Shannon Prettyman signs national letter of intent for Mount St. Mary’s
April 12, 2002
Shannon Prettyman is a focused young woman.
On Wednesday, April 10, the Cape Henlopen varsity golfer signed a National Letter of Intent to play Division I NCAA golf for the Mount Saint Mary’s women’s golf team.
Flanked by her smiling parents, Larry and Sandra, Prettyman was also joined at the ceremony at Cape Henlopen High School by Cape Principal Alfred Best, Viking golf coach Jerry Dorneman, and Athletic Director Bud Hitchens, among others.
The Cape senior started looking at colleges last spring. She centered her search on schools with Division I women’s golf teams within a defined distance from home, and the Emmitsburg, Maryland campus turned up.
“I sent a letter to the golf coach, Bud Nason, and he sent back information. We had several phone conversations, and then I visited the campus. I stayed overnight with one of the girls who’s on the team now, and I just loved the school,” Prettyman explained.
“I really like the class sizes, and the school is very good academically,” she added. The combination of athletics and academics fit Prettyman nicely, as she will be receiving partial scholarships that take into account her accomplishments in both.
Prettyman plans to major in business, with a concentration in sports management. She also intends to complete a minor in visual arts.
The Mount, as it’s called, plays in the Northeast Conference. The women golfers play a split season in fall and spring, against teams such as Bucknell, Gettysburg, Dickinson, UMBC, and Western Maryland.
Prettyman starts freshman orientation on August 18, and practice starts on September 1. The team’s home layout is The Links at Gettysburg, which Prettyman described as “a very nice public course.”
The Prettyman family are members of Sussex Pines Country Club in Georgetown, and Shannon played golf “since, well, forever,” she grinned. She also became a good tennis player, but as she put it, “They’re both spring sports, and I had to make a choice.”
Prettyman knows not to focus solely on her golf. She is taking AP Calculus this semester, and is also active in the Young Life ministry. She is also a long-time member of the Girl Scouts, and will assume lifetime membership status in that organization after she graduates high school.
This summer she will work as an intern at the local Merrill Lynch office, with a flexible schedule that permits practice and play in events such as the local Independent Insurance Agents Open and the Rehoboth Junior Open.
Later this month, Prettyman is scheduled to play in the Plantations Junior Golf Tour event at Rock Manor Golf Course in Wilmington, on April 20-21.
In the meantime, she and her teammates will continue this season’s matches. A glitch with Seaford Country Club forced a shift in the away match with Laurel High School from April 9 to April 15. On April 11, the squad traveled to Shawnee Country Club for a match with Lake Forest, and the Vikings return to the same course for a match with Milford High School on April 16.
Club Fitting comes to Baywood Greens
Baywood Greens Head Golf Professional Brian Barrows and the folks at Mizuno want to make sure your golf clubs fit you, and not the other way around. On Sunday, April 28, one of the four Mizuno Tour Vans that follows the PGA Tour all season will make an appearance at Baywood Greens from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. just for this purpose.
Barrows and his assistant are trained in the Mizuno clubfitting system, which Barrows admittedly tweaks a bit based on his experience. “It’s dynamic fitting, which means that you hit with a series of clubs off a lie board. After we see which clubs work best using the lie board, I then have the player take some shots without the board.”
The event will take place at the golf course’s driving range. Participants can park by the Clubhouse, and a shuttle will take them to the range to see and try the new irons and woods.
For more information, call Baywood Greens at (302) 947-9800.