There are few figures who stand as tall in golf as the founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA): Alice Bauer, Patty Berg, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Betty Jameson, Sally Sessions, Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Louise Suggs and Babe Zaharias.

Born out of a shared passion for the game and an unrelenting determination to carve out a space for women in the world of professional golf, the journey began in 1950, at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kan., where a dream the 13 women shared turned into a reality with the founding of the LPGA.

The founders used money from their own pockets to travel the country in cars, run their own tournaments, set up their own golf courses and do their own promotional appearances without much financial support from sponsors or equipment companies.

“We owe the LPGA’s long and illustrious history to the dedicated efforts and incredible commitment of our 13 Founders,” said former LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “Their leadership created the most successful women’s sports organization in the world, and they made it possible for women to pursue golf as a passion and as a career.”