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And The George Zaharias Award Goes To…

 

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA

Ocala, Fla. - Consider for a moment that most patient of all spectators at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, the player’s husband.

They are here in force. While their wives battle for this national championship – to win, to score a high finish, to just to qualify for match play, the loyal husbands stand behind them on the practice tee offering a rare word of swing advice. They shag putts on the practice green, carefully watching the little sphere roll end-over-end to the hole. Was there a bit of a cut on that stroke? Or, a bit of pull?

Husbands fetch power drinks, bananas, energy bars, wet towels, allergy pills and band-aids. They are the nursemaids, man-servants, doctors, pharmacists, dog-walkers, child caretakers, drivers, nutritionists and masseurs. They are cheerleaders. They are caddies. And, in most cases, they pay the bills. It takes a lot of love for a husband to nurture his wife, the serious amateur golfer.

Sherry Herman of Farmingdale, N.J., the recently-crowned 2009 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion, said it best after she won that title a couple of weeks ago after 30 years of trying to earn a USGA championship. Herman referred to her husband, Ben Herman, who followed her every step of the way. “He is my best friend,” Sherry said. “When I’ve wanted to play in a tournament, he has never said no.’ ”

Herman and the other players are well aware of how much their pursuit of the game costs. The expenses add up: airfare, rental cars, hotels, meals, caddie fees. And that’s just the tournaments. The rest of the time it’s golf shirts, golf shoes, clubs and balls, greens fees or club memberships and practice balls. At this level of competition, golf is a costly game. Many players have jobs, some have a private income, but very often it is their husbands who bear the costs.

Ken and Martha Lang can often be seen together on the course when Martha competes in USGA championships. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

World Golf Hall-of-Famer and two-time Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., once told me that her husband, Dick Thompson, is a heroic factor in her game. “If I want to play in a tournament,” Thompson said, “he says, ‘I’ll go to the bank.’ He never complains.”

The husbands also provide a refreshing distraction. Dick was at a long-ago Women’s Mid-Amateur in the desert. It was blazing hot. He stood at the side of a green, surrounded by five or six players. “And what is your job this week, Dick?” I asked. The big guy grinned, “Shade. I provide shade.”

Ken Lang of Birmingham, Ala., is at the top of his game when it comes to supporting his wife, Martha Lang. Martha, the 1988 Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, not only competes at a high level, she is the vice-chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee and travels thousands of miles each year in support of the game.

Ken retired 16 years ago and became a fixture on the women’s amateur golf circuit. He is the hearth around which many of the husbands warm their hands. New husbands come out on this circuit and find themselves gravitating toward Ken.

Ken is a quiet, affable man. He has a nice sense of humor, a comforting way about him and he’s knowledgeable about the game. One of his great pleasures has been to join his wife in playing some of the finest courses in America. They’ve been married for 33 years.

“One of the events I enjoy most is the Curtis Cup match,” Ken said. “It’s when I get together with some of the same guys I see every two years, men from our country and Great Britain and Ireland who come to the match.”

Husbands see Ken standing on the practice tee and slowly, one by one, they stroll over to say hello. Soon there’s a gaggle of five or six, discussing the golf course or the playing conditions. Sometimes they sit in companionable silence in the bleachers. This week Ken is caddieing for Martha, lugging her bag up and down the slopes of Golden Hills. The family that plays together, stays together and they’re a good team.

A lot of husbands carry the bag this week. Andy Port of St. Louis, Mo., the husband of three-time champion Ellen Port, is her biggest supporter. Dr. Ben Grimes of Meridian, Miss., an anesthesiologist, is married to Virginia Derby Grimes, a three-time Curtis Cup player and the 1998 Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. Ben is another husband who is on hand for most of Virginia’s events. He tried caddieing for her once, but he felt Virginia was distracted by his involvement, so now he is content to be her chief booster from the sidelines.

Leaving the hotel Sunday morning, I encountered two domestic scenes in five minutes. Marilyn and Jim Hardy were in the elevator, heading for the lobby. Jim had his wife’s clubs slung over his shoulder. Once again, this premier instructor, a much-revered observer of the game, is Marilyn’s caddie.

“Love the course,” Jim Hardy said. “It’s one of the best redesigns Rees (Jones) has ever done. On this one, you can actually play the course.”

Robin Weiss Donnelley, the 1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, emerged from the hotel with Ric, Toby, Tucker and Monty. Ric is her husband. Toby, Tucker and Monty are Norwich terriers. It was time for their early-morning walk. Robin would tee off at 1 p.m. Sunday. Then she and Ric would stroll down the fairways in her pursuit of greater glory. The dogs would camp out in the hotel.

These are good days for the wife-husband teams in amateur golf. Some of the mid-amateurs are not quite as dedicated to beating balls as they were when they were young. Many of them are married now, settled into productive lives with their partners.

Playing in a USGA championship offers these women the same test that it always did, the same emotional ups and downs of golf played at a championship level. Now, however, they are not alone.

Rhonda Glenn is a Manager of Communications for the USGA. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org.