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Lady
Heathcoat Amory
English
ladies’s champion- 1920, 21, 22, 23, 24
British
ladies’s champion- 1922, 24, 25, 29
Club
president- 1972 – 1997
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Lady
Heathcoat Amory, formerly Joyce Wethered, was arguably the greatest woman golfer
of all time. She received only one
lesson, from Tom Lyle, the professional at Bude, though she occasionally caught
glimpses of such great champions as Harry Varden and J H Taylor.
In the holidays she played at Dartmouth with her brother, Roger, who won
the British Amateur in 1923.
Her
swing was a model of balance and grace. Ideally,
she used to say; nothing could dislodge her from her right foot at the top of
her back swing or from her left at the finish of her follow through.
The most remarkable feature of her game was her accuracy with iron shots.
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She
did not enter championship golf until 1920, when a friend persuaded her to play
in the English Ladies Championship at Sheringham, in Norfolk.
At Sheringham, she won her way to the final where she met ‘Cecil’
Leitch. She was six down with only sixteen holes to play, but through superb
concentration, and as always by playing the course rather than the person, she
came back to win 2 and 1
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In
1925 Joyce Wethered retired from competition, but was tempted back to play in
the Ladies Open of 1929 on her favourite course, the old course at St. Andrews.
In the final she met the American champion Glenna Collett in a memorable
contest. Joyce was five down after
only nine holes, her opponent having gone out in 34, but clawed her way back to
win 3 and 1.
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She
was elected the first President of the English Ladies’ Golf Association (ELGA)
and was admitted to Americas Hall of fame.
Sadly Lady Joyce died in 1997 just after her 96th birthday.
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