Golf Gals The Liberty Lake Ladies 18-Hole Golf Club Is Social And Fun, But Don’t Think It Isn’t Competitive

On a recent a gorgeous summer morning, a group of ladies gathered to hit the links for another in their weekly rounds of golf.

It’s a scene that repeats itself, rain or shine, from early spring until fall mornings dawn too dark and cold to continue.

These golfers are members of the Liberty Lake Ladies 18-Hole Golf Club, one of many such organizations that have been a fixture at area courses for decades.

Eight of the women have belonged for more than 30 years. Longest standing members are Cec Schucker, Yvonne Splan and Marion Jordan who joined in 1961, two years after the club was formed.

‘When you go into the clubhouse after a round you’ll see a number of senior citizens,” said another 30-year golfer Deloris Matthews.

Don’t let their ages fool you. The average, they guess, is 55 and many are in their 70s. But they play a good round of golf, as often as three days a week for clubs at different courses.

When 52 ladies teed it up on 12 different holes during an 8 a.m. shotgun start, the results were impressive - and humbling. Their drives, while not particularly long, went straight down the fairway.

“See what happens?” joked Alice Shattuck to the reporter who went along in order to put faces to the names he has written about for years. “We’re all 220-yard drivers, but we can’t hit (that far) while you’re here.”

She was being modest. Second shots approached the greens in regulation.

Their light-hearted demeanor and insistence that they were there for the camaraderie masked an underlying sense of competitiveness.

“Mostly it’s kind of social,” insisted Marie Nelson, this year’s club president. “We laugh at ourselves and we laugh at others.”

Then, all members of her foursome - Nelson, Shattuck, Louise Newtson and Freda Beckman - reached the green with their drives from the elevated tee on the par 3, 16th hole. Beckman lagged her putt to within inches and Nelson said, “we don’t give ‘gimmes’. You notice they made me putt.”

Liberty Lake 18-Hole membership is just shy of 100 golfers.

“They (clubs) started out as a place for people to meet,” said Liberty Lake professional Bob Scott. “It was a good drawing base for us. We knew we had them.”

The ladies work local tournaments to raise money for club awards and play a variety of weekly games. The results have been published regularly in local newspapers.

“You should see their scrapbooks,” said Scott. “Everything written about them they have. It’s a big day for them.”

It’s also a time for good-natured ripostes and endless stories told by foursome members.

“Freda is the youngest looking one and the only one with great-grandchildren,” said Newtson of her playing partner.

“Pay no attention to her, she’s full of hot air,” Beckman countered.

Later on, another golfer, Carol Taylor, used an exaggerated kicking motion and offered, “Want to know the secret of our success? This.”

Club competition is divided into four flights, A through D based upon handicap. A flight golfers carry handicaps of 22 or lower, which means they shoot in the 80s to low 90s for 18 holes. B is 23-27 and the others are apportioned accordingly.

A typical club member is one who didn’t begin golfing until her 40s after her children were older. Others, like Ellen Boudewyns who began when she was 60, took up golf in their retirement.

If they have a regret, said Dorothy Womach, it is that they didn’t get the chance to start sooner.

Newtson was a bowler who took up golf at the insistence of her husband.

“I was perfectly happy (with bowling) but he was bored,” she said. “When we took it up I told him he’d be sorry.”

After 10 years of hacking the ball around, she took lessons, something she recommends for everyone, and now is told, “I have a boring game, right down the middle.”

Shattuck’s story is similar and golf became a way, she said, “to take my inhibitions out on the course.”

Beckman, who has had three holes-in-one on three different courses, golfs “to get out of housework.”

Nelson has been golfing for eight years. She moved here from Eugene, Ore., where she volunteered to work at the course in order to play. This spring she won the Hangman Valley Golf Club Hanging Tree tournament for low net.

Among the younger and more gifted golfers are Sandy Mooney and Billie Etter. Three years ago Mooney won the club championships at both Liberty Lake and Indian Canyon courses. At one time she carried a 4-handicap and is currently at 13.

Etter, who seemingly wins a contest every week has played, “for the exercise and comradeship”, two to three times a week for 25 years.

The older members say they welcome newcomers and were happy when 10 joined this year.

“I thought we were a dying breed,” said Newtson.

And they say they have the same love-hate relationship with the game as do all golfers.

“Golf and kids keep you humble,” said new member Deanna Ranniger.

Added Newtson, “The allure? It’s the one shot, the one hole that keeps you coming back.”

Golf - the game and the memories - has kept these ladies club members coming back forever.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo