Joyce Wethered

Born in Devon, England, Joyce Wethered is remembered as one of the greatest women golfers of all time. Her victories included five English Amateur and four British Ladies Amateur championships.

Growing up in Southern England, Wethered spent her summer vacations at her parents’ summer home in Scotland.  It was there that she and her brother, Roger, developed their skills as golfers.  Roger went on to lose the British Open in a playoff in 1921 as an amateur, and his skills at the game gave his sister the challenge she needed to develop competitively.

In 1920, Wethered, who had only one formal golf lesson as a child, came to prominence while still a teenager by beating England’s then leading woman golfer, Cecil Leitch, to win the 1920 English Ladies Championship.  But Wethered’s primary career lasted only nine years and, in that time, she won five consecutive English Amateur titles and four British Ladies titles.  Her forte was accuracy and power.  The great American amateur, Bobby Jones, described her as “the greatest golfer of all time, man or woman,” and claimed she possessed the finest swing he had ever seen.  In 1924, she married a lord of the realm and became known as Lady Heathcote-Armory.

Four years after retiring, Wethered came back to contest the British Ladies Championship, primarily for the opportunity to compete against Glenna Colette, America’s top female golfer of the 1920’s.  Not only did Wethered beat Colette, she also won the tournament.  Afterwards, Wethered retired totally from competitive golf, and became golf manager of a London store, which caused her to lose her amateur status.
Interestingly, when Wethered became president of the English Ladies Golf Union in 1954, the R & A re-instated her amateur status, thus enabling her to hold the office legitimately.  She later retired to her husband’s estate in Devon, where she became an enthusiastic and expert gardener.

Joyce Wethered is the measure by which great women golfers are judged.  She is remembered fondly not only because of her success, but for her dedication to the sport and for her appealing personality.