Alexa Stirling

V I | A L E X A S T I R L I NG

Shortly, after her return home, lung cancer was discovered. Alexa passed away on Friday, April 15, 1977, at her home in Ottawa. She was buried in Pembroke, Canada. Eulogies poured in from all quarters of the golfing world. Patty Berg, fellow Hall of Fame member, celebrated her heroine Alexa: I only hope when I leave competitive golf, I can be like Alexa. I’ve never met a golfer or a woman that I’ve thought so much of. Alexa is the finest competitor and the finest lady the game has ever known. Today, the record book speaks volumes about Alexa’s contributions to women’s golf. But she is remembered for much more than the record she compiled. Alexa pulled an important laboring oar helping to usher into history a new and exciting era in women’s competitive golf. There was a day when men’s golf and women’s golf were separated by a gulf of preconceived notions of competitive capability. It was thought that the women couldn’t play anywhere near the golf that the men could. Alexa helped disprove that men had a monopoly on distance, accuracy, and superb putting which are the necessary ingredients for greatness. In her book, “Ladies in the Rough,” Glenna Collett touched on this: Several reasons might be given for the marked improvement in women’s golf of late. ... The changed style among the weaker sex has much to do with it. I don’t know if this changed style can be attributed to any one individual, but I do know that following the entrance of such players as Marion Hollins, Lillian Hyde (now Mrs. Feitner) and Alexa Stirling, women tried to get real distance off the tees. They were all physically fitted for the new game and developed good swings. Women have always been capable from the greens, and as a result the long game properly lowered their scores, with the resultant improvement to the women’s game. Today the competition among women is so keen that champions rarely if ever repeat in any of the tournaments. Alexa also had her own ideas about the reasons for advancement in women’s golf. As early as 1923 she wrote: Perhaps one of the most interesting subjects and one which not everyone has had an opportunity to witness has been the progress made by women golfers in this country. Not so very long ago I happened to be “listening in” on the radio and an article by one of the east’s prominent journalist golf writers was being read. In this article were given descriptions and predicted changes for the year of 1923 of many women golfers; and some were very amusing. Among them were Miss Marion Hollis [sic], Miss Glenna Collett, Mrs. Caleb Fox and myself. We were all given our ratings and I was described as being “a veteran at the game but not yet old enough to be classed as a grandmother.” So perhaps by the time I have reached the venerable age I shall be in a still better position to note the advance made in women’s golf in this country. But very noticeably and decidedly there has been an advance, even since 1914. When I first made an attempt in the National Championship, at the Nassau Country Club in 1914, there was, to my mind, a class of golf played which was infinitely inferior to that shown at the present time. This, of course, I mean as a whole. There were then such outstanding players as the Curtis sisters, Mrs. H. Arnold Jackson, the still remarkable Mrs. Caleb Fox and others. But outside of these players the golf was comparatively poor. The enthusiasm was not there; and this was partly due to the lack of financial as well as moral backing by the men,

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