Kirkland Tutors

About Kirkland

The name of Kirkland, Washington, is probably familiar to most Americans as the name of the in-store brand for Costco (although Costco itself is not headquartered there; it’s in nearby Issaquah). But one little-known fact about Kirkland is that it is the hometown of one of the pioneers of women’s professional golf.

JoAnne Carner, the only golfer in history to have won the U.S. Junior Girls Championship, the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open — the first person, male or female, to have won three different United States Golf Association championship events.

Carner was a force to be reckoned with in women’s golf during the 1970s, winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur five times and the U.S. Women’s Open twice.

Known as The Great Gundy and Big Momma, Carner was a free spirit whose biography in the World Golf Hall of Fame reads: “She loved match play, showboating to the galleries, riding motorcycles and partying in the clubhouse with members after her rounds. As JoAnne Gunderson, and later JoAnne Carner, she dominated women’s golf – and nobody had more fun dominating than she did.”

Born in 1939 in Kirkland, she began golfing at an early age, yet did not turn pro until she was 30. She won the U.S. Junior Girls Championship in 1956 while still in high school, and Lake Washington High School awarded her a letterman’s sweater for the sport — despite the fact that the school had a boys-only team.

Four years later while at Arizona State University, she won the national intercollegiate golf championship. She went on to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur five times and then turned professional after winning the Burdine’s Invitational as an amateur.

She married Don Carner in 1963 and he served as her golf tutor, coach and business manager, and the couple was known for driving to tournaments in their Gulfstream motor home, with JoAnne claiming that this novel arrangement benefited her golf game.

JoAnne Carner began her professional career in 1970 and would continue on the LPGA Tour to 2005. She was the second player in LPGA history to cross the $1 million earnings mark, and had an unusually long career, still making the LPGA cut in 2004 at age 65 — the oldest player to do so.

Her greatest professional achievements were winning the U.S. Women’s Opens in 1971 and 1976. She was honored with the Bob Jones Award in 1981, the highest honor given by the USGA, and inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1982.

As of 2015, Carner was still playing professional golf on the Legends Tour and has been advocating for a U.S. Senior Women’s Open, which is scheduled to begin in 2018.

Finding your strengths and playing to them is something that Kirkland tutors can help you with, whatever your grade level.