Goulet made her mark on golf

REGINA — For many, Joanne Goulet’s golfing prowess took a back seat to what she did as Auntie Jo.

“She was Auntie Jo to everybody in her family and her friends,” Tammy Dufour, one of Goulet’s nieces, said Monday — two days after Goulet died at age 79 from complications due to diabetes.

“She loved kids. That was her thing. At any family gathering or anything, she was always surrounded by the kids. She always kept little treats in her pockets and took the kids on different little adventures ...

“She didn’t have any kids of her own, but she had lots of nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews who she always, always spent time with.”

Goulet took up golf at 14 and embarked on an amateur career that became legendary. She won two Saskatchewan junior women’s championships, nine provincial amateur women’s titles and six Saskatchewan senior women’s crowns. She also helped Saskatchewan’s team win two Canadian senior women’s championships.

Goulet competed in the inaugural women’s amateur world championship in 1964, helping Canada finish fourth. She played in the 1964 British Open, earning the Commonwealth Trophy as a semifinalist. Over her career in Regina, she won 32 city women’s golf championships.

Goulet was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, the Regina Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame in 2010. Regina’s Joanne Goulet Golf Course was named in her honour in 1993.