Spring Lake Invitational Tournament History

Since its founding in 1911, Spring Lake Country Club has been a leader in women’s golf. In 1919 the Club hosted the first Spring Lake Women’s Open Tournament, and in those early years, the women’s golf outing was a combined event with the men of the Club. The first Spring Lake tourney was held immediately after the Club’s annual tennis tournament. It was advertised in the Spring Lake area as a resort highlight. The Spring Lake Women’s Open Tournament became a separate event for women golfers in 1923. The twenty-eight contestants that year were from Grand Rapids, Chicago, Holland, and Muskegon. A three-day social was planned as part of the affair. Mrs. James (Peg) Johnston of Spring Lake won the championship that year. A review of the years of S.L.I.T. reveals an illustrious past.

Mrs. Hunter (Marty) Robbins founded the Spring Lake Women’s Open Tournament in 1919.

It is considered the oldest established tournament for women in Michigan and is the nation’s second oldest women’s match play event.

The tournament became popular in those early days because there were not many venues of competition for women golfers. Marty entertained contestants between matches in her home on Spring Lake (most recently the home of Vicki and Gary Verplank). What began as a gathering of a few friends of Marty Robbins grew into an event with 50 to 80 entries each summer. The tournament was discontinued for only three years in its 94-year history during WWII, for the years 1943-45. Many outstanding women golfers from Michigan and the Midwest have competed in S.L.I.T. In the early 1950’s, as more tourneys opened up for women players, there was increased competition for entrants as some women found it more difficult to attend the longer tournaments and entered the one-day contests instead. The original 5-day S.L.I.T. event was reduced to 4 days to address this problem.

The 50th Anniversary of the S.L.I.T. was held June 22-26 of 1969. There were 166 invitations sent out to women in states as distant as Florida and California. Al Lemanski was Club pro then, Mrs. Ray (Barb) Berwald was general chairman of the tourney, Mrs. Richard (Eleanor) Babcock was in charge of invitations, Mrs. John Mason was social chairman and various committees worked to insure a smooth golf and social event. The four semifinalists in that tournament in 1969 were Miss Janice Elias, Grand Rapids; Mrs. William (Patti) Boice, Saginaw (three-time winner); Mrs. Robert Mahoney, Springfield, Missouri, (defending champion); and Mrs. Jean Murray, Mt. Pleasant. Patti Boice was to prevail as overall champion of the tournament to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of S.L.I.T. by defeating Janice Elias. She became the second woman golfer to earn four crowns in the 50-year history of the tournament.

Miss Hilding, 1920 Champion, recalled the early days: Marty invited people from all over Michigan and pretty soon our tournament grew and people were coming from all over the country.

Our first luncheon was in a little farmhouse in a grove of trees down towards the 18th fairway. It wasn’t much, but we sure had fun. She also mentioned the prevalent sand burrs and horse-drawn fairway mowers. If a ball happened to land in the thick rough, our caddies would roll around in the grass hoping to feel the ball somewhere on their bodies. The game has certainly changed with the times. Our bag of clubs usually included a driver, a putter, a niblick, a mid-iron, a brassie and some-times a driving iron.

S.L.I.T. grew into a tradition-filled classic.The event began with a practice round on Sunday, a qualifying round on Monday to establish flights, match play over the next two days, and ending with championship playoffs on Thursday. Bill Olds, a member of the Club since 1954, recalls the Sunday practice round this way: It was custom for years within S.L.I.T. to hold a mixed golf event on the Sunday before the week of competition. The round was held for years on Father’s Day. The entrants could number as many as 60 and many of them arrived with husbands or boyfriends to participate in the day’s activity. There was also a pool of men at the Club who volunteered to be playing partners for unaccompanied ladies on that day. After a day of competition, the golfers continued their day of friendship and enjoyment with an evening banquet and dancing in the ballroom with prizes awarded to the winners.

There were two mother-daughter winners of the tournament over the years. Sue and Dorie Scripsema were one family combination and Helen Sessions and her daughter, Sally, was the other duo.

Virginia Van Wie, a 3-time U.S. National Amateur Champion, won the S.L.I.T. four times in the late 1920’s. She was 16 years old when she won her first title in 1925.

Elaine Crosby, of Jackson, who participated many times in S.L.I.T., is past president of the L.P.G.A..

Mrs. Clarence (Helen) Sessions of Muskegon was the winner of the first Women’s Open Tournament at Spring Lake Country Club in 1919. Her daughter, Sally, won her first S.L.I.T. title in 1942, age 19, and a freshman at the U of M. She won three straight titles in 1942, 1946 and 1947. (There were no tournaments during the war years: 1943-45.)

A future Michigan Golf Hall of Fame inductee and co-founder of the LPGA, Sally shot a qualifying round of 68. This score stands as a record for women in tournament action at Spring Lake.

She fired the low score in 1946 while playing against the golf professional, Babe Zaharias. The 1946 match between Sessions and Zaharias is remembered by several members. Babe Zaharias’ career was near its peak and she would later be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame with 31 career victories. When she came to Spring Lake to play in the tournament, the cameras and press were also on hand to capture the event. Certainly this was a big moment for SLCC, but the cameras left after the Babe disqualified herself for inadvertently playing the wrong ball. However, some observers of the match contend her departure was perhaps influenced by Sally’s superior play.

The original tournament was known by the rather long name: Spring Lake Country Club Women’s Open Championship. The title was shortened over the years to the acronym S.L.O.T. (Spring Lake Open Tournament). It remained as an open tourney where professional and amateur competed together until 1950. The tournament committee at the time decided to switch the tournament from an open to an invite format, the acronym also undergoing a change to S.L.I.T. (Spring Lake Invitational Tournament). The modification ignited a minor controversy at the time, but the tourney has remained an invitational tournament ever since. It was done to give the amateur a better chance of winning, according to Eleanor Babcock, S.L.O.T. 1949 Champion and Chairperson of the 50th Annual Tournament in 1969).

Spring Lake’s Patti (Shook) Boice in 1959, at age 16, became the youngest champion of S.L.I.T.. Virginia Van Wie of Big Rapids, also 16, had defeated the veteran, Elsie Hilding, after 20 holes in 1925. (Boice is the younger champion by two months.)

In 1946, Patti was the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Champion. In 1985, she was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, and in 2000 was named Player of the Century by GAM.

S.L.I.T. contestants looked forward each year to renewing old friendships and forming new ones. Ladies of all ages came to test their golfing skills; former champions returned to defend their titles. Twelve former champions returned for the 50th running of the tournament in 1969 and were part of a field of 80 entrants that year. On that diverse roster were a 70 year old veteran, Mrs. Fran Houseman, and a new entrant, Miss Pixie Ross, a 20- year-old. Members of the S.L.I.T. Committee worked diligently each year to make the event even more memorable by opening their homes for cocktail parties and picnics.

The tournament cup or trophy was retired to the permanent possession of the player winning three titles. Over the years, the S.L.I.T. trophy has been retired by five individuals and they are in order: Virginia Van Wie in 1930, Eileen Wood in 1940, Sally Sessions in 1947, Fonnie Reynolds in 1962, and Patti (Shook) Boice in 1967, 1972 and 1976. Today, the rules allow the winner to keep her trophy each year.

Winners of S.L.I.T. who later joined the L.P.G.A have been: Cindy Figg-Currier, (1980 National Champion of Trans-Mississippi); Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, (Michigan State University Golf Coach); Sherry Wilder, (L.P.G.A. teaching pro, Palm Springs); Sharon Miller, (golf teacher and writer for Womens Golf Magazine). L.P.G.A. members who have played in S.L.I.T. were Evonne Picard, Babe Zaharias, Sue Ertl, Elaine Crosby and Cinthia Hill.

The following contestants who continue to participate in S.L.I.T. as well as National Women’s Tournaments are: Mary Jane Anderson, (1995 Qualified for Match Play and the U.S. Womens Amateur); Susan Campbell; Joan Garety, (1995 Michigan Publinx Champion, Michigan Golf Hall of Fame); Meredith (McCuaig) Weaver, (1995 quarter-finalist in the Women’s National Mid Amateur).

Several S.L.I.T. Champions were also Women’s Michigan Amateur Champions: Elsie Hilding (1923), Mrs. Stewart Hanley (1924, 27, 30, 34), Rylma (Strevel) Marquart (1953), Fonnie Reynolds (1954), Sharon Miller (1964, 65), Patti (Shook) Boice (1967, 71, 73, 76, 77, 78, 79), Sue (Scripsema) Parsons (1980), Joan Garety (1982), and Mary Jane Anderson (1990-95).

S.L.I.T. Champions who were Trans-Mississippi National Champions are: Sharon Miller (1964) and Cindy Figg-Currier (1980).

Tri-City entrants who are past Champions of S.L.I.T. are Marty Robbins, Maria Robbins, Peg Johnston, Eleanor Babcock, Patti Boice, Trisha Gregory and Kelly McGurk.

In the history of the tournament, five champions retired the S.L.I.T Trophy by winning three titles over their playing careers. Spring Lake’s Patti (Shook) Boice retired her fourth trophy in 1988, a record. Today the rules allow the winner to keep her trophy each year.