Joyce Wethered

Born: Nov. 17, 1901, in Devon, England
Died: Nov. 18, 1997
Nickname: This isn't a nickname, but an alternate name. In her post-golf life, after marrying Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, Wethered went by her married name, Lady Heathcoat-Amory.

Tour Victories:
0

Major Championships:
Amateur - 4
British Women's Amateur: 1922, 1924, 1925, 1929

Awards and Honors:
• Member, World Golf Hall of Fame
• Member, Great Britain Curtis Cup team, 1932

Quote, Unquote:
• Bobby Jones: "I have not played golf with anyone, man or woman, amateur or professional, who made me feel so utterly outclassed."

• Henry Cotton: "In my time, no golfer has stood out so far ahead of his or her contemporaries as Lady Heathcoat-Amory."

• Willie Wilson, Scottish pro: "Good swing? My God, man, she could hit a ball 240 yards on the fly while standing barefoot on a cake of ice."

• Charles Yates, 1938 British Amateur champ: "Oh my, she could play."

Trivia:
Joyce Wethered and Glenna Collett Vare, the dominant women golfers of the pre-World War II era, met three times in match play. Wethered won all three matches: Wethered won 4-and-3 in a scheduled 18-hole match at the 1925 British Women's Amateur; Wethered won 3-and-1 in the 36-hole final at the 1929 British Women's Amateur; and Wethered won 6-and-4 in a scheduled 18-hole match at the 1932 Curtis Cup.

Joyce Wethered Biography: Joyce Wethered dominated women's golf in Britain in the 1920s, at the same time Glenna Collett Vare was dominating American golf. The two only met on the golf course three times, and Wethered won all three matches.

Wethered was known for the tremendous balance she had in her swing, great ballstriking with long distance for her day, laser-straight shots and a legendary ability to concentrate over a shot.

Wethered first gained prominence when, at age 19, she defeated English great Cecil Leitch to win the 1920 English Women's Amateur title. Wethered sank a putt on the final hole of the match for the victory. It was a hole adjacent to train tracks, and a train sped past as Wethered was over her putt. She was asked afterward how she was able to make the putt with the distraction of the train. She replied, "What train?"

Wethered picked up golf from her brother Roger, who himself was an accomplished amateur and professional golfer (runner-up at the 1921 British Open).

After that first English Women's Amateur title in 1920, Wethered won the next four, as well, going 33-0 in match play. Her first victory in the British Women's Amateur came in 1922, and she followed up with wins in '24 and '25.

So, at age 23 Wethered had won five straight English Women's Amateurs and three out of four British Women's Amateurs. And then she retired from golf.

For three years, anyway. The British Women's Amateur was scheduled for St. Andrews in 1929, and Collett Vare was coming over to play. That combination lured Wethered back to the course, and it paid off: She defeated Vare in the championship match, 3 and 1 (coming back from a 5-down deficit) for her fourth and final win in the event.

Wethered then retired from top-level competition for good, afterward playing only a mixed foursomes tournament (which she won eight times with seven different partners). In the 1930s, she traveled the U.S. playing exhibitions with the likes of Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen.

Wethered greatly impressed the best golfers of her era. She played a round at St. Andrews with Bobby Jones in 1930. Playing from the back tees in a strong wind, Wethered posted a 75. Jones said he felt "outclassed," and added, "It was not so much the score she made as the way she made it. It was impossible to expect that Miss Wethered would ever miss a shot - and she never did."

After Wethered married, she went by the name Lady Heathcoat-Amory, and Sir Henry Cotton played an exhibition with her in 1937. She was driving the ball 240 yards and displaying a remarkable variety of shots. It was her precision that most impressed Cotton, as it had Jones. "I do not think a golf ball has ever been hit, except perhaps by Harry Vardon, with such a straight flight by any other person," Cotton said of Wethered's accuracy.

Hagen said of her, "As I watched her I thought there wasn't a male golfing star in the world who wouldn't envy the strong, firm strokes she played."

Wethered lived until 1997, and in the many years between her final match and her death was a revered figured in British golf circles, a figure too little known in America.