atlas Trophy Matches Saturday and Sunday.
The top women golfers in the state representing private clubs and public venues make up the two teams that will play a Ryder Cup-style competition.
Spring Meadows, which hosted the 98th Michigan Amateur Championship in 2009 and the 100th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship in 2016, was founded as a club in 1957 and opened its classic golf course in 1959.
It is a full-service private club built on a former cornfield and pasture in 1958 by the golf course architect Larry Packard of the then Packard and Wadsworth firm. The course was dedicated on Memorial Day of 1959.
It plays to 6,923 yards from the back tee positions with six tee choices, and features a great variety of parkland style golf holes. Rick Slaght Jr. is the golf professional, and Craig Henderson is the superintendent.
The Atlas Trophy Matches originated in 1938 as a competition between male private club golfers represented by the GAM and public course golfers represented by the Michigan Publinx Golf Association with the trophy honoring Edward Atlas, who then was a GAM Governor as well as a USGA Public Links Committee member and Detroit area public golf official.
The Women’s Atlas Trophy matches were first played in 1989 and have become a competition between women GAM members who are members of a private club, and GAM members who do not belong to a private club. The matches are unique in that teams are made up of golfers of all ages, including seniors and juniors.
Foursomes matches will be played Saturday morning with four-ball matches to follow in the afternoon. Individual matches are played on Sunday. One point is awarded per match with ½ point being given to each team for a halved match. If tied at the end of the competition, the team currently holding the trophy retains it.
The captains of both the “Public” and “Private” teams are selected by the GAM. The captains select 12 team members each, using GAM Honor Roll points and other criteria. The golf and celebration dinner are complimentary for the players with the event designed to honor those chosen for the teams.
The Private team leads the series 14-9 with three ties after winning last year at Thoroughbred Golf Club in Rothbury.
Representing the Public Team captained by Cynthia Pinkard is Susan Campbell, Mackenzie Blomberg, Ariel Chang, Katelyn Chipman, Anika Dy, Anci Dy, Jasmine Ly, Kerrigan Parks, Olivia Reed, Moyea Russell, Megan Watkins and Shelly Weiss.
Representing the Private Team captained by Jean Murray is Terry Delcamp, Joan Garety, Donna Benford, Cortney Reno, Elayna Bowser, Savannah Haque, Veronica Haque, Sarah White, Julia Dean, Donna Tepper, Shannon Kennedy and Natalie Johnson.
Learn more about the Spring Meadows at springmeadowscountryclub.com, and learn more about the Atlas Trophy Matches at gam.org.
-Greg Johnson, [email protected]
