Marion Hollins elected to 2021 class of Golf Hall of Fame
Marion Hollins financed and developed a golf course for women in New York and was the brains behind two fabled golf courses in California. And with one determined swing, she set in motion plans for the famous par-3 16th at Cypress Point.
A visionary in golf course architecture, a confidante of Alister Mackenzie and a U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, Hollins now takes her place among the greats in the game.
She was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame through through the contributor’s category, joining a 2021 class that so far includes Tiger Woods.
The Hall of Fame announced her election Friday. The induction is planned for March in Florida.
Hollins, who died in 1944 when she was 51, was U.S. captain of the first Curtis Cup in 1932, and the 1921 Women’s Amateur was her most significant victory on the golf course. Her influence was vast, however, stretching from Cypress Point and Pasatiempo in California across the country to Augusta National.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Juli Inkster, who grew up off the 14th fairway of Pasatiempo. “She was at the forefront for women, not only in architecture but she was an amazing athlete ...”
Born in 1892, Hollins was skilled in golf and horses, dabbled in auto racing and marched with the suffragettes in New York.
Two years after she lost in the championship match of the U.S. Women’s Amateur as a 17-year-old, she led the development of the Women’s National Golf & Tennis Club on Long Island, enlisting Seth Raynor and Devereux Emmet to build it and helping with the design. The club also featured 22 tennis courses, half of them grass. Men were allowed only as guests.
She moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 1922 and worked with Samuel Morse. Hollins organized the Pebble Beach Golf Championship for Women (she was a seven-time champion). She also approached Morse with the idea of a private club, and they agreed on a 150-acre site at Cypress Point.
“When you start reading about Marion Hollins, you realize what a trailblazer she was,” said Annika Sorenstam, inducted in 2003 and part of the Hall of Fame’s selection committee.