Golfer Berg Never Short on Goodwill

My favorite woman athlete is Patty Berg, the former pro pursuer of par. She was the highly talented redhead who turned in 60 tournament victories during her career; 22 of them before the Ladies Professional Golf Association was founded in 1950. She was a happy warrior whether she won or lost.

It was not Berg's skill with her woods and irons, however, that won me over. It was her devotion to the cause of women's golf. As a star during the Great Depression and afterward, she always was ready to provide her full cooperation to the sport.

I first saw the former links star play in the early 1950s. Berg, now 86 and living in Fort Myers, was in a benefit exhibition at the Shackamaxon Country Club in Scotch Plains, N.J., against the famed Babe Didrickson Zaharias.

It was apparent from the start that Berg tried to take a back seat to the 1932 U.S. Olympic track and field gold medal winner. She felt the Olympian was the player spectators had come to see. If that helped the sport, she was ready to cooperate.

For me, her intense interest in promoting women's golf came into sharp focus at a 1969 LPGA tournament at the Concord Hotel, a 1,200-room complex in New York's Catskills. The resort offered 50 tennis courts and three golf courses among its other amenities.

Because I was related to the hotel's owners through marriage, I was asked if I could help obtain more advance publicity for the tournament. Since the Concord was 90 miles from New York City, only a small, local daily newspaper had given it some attention.

I agreed to try and help. I was at a loss, at first, about how to get started. Because only two days remained before the tournament was to begin, I concluded that a gag shot might be used by the Associated Press. But a gag shot about what?

I remembered having reported on a series of women's association tournament years earlier that were held each week at a different course. The one that came to mind had been staged at the historic St. Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, N.Y.

Some of the ladies had appeared wearing shorts, not knowing that the club's rules mandated that only skirts could be worn. They were delayed in teeing off by 90 minutes until skirts could be obtained from other pro shops in the area.

The LPGA tournament at the Concord was held in an era when skirts worn by women players were getting shorter, and the subject had received some attention in the press. When I arrived, I noticed that the women's skirts were just above their knees.

I found Berg watching them at the driving range. After explaining the reason I was there, I asked whether she would consider having a photo taken showing her measuring the skirt lengths of a few players.

Without pausing, she said that if would help the LPGA gain exposure, she would be happy to. The then-51-year-old Berg didn't hesitate to get down on her knees and measure one of the player's skirts. I was astonished by the degree of her cooperation.

In 1978, the LPGA honored Berg by establishing an award in her name. Appropriately, it is given to the woman golfer who has made the greatest contribution to women's golf during the year.