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A Century of Women's Golf
Movers & Shakers
Glenna Collett Vare - The star of American golf in the 1920s, Glenna won six U.S. Women's Amateur Championships. The Vare Trophy is named in her honor and is given out each year to the player with the lowest season scoring average.
Margaret Curtis and Harriot Curtis - These golf-loving sisters from Boston, tirelessly promoted the possibility of an annual match with our European sisters, and eventually donated a small Revere bowl to serve as the trophy, christening the championship as a way "to stimulate friendly rivalry among women golfers of many lands." Thus began the Curtis Cup Match, where matches are played every other year in England and in the U.S. Incidentally, the U.S. won the first match in 1932, 5½ to 3½.
Marion Hollins - Annoyed with golf courses that were exclusively built for men, Marion Hollins took it upon herself to help design the first golf course for women, on Long Island. She also consulted on the design for the famous Cypress Point Golf Club and the Pasatiempo Country Club. The par 3, 16th hole at Cypress--where you have to hit the ball over the ocean--is her creation.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - When Mildred Ella (or Babe) took up golf on a whim and "because it looked easy," galleys were impressed with her long (over 300 yards) drives and her great playing ability (she won many tournaments, including the 1947 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship--the first American woman to do so). But we also give Babe first place for the "Best Show on Tour" for her repertoire of trick shots, harmonica tunes, and crass jokes.
Patty Berg - Babe's good friend Patty Berg joined the Advisory Staff at Wilson Sporting Goods in 1940 and won fifteen major women's tournaments and fifty-seven professional tournaments. Like Babe, she was a bit of a jokester with her audience, and she performed over 10,000 clinics and exhibitions. If women's golf has a hero; it's Patty.
Also, our salute to the LPGA Founding Members--these women made it happen. Louise Suggs, Betty Jameson, Bettye Mims Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Sally Sessions, Shirley Spork, Marilynn Smith, Alice and Marlene Bauer Hagge, and Opal Hill, Helen Hicks, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Patty Berg (who served as the LPGA's first president).
Mickey Wright - In the 1950s, women's golf needed a new superstar and the press found one in Mickey Wright. She had a golf swing that, as Judy Rankin said, "got the outside world to take a second look at women's golf." Between 1959 and 1968 Mickey averaged eight victories a year, and she won the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship four times each. If you want a perfect golf swing; study hers.
David R. Foster with Dinah Shore - As the chairman of Colgate-Palmolive Company, David Foster saw a need for endorsements by women for women. After all, he thought, the women were buying his products. Clever man that he was, he soon had LPGA pros doing commercials for liquid soap and other household products, and in 1972 he created the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winners Circle, where Dinah Shore served as the hostess and golf's new spokesperson. Thanks to David and Dinah, women's golf was getting national exposure.
Nancy Lopez - After her fifth win in a row in 1978, Nancy was everywhere: TV, the cover of national magazines, even visiting the President, giving the LPGA a big boost. As a young Mexican-American girl, Nancy was not welcome at the county club in her hometown, so she learned the game on municipal courses. In her rookie year she earned more prize money than any male or female rookie ... and is now welcome in any country club.
Ray Volpe - We hate to have another guy in this category, but as the LPGA's first commissioner, Ray Volpe did a lot for women's golf. Ray increased the tour's prize money to over $3 million in just two seasons and he made sure women pros played on better courses with better exposure, including greater national television coverage and eight new corporately sponsored tournaments. The LPGA pros now had money to pay their bills and many of them could quit their day jobs.
Betsy Rawls - After an amazing fifty-five tournament wins on the LPGA Tour, Betsy Rawls left the tour in 1975 and became very active in the behind-the-scenes work of women's golf. As the LPGA tournament director for six years, Betsy kept the momentum going where Ray Volpe left off. Her charming way of dealing with the sponsors made the purses grow even more, making her one of the main reasons women's golf is so successful today. Thanks Betsy!
Look out for these new Movers and Shakers
Karrie Webb - the current Tiger Woods of women's golf
Cindy Davis - executive vice president and general manager of Nancy Lopez Golf
Annika Sorenstam - part of the Swedish invasion, she's breaking records left and right
Style File
In the early 1900s, voluminous full-length skirts with tight-fitting jackets or puffy-sleeved blouses were required golfing attire for any "proper lady." (Imagine driving from the tee in your prom dress.) High and stiff starched collars also had to be endured, and the Higher the collar the more chic the golfer ... and the more red and sore her neck.
Accessories found in the early 1900s included: straw hats, buttoned pig-skinned boots or thick soled shoes with small nails protruding for a firm grip, chamois gloves (to protect both hands), the Caddieless Golf Belt - for money, powder, and handkerchiefs, and an elastic band (called Miss Higgins) to push down over skirts when the wind blew.
By the 1920s, more loose and manageable clothes were making the scene-a button down blouse with a simple cardigan sweater, and a below-the-knee pleated skirt, for example. Fashion didn't change much for decades, but every once in a while in the 1930s and 40s, a daring golfer would substitute a pair of slacks for her skirt.
Accessories found in the 1930s included: Berets, thick nylons, skinny black leather belts, saddle golf shoes, scarves or ties with the club logo on them, and good-luck charms.
In the 1940s and 50s hats became passe, but colors got bolder--yellow plaids or blue stripes, for example. Loose peddle pushers and culottes were all the rage, and shorts were making the scene on some courses. Sleeveless blouses and polo shirts became the trendsetters for warm-weather days.
Scandal! When some of the players showed up wearing shorts at the 1957 U.S. Women's Open at Winged Foot Golf Course, the officials had to do a bit of scrambling since the club rule did not permit shorts. By the first tee time, players received a special dispensation to wear their shorts.
Accessories found in the 1950s: Plenty of red lipstick, spiked all white golf shoes with kilties, Bobbie socks, cat sunglasses, and knitted club covers with power blue club bags.
Plenty of beehive hairdos, white belts for flare, and visors (to avoid flat hat hair) could be found in the 1960s. Colors included lime greens and reds, and socks had fuzzy balls attached. Anything with Izod logos was cool.
In the 1970s, fitted shiny blouses with long pointy collars and tight polyester pants or short shorts were on the fashion plate--a sort of "Saturday Night Fever" theme took over. Nancy Lopez could be spotted in a mini wrap-around skort.
Polo shirts (collars worn up in the 80s, down in the 90s) with knitted vests, wind shirts, rain gear, tight peddle pusher shorts (can Helen Alfredsson look any better in those?), and Gap khaki pants were all part of women's golf wear during the last decades of the century.
Accessories found in the 1980s and 90s: Sunscreen, soft-spike shoes, sports bras, wrap-around sunglasses, copper bracelets, baseball caps with club logos, and angel pins. (Don't even consider yourself a serious golfer unless you have a belt with a silver tip.)
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