Where's the Ladies' Tee?

Last Sunday morning I arrived at Woodhill CC for my practice round for the Women’s US Open qualifier. This is the first step for us competitive players to gain a berth in the US Women’s Open, which is held in Minnesota at Interlachen at the end of June. It was a beautiful day and I was looking forward to playing that morning with my student and friend, Onie Ritz, her husband Cracker, and my favorite Irish colleague, Gerald McCullagh. While we were warming up, head professional Phil Reith drove down the hill in his golf cart to inform me that the tournament would be played from the championship tees and a score of 80 would be the equivalent of par! Now, I’m a 43-year-old working mom, and I wonder how the hell I can get around the course at that prodigious length without hurting myself. My “warm up” turned a corner just then as I felt the sweat dripping down my brow from my efforts at extracting another 50 yards out of my trusty driver.

Women’s golf has taken a new turn these last few years to where the LPGA is truly represented by world-class athletes. These chicks can play some serious golf! When I first entered the world of competitive play, 29 years ago, tournaments were held on courses that were not much longer than your average pitch and putt course. Six-thousand yards was considered long in those days, and your average National Championship was contested on a course that was maybe 6,200 yards. This year’s event at Interlachen will play out at 6,750 yards, which is what the men’s PGA Tour played at a handful of years ago.

At the end of day I like to take a personal inventory on my play and plan my upcoming practice sessions. After slogging it around Woodhill that morning from the back tees, I realized that I needed a personal trainer to help me find 50 more yards off the tee. I think this may be my last hurrah for sending in my entry in for the Women’s Open... Good luck to all you young women, this 43-year-old is going to wait for a women’s senior tour to emerge. Next time you go out to play ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to look behind you on the tee box and think... oh, there’s the “Ladies' Tee”!

P.S. I would like to share a joke with you:

It was a sunny morning, a little before 8 a.m., on the first hole of a busy course, and I was beginning my pre-shot routine and visualizing my upcoming shot when a piercing voice came over the clubhouse loud speaker, "Would the gentleman on the women's tee back up to the men's tee, please!"

I could feel every eye on the course looking at me but I focused on my routine and remained impervious to the interruption.

Again the announcement, "Would the man on the women's tee kindly back up to the men's tee."

I ignored the guy and remained focused on playing my shot, when once more, the man yelled, "Would the man on the women's tee back up to the men's tee, please!"

I finally stopped, turned, cupped my hands, and shouted back, "Would the jerk with the microphone kindly keep quiet and let me play my second shot."

-- Dee Forsberg