PEASE AWARD

AWARDS

Sally Christensen always has been an avid volunteer, which earned her the 2019 Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year Award.

AGA PHOTO

Doc Graves Volunteer Award

Sally Christensen made a significant mark in the game of basketball, but once she was bitten by the golf bug, she was happy to trade layups for tap-ins. Christensen has volunteered to help with several golf organizations and big events in Arizona since retiring as a high school teacher and coach, and those efforts earned her the Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year Award for 2019. “Doc left quite a legacy, so it’s an honor to receive an award bearing his name,” Christensen said. “When they told me, I asked if they had the right Sally because I never thought I would be in line for something like that.” The Wisconsin native spent 14 years teaching physical education and coaching basketball in Del Rio, Texas, before moving on to Mesa Westwood for another 16 years, where she also coached girls golf. She still serves as executive director for the Division I and II girls state championships and helps with scoring at prep events. In addition, she serves as a marshal for the Waste Management Phoenix Open and Charles Schwab Cup, and volunteers for the ASU PING Invitational and Junior Golf Association of Arizona events. She also has been involved with course rating the past six years and in 2019 took on the role of women’s course rating chair. “When I retired, I was looking for an outlet to fill my days,” she said. “I wanted to still be involved with people and sports, so this was a good fit. To be involved in such a great, lifelong sport,

LaBauve selected as Pease honoree

Sandy LaBauve not only has received a lion’s share of awards, she also has an award that’s named in her honor. Still, receiving the Dorothy Pease Award achieved a meaningful place in LaBauve’s highly decorated world.

“This is a very special one because it’s from Arizona, where (Pease) resided for over 30 years,” said LaBauve, who is cofounder of LaBauve Golf with her husband and fellow instructor, Mike, at Kierland Golf Club. “When we first came here we were both determined to make a difference in golf, which is what Dorothy Pease did, not only here, but around the world. Considering her endeavors, I am very honored.”

Their daughter, Lindy, also is a golf instructor at Kierland and Sandy is the daughter of Jack Lumpkin, a renowned instructor in Georgia who was the co-founder of the Golf Digest Golf Schools. So the game and instruction runs prominently through the family blood.

Sandy founded a girls’ golf program in 1989 in Phoenix that evolved into LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, which now has spread to more than 500

Sandy LaBauve

communities around the world and has introduced an estimated 100,000 young girls to the game.

She is a member of the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame and her accolades include the LPGA’s Ellen Griffin and Nancy Lopez awards and the PGA Tour’s Card Walker Award. “Starting the girls’ golf program has probably been the most impactful thing for me because it has helped so many girls get started in the game, but hopefully it has also helped PGA professionals who have joined ranks within the program,” she said. “It has been a wonderful way of giving back and growing the game.”

The Dorothy Pease Achievement Award is named for a woman who had a profound and lasting impact on women’s golf in Arizona. A leader in women’s golf for over 50 years, Dorothy founded the Arizona Junior Girls Championship and the Arizona Senior Women’s Championship, published a national women’s golf magazine, and is credited with helping launch the women’s golf program at Arizona State. n