Alexa Stirling

E X E C U T I V E S UMMA RY

F OR YOU R C ON S I DE R AT I ON . . .

Alexa Stirling is the greatest champion that women’s golf has ever forgotten. She has been called the “Glorious Golfing Girl” and “the finest iron player the feminine world of golf ever saw;” she was even compared to Mary Queen of Scots, the “Mother of Golf ”— unfortunately, like Mary Queen of Scots, Alexa Stirling’s history in golf seems to have been forgotten. Alexa Stirling began to play golf in 1908 but her march to greatness really began in 1915 when, at age 17 she became the youngest winner of the Women’s Southern Amateur. The next year, at just 18 years old — the youngest champion to that date — she won her first U.S. Women’s Amateur title. In eight short years, she had gone from a beginner to national champion. Alexa Stirling made a mark on women’s golf long before the LPGA was founded. In 1920, she won her third consecutive U.S. women’s Amateur title; an achievement made by only seven women players ever. The New York Times wrote about her, “No male amateur and no professional ever won an American golf title thrice in succession and only one woman ever accomplished this before now. But Miss Stirling’s feat is considerably more than that of her illustrious predecessor, Miss Beatrix Hoyt, since she won her three championships over a period of five years, from 1916 to 1920.” When speaking about this amazing feat, Bobby Jones’ grandson said, “if it hadn’t been for World War I, we would be talking about her in the same breath as my grandfather in terms of the dominant player of their day.” One month later, after winning the Canadian Women’s Amateur, Alexa Stirling solidified herself as the greatest female golfer in the world. It has now been over 100 years since Alexa Stirling’s

final U.S. Women’s Amateur victory and yet very few have ever heard her story; perhaps it’s because she didn’t have the luxury of a publicist like O.B. Keeler who traveled over 150,000 miles watching Bobby Jones and writing about it to be sure he got the accolades he deserved. So many outstanding female golfers have accomplished incredible feats and have played at the highest level, but the forerunner to all of this was Stirling. It would be fitting to finally induct Alexa Stirling into the World Golf Hall of Fame (WGHoF) as 2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the Atlanta Athletic Club where she and Bobby Jones began their friendship and played golf together; her instructor, a noted Scottish professional named Stewart Maiden, was credited with being the model for Jones’ swing. She was an extremely humble and modest woman and always avoided the limelight, her daughter once said, “she hid her light under a bushel.” In fact, her children never really appreciated the scope of their mother’s contributions to golf until she was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.

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