FACES OF THE GAME

A Toast to 21 of Arizona’s Notable Women in Golf

“”Celebrating Arizona’s Women in Golf means paying homage to those who came before us. I would not be where I am today without the example of local women in golf I’ve looked up to, and the programs I’ve been able to grow up playing in, here in Phoenix, Arizona.

Cheyenne Woods

One of Arizona’s most popular LPGA Tour Players, Cheyenne Woods was born and raised in Phoenix, picking up the game as a six-year-old and participating in as many local junior golf programs as she could – including events put on by the Desert Mashie Golf Club, JGAA and the local LPGA*USGA Girls Golf program. She would attend Xavier College Preparatory and play golf under Sister Lynn Winsor, winning state team titles in each of her four years as well as an individual title her junior year.

Woods went on to play at Wake Forest, tallying well over 30 wins during her amateur career. She achieved her goal of playing professional golf following her graduation from Wake Forest in 2012, qualifying for the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open and playing in the 2012 LPGA Championship. Her first win was the 2012 SunCoast Ladies Series, adding another at the 2014 Volvik RACV Ladies Masters in Australia.

While normally asked about her famous uncle, Tiger, Cheyenne Woods is quick to credit the golf icon as her inspiration to become a professional golfer. By seeing his success, setting goals and working hard, she realized she could accomplish her goals in golf as well. Woods has recently transitioned into golf broadcasting – featuring as the on-course reporter at The Match held at Oro Valley, Ariz.’s Stone Canyon Club in November 2020, as well as the NCAA Women’s Championship at Scottsdale’s Grayhawk Golf Club in 2021. Recently married to MLB star Aaron Hicks, the couple welcomed their first child, Cameron, in 2022. (Le Ann Finger)

Sister Lynn Winsor

The winningest coach in Arizona high school athletics history, Sister Lynn Winsor has led the Xavier College Preparatory Gators golf team to 37 team state titles since arriving on campus in 1974. In fact, since 1996, Winsor’s teams at XCP haven’t lost a regular season match: 285 wins, a few ties and not a single loss.

Yet as successful as her golf teams have been, Winsor is most well-known for her devotion to Xavier students and athletes alike. She has consistently maintained that she takes immense pride in the development of the thousands of young adults who have passed through the gates of XCP, many of whom credit her for helping to build their own foundation for success in life.

Still the Athletic Director and Girls Golf Head Coach, Winsor has earned accolades of which most coaches and administrators can only dream. She was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013; being named the National High School Athletic Director of the Year; National Federation Coaches Association Golf Coach of the Year two times and earning the Arizona Interscholastic Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Perhaps most special to Winsor: in 2021 the National Federation of State High School Associations honored her with the NFHS Title IX Trailblazer of the Year for Arizona. Title IX is celebrating its 50th anniversary throughout the current academic calendar. (David

Bataller)

Joanne Winter

Known as one of Arizona’s greatest female athletes, Joanne Winter excelled in multiple sports. Leaving high school at age 15, she started out as an exceptional softball pitcher. At age 18 she turned pro, joining the Racine Belles in the debut of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She quickly became one of the most popular Belles, and in eight years notched the third highest number of wins in league history, while helping her team capture three league championships. Upon returning to Arizona, Winter played softball for the Phoenix Queens, leading her team to a national championship in that sport, as well.

After retiring from the diamond, she turned to golf and found herself just as adept with a club in her hand as a bat. She captured the State Amateur Match Play Championship in 1962, joined the LPGA Tour a year later, and competed in 25 tournaments before an injury ended her touring days. A storied teaching career spanning three decades followed, with Winter becoming one of just 14 charter Master Professionals in the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division. But perhaps her greatest legacy was founding the Arizona Silver Belle Championship Golf Tournament in 1971. The name Silver “Belle” is thought to be a nod to her former baseball team, and the tournament is nationally recognized as one of the premier events for young women amateurs.

Among her many well-earned honors, Winter was named LPGA Teacher of the Year in 1969, received the LPGA’s Ellen Griffin Rolex Award for a lifetime of teaching in 1995, and has been inducted into the National Women’s Baseball Hall of Fame, Arizona Softball Hall of Fame and Arizona Golf Hall of Fame. (Robyn Noll)

Linda Vollstedt

Tucked away at Papago Golf Club, Arizona State University’s practice facility – affectionately known as “The Bird” – is adorned with trophies that signify decades of winning tradition by its women’s golf program. Among them are seven NCAA National Championship trophies- more than any other program in the country, and Linda Vollstedt led the program to six of them: 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998. As ASU’s head coach from 1980-2001, her final decade at the helm included 10 straight trips to the NCAA Championships, the third longest streak in the nation.

During the program’s stretch of six national titles in nine years, Vollstedt mentored 22 players who would go on to make their mark professionally. Vollstedt retired from her head coaching position in 2001, but remains with the Sun Devils in a Development Director role. In that position, she works closely with current head coach and her former player, Missy Farr-Kaye, who has maintained a winning tradition in Tempe.

Prior to becoming the head coach at ASU, Vollstedt led Phoenix’s Alhambra High School to four undefeated regular seasons, two state titles and two runner-up finishes. In the 59 years since she first stepped on campus, her decorated tenure includes eight Coach of the Year awards, membership in five different Halls of Fame (including the LPGA Hall of Fame in 2021), the fourth spot on Golf World Magazine ’s Top 10 College Coaches of the 20th Century and the title of Pac-12 Conference Golf Coach of the Century. (Brandon Genson)

Heather Farr

One of the finest talents in Arizona Golf history, Heather Farr starred in junior golf at city courses like Papago with her younger sister Missy – now the Women’s Golf Head Coach at Arizona State University – and went on to play at ASU for the Sun Devils. She won the 1982 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship and the 1984 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. After three years at ASU, Farr turned professional in June 1985, earning her tour card after qualifying in Houston.

Her best finish on tour was third place at the Mazda Classic in Boca Raton, Fla., in 1988 – the same season where she earned six top-ten finishes. In 1989, Farr received the William and Mousie Powell Award, an honor voted on by her fellow LPGA Tour members to recognize a player “whose behavior and deeds best exemplified the spirit, ideals and values of the LPGA.” She is a member of the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame, the National High School Sports Hall of Fame, the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame and the Arizona State University Hall of Fame.

Sadly, following a battle with cancer in 1989 and again in 1993, Farr passed that Fall. Locally in the early 1990s, Farr created the Heather Farr Trophy Matches to allow female amateurs and female professionals the opportunity to come together and compete in a miniature Solheim Cup-style format. The tradition continued following Heather’s death to celebrate the legacy she created for Women’s Golf in Arizona, and her memory is carried on by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), which features the annual PING Heather Farr Classic on its schedule. (Le Ann Finger)