Remembering An LPGA Founder And Legend: Shirley Spork

Her enthusiasm for the game spanned 80 years and more. Shirley Spork, a highly respected founder of the LPGA, died Tuesday in Palm Springs, California. She was 94, just two weeks removed from a spry appearance at the Chevron Championship, where she and the rest of the tour’s founders were ushered into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Shirley Spork Courtesy USGA Museum
Spork started golf at age 11 and was still playing well into her 90s. She taught golf until the end, saying just two weeks ago, “I teach who I want, when I want, and enjoy every second of it.” She also traveled to the United Kingdom for the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, and in the 2021 matches was a fixture on the first tee at Inverness in Ohio, dancing to the music between matches.
So much of what Spork did was different. Though she started off by selling the balls which arrived in the family garden from the golf course adjacent to their home in Redford, Michigan, near Detroit, she used her savings to buy what was the one and only club on offer at the local thrift shop: a putte...