In 1979, a star was born that came to be known as the Tee-Set Golf Club.  Small groups of women who were playing the game of golf felt the need to come together to form a cohesive, progressive, and competitive organization of women who loved the game.

 

In February of that same year, a core group met at the home of Peggy Owens, where the Tee-Set Golf Cub was organized.  Other golfer friends of these "Founding Members" were invited to join and were included in the roster as Tee-Set "Charter Members”.  The wealth of talent, skills and leadership abilities that permeated this group was overwhelming.  Their goal was three-fold: 1) to improve member golfing skills, 2) to encourage and support young people interest in learning the game, and 3) to foster play with fellow members and other women golf groups.

 

In the past , Tee-Set Golf Club held pre-season clinics and rules of golf discussion sessions. A few members attended the highly acclaimed United States Golf Academy in Plymouth, Indiana to further hone their golfing skills.  Most of our members, then and now,  maintain their skills with the assistance of LPGA or PGA golf professionals from time to time.

 

In 1980, Tee-Setters started their junior golf program under the direction and guidance of Tee-Setter Lavinia Wingo.  This project was enthusiastically embraced by the membership body and proved to be very successful, perhaps, even setting a standard for various junior golf programs that followed.  Tee-Set members  volunteered  their time and skills to educating young golfers on the game.

 

In those years, the Tee-Set Golf Club could also be thought of as a “political” body.  Some members participated in a protest with other golf groups, gathering at Palmer Park to protest the policies of the city's Parks and Recreation concerning city golf courses.  Certainly, this activism of Tee-Setters helped spur improvements in Detroit city golf courses.  It is about this same time that two of our members became charter members of the Michigan Women's Publinx Golf Association. (now known as Michigan Women's Golf Association), organized to promote golf for women across Michigan.

 

On the lighter side, Tee-Setters have always been a social group, as well as a golfing group.  Wearing the club's navy and yellow club colors, Tee-Set members have participated in many tournaments both locally and nationally, including Bermuda. With the golfing skill-set of the club, members were frequently found in the winners' circles of these tournaments.  They were a global group at the time, and members still travel across the states and to other countries to enjoy the sport.

 

Over the years, the Tee-Set Golf Club has experienced many changes, but the goals of the club and of its members remain the same as our founding members envisioned: promoting golf to women, increasing the skills of its members and enjoying the sport around which the Tee-Set Golf Club is centered.

 

Bernice Henderson