Wisdom from a women’s golf icon

Before Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam or Se Ri Pak, and before there was even such a thing as influencers setting trends across social media, there was Mary Bea Porter-King leading women and juniors to golf.

Porter-King was born in Everett, Washington, in 1949. She played four sports while attending Arizona State University. She joined the LPGA Tour after winning the 1973 qualifying school tournament and won her only tour event two years later. And then she really got busy.

She moved to Hawaii in 1989 and helped found the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association and currently serves as its president. She was inducted into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. She captained the U.S. team for the 2019 Junior Solheim Cup and served on the USGA Executive Committee. As one of the country’s most respected rules experts, she has officiated 14 U.S. Opens, 17 U.S. Women’s Opens, 15 U.S. Amateurs and five Masters. She was recognized by the PGA of America in 2011 with its First Lady of Golf Award.

The National Golf Foundation cites two key forces helping to drive golf’s recent boom times: women and juniors. Participation from those two groups increased in 2023 by 25 percent and 40 percent, respectively, from the previous year. There is no reference to Porter-King in the NGF’s statistics, but her passion for junior golf has shined brightly throughout her lifetime, and her life lessons are enduring.

Here’s some wisdom from Porter-King:

“Encouragement can make all the difference. It did for me.”

Porter-King got her start in Southern California under the encouragement of Betty Hicks, an accomplished golfer, golf coach and teacher, aviator, and author. Hicks introduced Porter-King to some of golf’s greats, including Carol Mann, Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright. As she remembers, “Betty Hicks, my first teacher at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park, California, had an amazing junior program with strict rules. We needed to pass a written rules test to play on the course.” She adds, “Part of me just feels that until the day I die, I’ll be driven to give more young people opportunities to play golf.”

“It’s the greatest game.”

Porter-King moved to Hawaii in 1989 and helped develop the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association. Using lessons she learned from Hicks and others, she prepared her juniors in a manner that every parent would approve. Preparations ranged from dress, rules, etiquette and pace of play to “how to win and how to lose, to be responsible for their own actions and results.” She told Global Golf Post’s Sean Fairholm a few years ago: “If more people played golf in this world, I don’t think there would be all these problems. The game has been so good to me, giving me friends and teaching me life lessons. I just want to see others have that same opportunity.”

“Women like golf for different reasons.”

“They play more for the company of other women and friends,” Porter-King says. “Fun tournaments and teaching them the do’s and don’ts are essential. Not being prepared turns women away. They want to know what to do and when to do it. They do not want to be embarrassed.”

Remembering an experience at a course when she needed to rent clubs, she recalls, “It was assumed I was a beginner and needed ladies clubs and that this was my first time playing golf. When I told them I needed men’s right-handed with tipped stiff shafts, they spoke to me differently.”

“There’s more to life than saving par.”

During the 1988 Samaritan Turquoise Classic, Porter-King scaled a neighboring residential fence to rescue a child who was in trouble in a nearby swimming pool. The act exemplified a life that has been defined by helping others. “That little boy is 40 years old now and has four children of his own,” she says proudly.

One of golf’s most important challenges, if it is to sustain its positive momentum, is to continue to build on recent gains among juniors and women. Porter-King continues to do her part.