Page 5 - Alabama Golf Association

with the Junior Championship starting in 1961 and the Women’s Senior Championship in 1973. Montgomery Country Club hosted the Women’s State Amateur Championship for the fiftieth anniversary in 1979. The field was limited to 144 players with
a waiting list of sixteen ladies. WAGA championships had become popular events. A full field was the norm.
The WAGA newsletter began to be produced and was later named WAGA Tales. It was sent to all member clubs within the state. And, by popular demand, the WAGA began the Stroke Play Championship at Gulf Shores Golf Club in 1991.
It is exciting to see the number of young women who have received a college education from the WAGA Scholarship Foundation Trust (SFT), which was established in 1993 to help and encourage the average young golfer, who was an outstanding student but needed financial assistance, to attend college. Nineteen such scholarships have been awarded.
In the interest of promoting golf for women, several WAGA directors met with the United States Golf Association (USGA) and invited the states of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee
to participate in a new inter-state match play championship beginning at Shoal Creek. WAGA was the host association and conducted the competition won by Florida. The new event was so successful it was named the Southeastern Women’s Amateur Team Championship Association (SWATCA). WAGA was involved until 2011.
You will enjoy reading of the women who thrived on the spirit of competition, as well as the lifelong friendships that were made across many age groups. It takes patience, practice, and courage.
You will learn of the tremendous contributions from the McWane family. The Bee McWane Reid Endowment provided the funding for the WAGA’s first salaried executive director.
WAGA joined with the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program nationally to support the vision and willingness to help young girls learn this great game of golf. Alabama was one of the key states to support this program and continues to do so at locations across the state.
The “Great Alliance” of the WAGA and the AGA went ahead in March 2010. The WAGA Board felt future accomplishments
in women’s amateur golf in Alabama, as well as men’s amateur golf, could only
go forward as a partnership. Given the economic environment, it made sense
that we work under the auspices of another strong and well-established USGA entity to achieve our mission of improving golf for the women of Alabama.
In closing, I concur with “Babe” when she said: “Winning has always meant much to me, but winning friends has meant the most.”
Historical note . . .
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which has a global membership of roughly 2,400, “voted overwhelmingly” on Thursday, September 18, 2014, to allow female members for the first time in its 260-year history.
Author’s note: Jean Miller is profiled on pages 149–153. She is a true delight and has meant SO MUCH to golf across this state. A heartfelt thank you, Jean, for all you have meant to so many golfers. You have touched many, many lives; more than you could ever know.
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ALABAMA GOLF ASSOCIATION FOREWORD