Carolyn Creekmore lived in Arkansas and Texas long enough to have her golf exploits saluted by the sport’s halls of fame in both states. But the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion made the move to Florida nearly four years ago.
“I woke up one morning about two years before I moved and thought, ‘Are you going to die in Dallas?’” said Creekmore, 71. “Because if you are not going to die in Dallas, you’d might as well move now while you are young enough to make friends, get a life and do some stuff.”
Creekmore, a native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, came to the Sunshine State after 30-plus years in Texas with her own form of Vitamin D: her humor and outlook on life.
The transplantation was not only about her but her family, too. She had two sisters living in Ponte Vedra Beach, where her family had vacationed since the 1970s, and a brother and her stepmom residing there part-time. She also brought her golf talent to northeast Florida with a résumé of success in high-level amateur competition that led to induction into the Arkansas and Texas golf halls of fame in 2010.
“You represent the USGA now. You have to be nice everywhere you go, because everyone’s going to know you are a champion and you can’t act badly. No bad acting.”
Creekmore, who was the runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, also brought golf opportunities for competitive players. She and longtime friend Melissa Gotfredson co-founded the Ladies Amateur Golf Association of North Florida, a monthly gathering of low-handicap players to prepare them for their season schedules.
“The word I think about when I think of Creekie is charisma,” said Ellen Port, a longtime friend and seven-time USGA champion from St. Louis. “It fits her perfectly. She has that ‘it’ factor. She has a strong character and is very confident and outgoing, but she’s also genuinely interested in people. She doesn’t take herself so seriously and is very kind.”
“At my age the fact that I can still compete with these girls and sometimes do pretty good, it’s a bonus.” – Carolyn Creekmore
Port confirmed the “local knowledge” on Creekmore that she is fun and great to be around, but beware when the match starts.
“She’s a tough competitor,” Port said. “She is going to settle in on her game, but she can appreciate your game and respect that. As a competitor, she is never out of it. She never gives up. It is always going to be a heck of a match.”
The hard edge came because she grew up in an athletic family led by her grandfather, Steve Sr., the quarterback of the undefeated University of Arkansas football team in 1909. “Creekie” has so many wins that she has a strong perspective on golf and life.
“It doesn’t affect me as badly when I don’t play well,” said Creekmore, who won the 2006 North & North Senior Women’s Amateur. “I still hate it. But, at my age the fact that I can still compete with these girls and sometimes do pretty good, it’s a bonus.”
At the recent Florida State Women’s Senior Amateur, she shot 74 and 76 (6-over par) in the first two rounds but closed with a 79 to finish in 11th place. She faced a six-hour drive home from Naples but thought ahead to get her car’s AC system fixed on the morning of the final round.
“They fixed it, and it was it was a nice ride home after all the horror that happened on the golf course,” said Creekmore, a reinstated amateur who stays in competitive shape through Pilates, which she calls “a kinder, gentler type of exercise which I have to do because my joints are saying, ‘Nope.’”
Home brings her together with her two springer spaniels, Sundance and Scout. She belongs to Pablo Creek Club, where she plays two to three times a week with the daily men’s game at noon “just to have some competition and to have to count every shot and to have to try to make every shot work, and that has helped me.”
“I live on the beach, so tell me if there is anything else I can do to make my life better,” said Creekmore, who was a member of the North team at the 2021 Florida Cup Matches.
Creekmore’s passion for animals has been lifelong. She used to own and train horses but now does advocacy work for dogs, cats, and horses, which she still owns.
Her lighthearted spirit is highlighted by the story of her college choice.
In her senior year of high school, she pleaded to join her father on a business trip to Phoenix and chose to attend Arizona State “100 percent because of the weather.”
“It was 40 and sleeting in Fort Smith, and we walked onto the tarmac to 70 and no wind,” said Creekmore, who graduated in 1974 and went on to work in real estate, travel agency, owning an exercise studio and then assisting the family nursing-home business. She never played golf at Arizona State but turned pro for a short spell before realizing “I was never going to be that good.”
Golf and membership at Brook Hollow Country Club in Dallas brought an unexpected friendship with former President George W. Bush. The two were playing together at Brook Hollow’s par-3 eighth hole when no one saw Creekmore’s tee shot. “The president is impatient, so he went to putt while I kept looking for my ball,” Creekmore said.
Upon putting out, Bush found her ball in the hole. “It was ridiculous,” she said. “It never got more than a foot off the ground the whole way.”
She laughingly tells stories about her 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and 1995 Texas Women’s Amateur victories. And while she has not had a significant victory since 2015, when she won in back-to-back weeks at the Texas Women’s Senior Stroke Play and the Women’s Southern Golf Association’s Senior Championship, she still shines with smiles with those tales.
Upon winning the 1995 Texas Women’s Am, Creekmore said her dad received a call from former Arkansas football coach Frank Broyles, who said: “If an Arkansas girl can beat all those Texans, then we are going to Augusta (National Golf Club).” Creekmore’s reaction: “So instead of Disney World, we were going to Augusta. I never expected that.”
After her 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur victory at Pasatiempo, Creekmore called four-time champion Carol Semple Thompson. Creekmore told Thompson: “You forgot to tell me something. Now, I have to be nice the rest of my life. Now, how am I going to do that? You did not give me those instructions.”
After losing to Sherry Herman in the final of the 2009 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, Creekmore re-shared that information.
In the phone call with Herman, Creekmore said: “I have good news and bad news. The good news is this is going to be the most fun year in your life. Every minute is going to be fun. But the bad news is that you have to be nice for the rest of your life. You represent the USGA now. You have to be nice everywhere you go, because everyone’s going to know you are a champion and you can’t act badly. No bad acting.”
“I am grateful for my life, and my friends are a big part of that. Mostly everything is good. I am just happy. I’ve met the greatest people. I think we are lucky that this is our sport.” – Carolyn Creekmore
Creekmore can do those things and tell those stories because she has endeared herself to her golf friends. “You can ask me about any tournament, and I can tell you a hilarious story,” she said.
But she cherishes the people whom she has met through golf.
Port, who said there are too many Creekie stories to mention, said: “We’ve been around for each other’s successes and slumps, so that makes for a really good friendship.”
Added Creekmore: “I am grateful for my life, and my friends are a big part of that. Mostly everything is good. I am just happy. I’ve met the greatest people. I think we are lucky that this is our sport.”