Pleasant Valley Country Club is a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

and

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offer ...

in the

northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located in

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The course is a 72 par that measures .

History

In 1959, a

apple orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

was carved out to built Pleasant Valley Country Club. Cosmo Mingolla oversaw the opening of the club two years later in 1961. In 1979, Pleasant Valley was handed over to Edward Mingolla. In 2010, John Magill purchased the club in a

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

from the

Bank of New England The Bank of New England Corporation was a regional bank, regional banking institution based in Boston, Massachusetts, which was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1991 as a result of heavy losses in its loan portfolio an ...

. Two years later, Magill passed away and ownership was given to his children: Jay Magill and Beth Shropshire. In 2019, they listed the club for sale, but later took it off the market. Since 1962, Pleasant Valley has hosted many important professional golf tournaments of the

Professional Golfers' Association of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

(PGA). That year marked its first professional tournament, the

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

Lady Carling Eastern Open The Lady Carling Eastern Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1962 to 1966 played at the Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Massachusetts, United States.Shirley Englehorn Shirley Ruth Englehorn (December 12, 1940 – October 2, 2022) was an American professional golfer. Nicknamed "Dimples", she won 11 tournaments during her LPGA Tour career, including one major, the 1970 LPGA Championship. Early life and amateu ...

. Two years later, the first men's tournament took place called the

Massachusetts Open The Massachusetts Open is the Massachusetts state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by Mass Golf (formerly the Massachusetts Golf Association). It has been played annually since 1905 (except for wa ...

, won by

Bill Ezinicki William "Wild Bill" Ezinicki (March 11, 1924 – October 11, 2012) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–1950), the Boston Bruins (1950–1952), and the New York Rangers (1954–1955) of the NHL. Pl ...

. It hosted its first

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

event in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, the

Carling World Open The Carling World Open was the last incarnation in a series of golf tournaments on the PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and ...

, won by

Tony Lema Anthony David Lema (February 25, 1934 – July 24, 1966) was an American professional golfer who rose to fame in the mid-1960s and won a major title, the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. He died two years later ...

, two strokes ahead of

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

. Three years later, the legendary Palmer won the inaugural edition of the

Kemper Open The Kemper Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006. Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coast ...

. In

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, Pleasant Valley created its own PGA Tour event, the

New England Classic The New England Classic was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1969 through 1998. It was held under various names at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Massachusetts. Tournament highlights *1975: Roger Maltbie wins for the second consecu ...

, which it exclusively hosted through

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, when it ceased. Pleasant Valley hosted seven

women's majors Women's golf has a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, with the women's system newer and less stable than the men's. As of 2013, five tournaments are designated as majors in women's golf by the LPGA Tour. LPGA majors ...

, all

LPGA Championship The Women's PGA Championship (branded as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a women's professional golf tournament. First held in 1955, it is one of five majors on the LPGA Tour. It is not recognized as a major by the ...

s (

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

– 68,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

– 74), while

Paul Harney Paul Harney (July 11, 1929 – August 24, 2011) was an American professional golfer and golf course owner who spent part of his career as a full-time PGA Tour player, but mostly was a club professional, part-time Tour player, and owner-operator o ...

was the head club pro from 1965 to 1973. The one-time LPGA

Patty Berg Classic The Patty Berg Classic was a women's professional golf tournament in Minnesota on the LPGA Tour from 1973 to 1980. Played at Keller Golf Course in Maplewood, a suburb north of St. Paul, the tournament was named in honor of hall of famer Patty Ber ...

took place in

, won by

Kathy Whitworth Kathrynne Ann Whitworth (September 27, 1939 – December 24, 2022) was an American professional golfer. During her playing career she won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments, more than anyone else on the LPGA or PGA Tours. Whitworth was also a runner-up ...

. In 1974, the course hosted the

Massachusetts State Amateur Championship The Massachusetts State Amateur Championship or Massachusetts Amateur is a golf championship held in Massachusetts for the state's top amateur golfers. The tournament is run by the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA) in mid-July each year. The ama ...

, won by

Bill Mallon William James Mallon (born February 2, 1952) is an American orthopedic surgeon, former professional golfer and a leading authority on the history of the Olympic Games. Golf career Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Mallon studied at Duke Universit ...

. The one-time LPGA AreaWEB.COM Challenge took place in 1999 and was won by

Mardi Lunn Mardi Lunn (born 9 January 1968) is an Australian professional golfer. Her sister, Karen Lunn, is also a professional golfer. Lunn played on several tours including the ALPG Tour, LPGA Tour, and Ladies European Tour. She has won five times ...

. In 2002, Pleasant Valley hosted the Massachusetts Open for the first time since 1964; Geoffrey Sisk won the tournament.

List of tournaments

*1962–1966:

Lady Carling Eastern Open The Lady Carling Eastern Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1962 to 1966 played at the Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Massachusetts, United States.Massachusetts Open The Massachusetts Open is the Massachusetts state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by Mass Golf (formerly the Massachusetts Golf Association). It has been played annually since 1905 (except for wa ...

*1965:

(PGA Tour) *1967–1968, 1970–1974:

(LPGA Tour major) *1968:

(PGA Tour) *1969:

(LPGA Tour) *1969–1998:

(PGA Tour) *1974:

*1999: AreaWEB.COM Challenge (LPGA Tour)

References

External links

*{{official site, https://www.pleasantvalleycc.com/ Golf clubs and courses in Massachusetts Sutton, Massachusetts Sports venues in Worcester County, Massachusetts