Judy Bell (born September 23, 1936) is an American amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er and golf administrator. She was inducted into the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

in 2001 in the Lifetime Achievement category, which honors people who have made an exceptional contribution to the sport in areas outside of tournament wins. Bell was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

and took up golf at the age of ten, winning the girls' division in her first event - in a field of one. In 1950 she lost to

Mickey Wright Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright (February 14, 1935 – February 17, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She became a member of the tour in 1955 and won 82 LPGA Tour career events including 13 major champion ...

in the semi-finals of the U.S. Girls' Junior, which was to remain her best result in a

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

(USGA) event. She won the Broadmoor Golf Club Invitation three times and played for the United States in the

Curtis Cup The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and ...

in 1960 and 1962. In 1967 she shot 67 in the U.S. Women's Open, which remained a record for 14 years. Bell became a USGA volunteer in 1961, when she was a member of the Junior Championship Committee. In the 1970s she became a rules official. She later served on the Women's Committee and in 1987 became the first woman on the Executive Committee. In 1996 she was elected as the 54th President of the USGA, the first woman to hold the senior office in American golf. During her tenure and subsequently she played a leading role in programs to take golf to youth, minorities and the disabled. Bell has been inducted into 11 halls of fame, including the World Golf Hall of Fame. She was among the first women to receive an honorary lifetime membership at the historic Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in 2015, and holds honorary memberships in eight other clubs in Scotland and the United States. In 2016, Bell received the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor.

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing the United States): 1960 (winners), 1962 (winners), 1986 (non-playing captain), 1988 (non-playing captain)

External links

* American female golfers Amateur golfers Golf administrators World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Wichita, Kansas 1936 births Living people 21st-century American women {{US-golf-bio-stub