Glenna Collett-Vare

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Glenna Collett

Glenna Collett (June 20, 1903 - February 3, 1989) was an American Hall of Fame golfing champion whom the Hall calls the greatest female golfer of her day and who dominated American women's golf in the 1920s.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Glenna Collett was raised in Providence, Rhode Island by athlectic-minded parents and at a young age was involved in sports such as swimming and diving. At age 14 she took up the game of golf and within two years had developed her skills to the point where she competed in the 1919 United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship and won her first-round match. Two years later at age 18 she was the Championship medallist for shooting the lowest qualifying score.

In the pre-professional era, the U.S. Women's Amateur Golf Championship was the most prestigious event in the country. Her strength was off the tee, and she could drive the ball more than 300 yards, a distance unheard of in an era when golf clubs were still made with wooden shafts and had none of the technologies like today's perfectly engineered titanium drivers. Currently, greats like Annika Sorenstam average 265-270 yards and only a handful of men drive in excess of 300 yards.

While setting a new single-round scoring record, in 1922 Glenna Collett claimed her first of six U.S. championships. The following year she was upset in the third round but went north to win the Canadian Women's Amateur Golf Championship. In 1924 Glenna Collett achieved the most remarkable record in golfing history, both female and male. Despite setting a new new single-round qualifying scoring record, Collett lost by a fluke in the semifinal of the 1924 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship when on the 19th hole, Mary K. Browne's ball caromed off hers and into the cup. However, that would be her only loss in a year where she won an astonishing 59 out of 60 matches including her second consecutive Canadian championship.

Glenna Collett won the U.S. Women's Championship again in 1925 and the reeled off three straight titles between 1928 and 1930. Between 1928 and 1931, she recorded 16 consecutive victories. She won six North and South Women's Amateur Golf Championships, six Women's Eastern Amateur Golf Championships, and in between all this she was the runner-up in the 1929 and 1930 British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship plus went to France where she won the French Women's Amateur Championship. After marrying Edwin H. Vare, Jr. and having two children, Glenna Collett-Vare came back in 1934 but lost in the semi-finals to Virginia Van Wie. However, the following year she won her sixth U.S. championship by defeating future star Patty Berg in the finals.

Glenna Collett Vare was a member of the American team that won the first Curtis Cup played at the Wentworth Golf Club in England in 1932 and player-captain in 1934, 1936, 1938, and 1948. After winning 49 championships, she ended her competitive golf career at the age of 56 with a victory at the 1959 Rhode Island Women's Golf Association tournament.

She was the author of two books on golf: Golf For Young Players in 1926 and Ladies in the Rough in 1928.

Since 1953, the Ladies Professional Golf Association has awarded the Vare Trophy to the golfer who has the lowest average strokes per round in professional tour events.

In 1965 Glenna Collett Vare was the recipient of the Bob Jones Award, the United States Golf Association 's highest honor given in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. In 1975 she was part of the first class inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. At the age of 81 she still had a 15 handicap and played in her 61st consecutive Invitational event in 1984 at the Point Judith Country Club in Rhode Island.

In her 1977 book, One Hundred Greatest Women in Sports, author Phyllis Hollander listed Glenna Collett Vare ahead of Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg, stating that "her career was unequaled in the annals of golf." Gene Sarazen called her "the greatest woman golfer of all time."

Glenna Collett Vare died in 1989 in Gulfstream, Florida. What a sad day it was for all golf lovers. People just dropped their golf clubs in the middle of Par 3 when they heard the news of Glenna Collett Vare's death. Sympathy and love filled their eyes and hearts. They felt shock and joy. Shock for the sudden death...and joy for how much Mrs. Collett Vare loved golf and how much she contributed to the sport. Without Glenna, what would golf be today? A boring game? Or, even a non-existing game? Who knows? Glenna truly made golf shine- as a game and as a person. Golf means so much in the hearts of many and they all thank her for everything she has done. If it weren't for that day when 14-year-old Glenna Collett Vare picked up her first club, golf would not be as amazing as it is today.

[edit] Books

Golf For Young Players by Glenna Collett (1926) - Little, Brown and Company
Ladies in the Rough by Glenna Collett with a Foreword by Bobby Jones (1928) - Alfred A. Knopf