‘Dowdy look’ long forsaken by women pro. golfers

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33154, 19 February 1973, Page 6

‘Dowdy look’ long forsaken by women pro. golfers

t By

JACK CAVANAUGH.

N Z P A.-Reuter correspondent)

NEW YORK. Back in the early 19505. they played in only a handful of tournaments, to a handful of spectators. They were the freaks of the sports world—women golfers. They attracted little publicity, even less interest, scant prize money, but an abundance of scorn and disdain.

Even women’s sports fashions of the era militated against them. Their image was “cashmere gunnysack” and unfemininity.

Miss Marlene Bauer Hagge. ! a visual knock-out then and now, recalls that it was the era of “the Dowdy Look,” with skirts down to the middle of the calf and socks almost up to the skirts. Even Miss Hagge’s 35-23-46 figure and good looks failed to attract much media attention. Nor did her hot pants (“they called them short-shorts then”), which revealed a pair of shapely legs that would catch a “girlwatcher’s” eye a block away. Fortunately for the girl golfing professionals and sports fans, things have changed. Women golfers, after years of struggling for acceptance — and decent prize money — have finally caught on.

The barometer of success,; once again, has been television. Television, never; known to go for losers, has! zeroed in on the girl (club)| swingers as never before. j Tournaments, which num-l bered about a dozen in the; early 19505, have grown to; 34 this year. The girl pro-; fessional golfers themselves,; of whom there were about 50i back in those days, now are double that number. Andi prize money on the tour, less! than SUSSO.OOO in 1950, will! hit SUSI.4m this year, in-1 eluding three 8100,000-events.-Television, of course, is responsible for much of the newly-minted gold. Back in the early days, television cast a jaundiced eye at the women; swingers, and looked else-; where for attractions—women wrestlers, for example. But last year, three tournaments of the Ladies’ Proi fessional Golf Association I were televised, and this year four events are being broad-

;cast by as many as 1601 ' stations, and there will be' (a 13-week series of video-; i taped team, matches. I Why all the interest? ■ The golf boom obviously is (one of the reasons (there are ■ i now about 3m women golfers “in the United States). I Feminine charm i i But the main reason for [j the sudden allure of women’s II professional golf appears to (be that eternal female blan.i dishment: feminine charm. j J As one veteran observer of ■ the women’s golf tour says, : “Once you watch them, you i can’t help but love them.” : From a “girl-watcher’s” '(standpoint the watching has ■ never been better. The pre- ' sent crop of “swingers” is ■ prettier, shaplier, more outgoing (certainly far more so ■ than their generally stoic ■ male counterparts), and more 1 appealingly attired. In a nut- ' shell, they are sexier than ’ the pioneers of two decades ago. Most of the women professionals favour hot pants or Bermuda shorts and sleeveless blouses. Like their outfits, hairstyles also have changed drastically. “Most of us have our hair done at least once a week,” says Miss Marilynn Smith, who, with Miss Hagge, was a founding member of the women’s tour. “We didn’t do that in the early days.” Long drivers Most of the girls hit their drives about 225 yards off the tee, the range of a good week-end golfer. And in this, say the girls (and officials of the L.P.G.A. tour) lies much of the appeal of their game. “How can the average golfer identify -with golfers like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and others who can hu the. ball up to 300 yards?” asks Mr John Montgomery, a top tournament director. “But it’s different with the girl professionals, whose drives are more within the capability of the average player.” Miss Hagge agrees. “You can learn much more watching a good woman golfer,” she says. “The average man golfer just can’t incorporate into his swing the things Nicklaus and Palmer do.” Mrs Donna Caponi Young, one of 15 married women on the tour, and twice the winner of the United States women’s open, adds: “We can play as well as men, except they are stronger. Where they are hitting a 9-iron or wedge, we are hitting a 3-iron or 5-iron.” Unlike the men professionals, who, for the most part, tend to be intense and unsmiling on the course—and uncommunicative and bland once they have finished their round —the women pros are a refreshing breed. Acutely public relations-conscious, they are friendlier with the galleries and more affable at the club houses. Virtually all agree that the most arduous part of their nomadic life is, not the tournament pressure, but the travelling. By aircraft, car, bus and mobile homes, the ' women will log more than 100,000 miles this year—some with husbands, children and pets in tow. Not surprisingly, quite a few of the girls are married to golf professionals and golf manufacturers’ representatives. They travel “heavier” than the male professionals. Miss Sandra Palmer, who gave up a career as a teacher for professional golf, says she usually takes between 20 and 30 pairs of Bermuda shorts, about 10 cocktail dresses, and a half-dozen mini “mix and match” outfits. Romance finds way In spite of the grind of 54-hole tournaments (only the United States open and the L.P.G.A. Championships are 72-hoie events), romance does find a way. Five of the women were married during the last off-season. The women’s tour, once an

all-American venture, has also taken on an international flavour and now includes several foreign players. Among them is the willowy Mrs Chris Pastore, the German-born wife of a New Jersey dentist. Her long legs have been described as “the best German gams to hit the United States since Marlene Dietrich’s.” Mrs Pastore, aged 29. joined the tour last year, only nine years after taking up the game. Other foreign girls on the tour include the Australians, •Miss Margee Masters and iMrs Robin Dummett. Mrs Dummett travels the circuit with her husband, the Australian golf professional, Ivan Dummett, and their three boys in a mobile home.

In the early days, the tour: was dominated by a few girls' who won virtually all of the tournaments — Miss Betsy; Rawls, Miss Louise Suggs,; Miss Patty Berg, Miss Babe; Didriksen Zaharias, and Miss Marlene Hagge. Now, how-1 ever, about 30 of the women j are capable of winning an j event.

Furthermore, whereas only; one or two girls joined the! tour each year back in the early 19505, 16 were at the qualifying school this year, with eight winning L.P.G.A. cards. Larger crowds Although the crowds are | larger (the L.P.G.A. Cham-[ pionship drew 42,000 last year, including 15,000 on the! last day), the women still, lack a glamour figure — a Chris Evert or Evonne Goola-! gong. Some think that Miss! Jane Ballock, the double-pig-! tailed blonde from New! Hampshire, may answer the! need.

Miss Ballock, aged 26, whose $57,323 was second in prize earnings last year, is a gregarious lass who enjoys talking with spectators during her round. Typical of her play was an Arnold Palmer-type charge in the $lOO,OOO Dinah ShoreCoalgate winners circle event last year when she had birdies on the last three holes to win the $20,000 first prize. Waiting in the wings is another charmer, a blond beauty, Miss Laura Bauer, of Long Beach, California, the United States amateur champion, who is expected to join the tour- next year when she turns 18. Few, if any, of the women golfers are members of Women’s Lib., says Miss Gloria Ehret, the fourteenth leading money-winner in 1972.

“lite girls are doing the same job as a man, and are not very Women’s Lib.,” Miss Ehret says. “In fact, some oppose it, hoping, perhaps, to eliminate some of the unpleasantness that is directed at them.”

Miss Hagge adds: “Once you say you are a woman athlete, yo’u have two strikes against you. But I myself like having doors open for me and being treated like a female.” At 35-23-36, and pretty to boot. Miss Hagge has no trouble in having doors opened for her. Nor do most of the other women on the tour, who are proving that femininity and golf can be a winning combination.