The Golf Gypsy: My Mother's Words

The Stapp Family at the Country Club about 1966-67
Jonya, Johnie, Helen, Letty

Monday Evening

(June 1967)

Dear Letty,

Just read your note since your phone call and am I glad Mabel is two doors down from you. (Mabel Hotz was my childhood dream golf mother, and one of the first women inducted into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame.)

Back story:

That Monday, June 5,  I qualified for the Women' Oklahoma State Amateur held at Oakwood Country Club in Enid. However, I did not qualify for Championship Flight and my opportunity to win the state championship dissolved,.  My disappointment led to tears of frustration and for me humiliation. 

I had played golf for two years on the men's golf team at NEO. I held a 2 handicap and could play to it on the difficult MGCC course, but my nerves won that day. I was 19 years old. That evening, from the hotel  room in Enid, I called home, collect, sobbing to my mother. 

NOTE: My researching curiosity won out and I searched for the write up on this State Amateur. We played Oakwood CC at 6,529 yards for that championship. I suppose that comes from not having forward tees. I qualified for President's fight and took runner-up after Jarita Askins beat me 2 and 1. 

I would go on to play in the WOGA Championship in 1968 for the last time as a youngster, who felt the weight of winning for her father, her mother, and every member of the country club.

Mother continues:

Letty, the 91 is no disgrace--golf is just a game for some, but it is a way of life for us, and that is why we take it so seriously. Daddy makes his living at it, but you probably won't and neither will Jonya. Just remember that at the end of the day, being a good sport and associating with all those nice people is most important.

You saw Billy Casper (in Tulsa at Southern Hills) smile when he missed a putt and smiled when his opponents made one--you have been looking for an ideal to follow--I think he would be the one I would choose if I were 19 again. He also does not drink and I want you to be a clean pure girl athlete.

Daddy was at the river fishing when you called. In fact he is not back yet.

Just as you told me you "bombed out" and I was thinking you shot a 110-112 or something like that, Jonya sat down by the phone with blood streaming all over the place. She had used an old razor and sliced about two layers of skin from her ankle. I had to put Merthiolate on it and she yelled so loud that on top of your disappointment I thought I would have a nervous breakdown. 

We are calming down watching TV now and I'm getting my nerves put in their proper place now.

Letty, if you are still nervous tomorrow go to a movie. Maybe Louise (Stekoll Johnson) or Rinda (Koppitz) would like to go with you. It is best to get out of this world sometimes. A good book might do the same therapy. 

None of the Miami players did any good at the Hill Blast  tournament in Bartlesville, But just think Ben Hogan bought Daddy's team and we mingled with movie stars and golf stars for two days. 

Are the Bell's there? Tell them all hello--

I got Dad to stay home all day and he is rested. Now if I could get him to a movie.  I'd really be living. 

Well it's time to put Jonya's T.V. dinner on. She has stopped bleeding.   

Remember darling--the golf does not matter.  It is the gladness of your mind that is really life.   Smile win or lose.

Love,

Mama cita

 (Mother loved to use the Spanish language and thus my sister, Jonya, is fluent in Spanish, and spent her life living out some of Mother's dreams.)

Little did we know that my younger sister, Jonya, would go on to the Oklahoma Junior Girls Championship in 1968 Oklahoma Junior Girls Golf Championship

Luckily, like kids and children do, I lived and learned about life through competitive golf. I, also, became better golfer and competitor as it as I grew into adulthood. 

My mother's letter has traveled with me from Enid, to Ft. Hood, to Kansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and back home to Oklahoma. Her words have never left my heart and to this day I seek a good book or sometimes a movie to escape my worries..

My parents died in 1989 and I miss them everyday, but I must add that Dad has certainly entertained my mind when I am playing golf.  He gave me the nickname of Tizzy, does that tell you something about my scattered brain as teen?  

THE SUB PAR TRIO

 

Pam Harrell, Letty Watt, Terri Street, the Sub Par Trio

Angst
Anxiety
Tension
Expectations
Drama
All words to describe playing in a golf tournament when my game is up to the 90's (not good) !
All words to describe putting on a five minute skit in front of my peers.
All words to describe being a local chair person of a state women's golf championship.

May 20,21 were the due dates. Dawn and I were co-chairs for the Women's Oklahoma Golf Association's Senior Championship to be held those two days at the Trails Golf Course in Norman.

We were prepared, our ducks were lined up, even though they were everywhere on the golf course.

My two singing friends and I had prepared for the greatest debut in golf to be held this close to the Canadian River.

My golf game had not improved this spring, but I held high hopes that my game would show up for the tournament and allow me to win the Super Senior Championship ( remember this song...She had high hopes ) BUT

On Sunday, May 19 the  National Weather Service predicted that Monday would be a level 4 danger for tornadoes and dastardly storms, SO we postponed this thrilling championship until June 24-25, and of course, the rains didn't let up for a month.

ANXIETY
FRUSTRATIONS
TENSION
begin to build...

Another month goes by with preparations ready, lists and volunteers ready, The Sub Par Trio ready, but Not my golf game. The rains stopped, the sun came out, the temperatures were in the 80's, and we played our first round of golf on June 24.

Lynn Ballard, Lee Ann Fairlie, Dawn Stork

This year we added a featured called "The Tin Cup Challenge" a simply 50-60 yard chip shot over water in front of people watching. For a mere $10 a lady could take two chances of getting closest to the hole and winning money with half of the money going to our junior girls scholarship fund. You could either laugh or cry at the shots taken that day. We choose laughter and memories. 


With a touch of Tim Conway humor (click link to watch  Dorf on Golf with Tim Conway)  playing on the television in the grill after our first round of golf, and while we were piling our plates with food from the buffet we watched and laughed at some old golf humor, after all we are all Seniors.  With dinner nearly over, the golfers were restless, and the show was ready to go.  With Pam Harrell on the piano, Terri Street lead singer and comedian, and support provided by Letty Watt the show began.

As a tribute to Mabel Hotz, Hall of Fame Oklahoma lady golfer and mother of the Oklahoma Junior Girls State Championship (1950's, 1960's), we sang a rendition of "Oklahoma", and "Oh, What a Beautiful Day" combining her rendition and mine.

Imagine, in nearly perfect harmony as we sang "Oklahoma":

Oklahoma, where the women golfers love to play
And we sure have fun, beneath the sun,
Even though it rains most every day.....

Pam Harrell, Letty Watt

A creative refrain from "Oh, What a Beautiful Day";

Oh, what a difficult golf game, Oh, what a fabulous shot.
I sank a long putt on eleven, everything's going my way.......

Terri topped off the night with her lyrics, adapted from "It's Ruff Being a Dog" by Phyllis Wolfe:

Camera please......

From the last refrain:  But still it's...
Rough, rough, rough out on the course
When the Golfing gods turn mean.
Your ball goes in the bunker
And can just barely be seen.
Yes, it's rough, rough, rough, rough out on the course
When your round proves to be a test.
But either way -- a good or bad
This game is simply the Best!

At the end of day two we proved the lyrics and the poetry to be correct.

Fun
Fulfilling
Friendships
Gratifying
Relief
All words to describe a round of golf, when the score does not reflect who we are.
All words to describe the Tin Cup Challenge, and  a skit on golf filled with laughter and memories.
All words to describe the smiles and thanks from women golfers.

Judy Sapp and Cathy Scott

Tammy Higginbotham, Linda Maddox

Marna Raburn, Lee Ann Fairlie, Medalist and Senior Champion

Thanks to all of the staff at the Trails Golf Course, all of our volunteers, and especially to the ladies of WOGA for making this Senior Championship a success. 

HerStory: Susan Basolo Kennedy

She would have been sixty-six this month, I know because she was one month older than I was, and we had both started school when we were five.  The difference is that she was a genius, whose focus on golf and her schooling out-shined all of us who played along side her.  She matured long before most of her classmates and golf companions, while I lagged behind in maturity and confidence.  She was left handed and played golf right handed, making me think I should have learned to play golf left handed so I'd be strong like she was.

I was fifty before I realized how positively she impacted my life, and that was long after she beat me in every golf tournament in which we ever played.  My Oklahoma Jr. Golf years and tournaments aligned with Susan's every entry. We both began our junior state tournaments in 1959 at Southern Hills, and ended our junior years at Southern Hills.  I held my own as an eleven year old in the nine hole division, but by age fourteen the pressure was on, and the skill level skyrocketed.  I was no match for her fury and focus.  She rolled over most of us in the those years.

Champion Susan Basolo

Yet, in reflection I think she was my mother's nemesis, not mine.  Mother coached me and believed in me and more than once said, "Letty, this year I just know you will beat Susan." I would leave my mother exasperated when I'd yell back, "Mom, she's the best golfer in the state.  I'm not like her." 

I admired Susan, and feared her.  I never once thought I could beat her, although I'm sure I'm dreamed of victory. I knew her talents, her strengths, and her vision. She was truly "one" with the game of golf; I was one with "emotional" upheavals which were most detrimental to a steady game of golf. Even as a teenager I studied people and asked myself, "How can she do that? What gives her the focus that I don't have?..."  Indirectly, I learned and would one day apply to my life, the meaning of words, such as, tenacity and perseverance, by observing her actions on the golf course and throughout her college career.

Studying psychology in college one day at LSU I experienced an epiphany   IQ. Susan had a very high IQ, and I knew one day would reach her goal to become a doctor.  Years passed and two golfers began making headlines...Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods.  It was in their eyes that I once again saw Susan Basolo...beady focus, relaxed determination, confidence, refined skills that took them to the top, and I guessed a high IQ.  

An old newspaper clipping from the Tulsa Tribune Sports Writer, Bill Harper, stated that Susan's golf pro at Muskogee Country Club was Gordon Jones, who also taught LPGA early member Beth Stone.  Harper described Jones as "psychological type teacher."  Susan said at the time, "He's the type teacher that makes you believe that you can beat anybody."  

Mack Boswell wrote often of Susan's exploits on the golf course.  "Susan Basolo, 15 year old Muskogee girl who has been making an impressive record in women's golf competition this year, captured the fourth annual Mabel Hotz Jr. Girls Golf tournament in Miami,Oklahoma shooting an 82. Susan, who weighs 105 and stands 5-2 1/2" has made an impressive record in other meets this year.  She won second place in the state high school invitational meet in Norman.  (Yes, Oklahoma enjoyed a decade of high school girls golf before dropping it in 1964.)  She was third in a big LPGA tournament at Muskogee, and was consolation runner-up in the state women's tournament in Duncan." She went on to win the Oklahoma Jr. Girls tournament in 1964, 1965.

The newspaper dubbed her "the small blaster from Muskogee."  Small in size only, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from OU, graduated from medical school and went on to be a successful dermatologist.  I played against her one more time in 1988 when we both attempted to qualify for the USGA Mid-Am.  She qualified, I was an alternate, but I overcame a barrier that day.  I knew that I, too, had something inside of me that day...conviction.  When I set my sights to accomplish a goal I could do it.  Thank you Susan for showing me what conviction, confidence, and focus looked like.  I'm just sorry that I never had a chance to tell you this.

Susan Basolo Kennedy died July 9, 2013 at her home in Tucson, Az.  She would have been 66 on Nov. 10, 2013.