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Date: 8/1/2023
CHICOPEE — Chicopee Country Club golf pro Michael O’Neill had no idea how shocked he’d be after a national tournament wrapped up at the club recently. He received the esteemed Head Golf Pro of the Year Award from the American Junior Golf Association — and he couldn’t believe his stroke of good fortune.
“I was stunned. I was floored. I was overjoyed. I didn’t even know there was such an award,” he said. “It was the icing on the cake for the tournament. My favorite part of being the golf pro is working with groups to run their tournaments. The AJGA event is my favorite week of the year.”
AJGA’s elite, international tournament attracted 96 players ages 12-19 years old from around the world, including 16 states and three countries. AJGA focuses on the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships.
This tournament is just one of many events O’Neill runs and oversees from spring to fall, trying to introduce golfing to players, young and old. As golf pro, he’s the club’s general manager, responsible for everything from membership and the pro shop to food services and landscaping. It doesn’t leave him much time to play the game.
“It’s pretty taxing. It’s a seven-day-a-week job once the season opens in April and closes in November. But I love it. It’s in my blood. I’ve been in the golf business for well over 30 years,” he said.
The 51-year-old O’Neill has largely grown up on the links, picking up his first golf club when he was 7. His father was golf pro at the old Oxford Country Club on East Main Street in Chicopee. O’Neill was his apprentice. And then there were his three uncles, all of them immersed in the game. One of them was a top amateur player in Western Massachusetts.
When O’Neill wasn’t working for his dad, he was refining his stroke in two sports, golf and baseball. He loved them both but decided to take a swing at golf.
“I was 12 or 13 and had to choose one or the other because the swings didn’t mesh well with each other, so I stuck with golf. In the summer we played seven days a week,” he said.
In his early years, golf was just a game for O’Neill who graduated from high school and enrolled in Holyoke Community College where he studied accounting. But he never gave up the greens, dropping out of college and turning his attention full time to golf. The decision was a stroke of genius.
“I didn’t want to sit behind a desk for my entire career. I was around golf and golf courses my whole life. I fell in love with the game and the business. It was a no brainer, it’s what I want to do for a living,” he said.
Golf is going through a bit of a renaissance. Interest was sinking before the coronavirus pandemic, then when COVID-19 hit, people were looking for things to do outside and many of them turned to golf.
“It blossomed just like that because the country was in lockdown, and nobody could do anything. So, they turned to outdoor sports,” said O’Neill.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Chicopee Country Club kept falling short of its goal of attracting 30,000 golfers each year. Sparked by COVID-19 the club began drawing as many as 38,000 — and O’Neill wants to keep the momentum going.
“I don’t want people to play, leave and never come back. It’s all about customer service, that’s what I preach to my workers. It’s a team effort. I may be the head person but it’s not a single person job,” he said. “You can’t just sit back because golf is good again. We have to keep promoting the game.”
O’Neill said part of the attraction is the club’s immaculate course. He also promotes the game by holding clinics for women and young people — and has a dinner for couples so they can “wine and then play nine.”
The season closes on golfers every fall, and while most rue the darkening days of November, O’Neill looks forward to stepping away from the game for a while.
“I look forward to winter because I get a breather. I get a little time to myself and my family. Winter gives us time to catch our breath and then we’ll do it all over again next year.”