Golf pro found O’Connor to be supremely qualified

WHEN PRESIDENT REAGAN nominated Judge Sandra O’Connor to become the first woman Supreme Court Justice, Steve Dunnmg took it hke the pro he is. “I was teaching her according to a four-year plan, and we’d only completed two,”‘ he said. ” As my pupil, I would have expected her to consult me about whether she should accept such a Job. But, I guess, opportunities hke this don’t come along every day, do they?” Dunning, a droll fellow of 34, is a golf instructor – and a good one – at the Glen View Club, an arboretum in Golf, Ill., which embraces some of God’s greenest acres. This is one course so beautifully manicured that you hate to see anybody take a divot, and so classy that even the birds stop chirpmg when a member is about to putt. During the wmter, when even Glen View isn’t playable, Dunnmg irons out slices m Arizona. Judge O’Connor works there, and Dunning was hired to tutor her when she chose to swing a 7-iron rather than a gavel. “AN OUTSTANDING PERSON, in t!!e top one per cent of the people I’ve ever taught,” said Dunning, who despite his age, has been a golf guru for more than a decade. ” Because of the demands on her time, she didn’t have a lot of time to play, but she pretty much kept to a routine She and her husband John would take a lesson from me every Saturday, then play nine holes, then come back and play 18 holes on Sunday. Last winter when I left there. I believe her handicap was in the low 20s. Not bad considering she only played 27 holes a week. When O’Connor