Hall of Fame

Sara Wold played a major role in structuring golf for Women in Michigan. Her earliest organizational experiences were as President of the Park-Davis Women’s Golf League (1971-75). She continued developing her skills as chairman of the Women’s Athletic Advisory Committee for Detroit’s Department of Recreation for nine years (1973-82). Here she chaired the Women’s Super Sports, a two-day event, and an annual women’s city golf tournament. Her early interest in women’s sports was in softball and she is a member of the Illinois Softball Hall of Fame. 

Sara applied her leadership skills to several of the top golf organizations in the state. The USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links (WAPL) Committee has benefited from Sara’s skills from 1984 until the Championship was retired in 2014. During this time, she initiated three Sectional Qualifying Sites in Michigan, annually conducted the Detroit Metro US WAPL Sectional Qualifier, and assisted with numerous other USGA Sectional Qualifiers annually. She also attended the US WAPL Championship every year since 1984 as a rules official. She was a member of the USGA Regional Affairs Committee from 2014 – 2019.

Sara was a founding member in 1986 of the Michigan Women’s Publinx Golf Association (MWPGA, now MWGA). During Sara’s term as president, 1994 - 96, the MWGA won the Golf for Women’s Magazine Award for Best Women’s Public Golf Association. Since its inception, the MWGA has been a model association and assisted in the organization of other women’s golf associations. As an active Board member, she served as editor of the MWGA Newsletter for eight years and the Rules Chairman until 2019. She started the MWGA Girl’s Golf Program in Detroit in 2007.

Sara served the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) since 1994 as a Rules Official, She became a Governor in 1998 and has been a member of several committees: Membership, Championships and Rules, Club Relations, Site Selection, and Honor Roll. She played a leading role annually chairing various GAM Championships and the Long Range Planning Committee. She was the second female President of the GAM in 2019 and is a member of the Executive Committee. During her term, she started the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Committee. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the GAM Foundation.

 

Sara promoted golf through a variety of tournaments and publications. As a founding member of the Women’s Interstate Mid-Amateur Golf Championship involving Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, she spent fourteen years (1985-1999) on the executive committee and as the Michigan representative. She has officiated the U.S. Women’s Open, the U. S. Junior Boys, and the U. S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and the World Amateur Team Championships in Puerto Rico, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Turkey, and Japan. She co-chaired the Michigan Women’s Golf Summits I, II and III - a program of seminars on women’s golf related issues with guest speakers such as Carol Mann, Kathy Whitworth and Judy Bell. Sara has acted as a Golf Digest Panelist since 1986 and has played golf in 30 countries. She has been on the Michigan Golf Foundation Board of Directors since 1999.  She served on the Women’s Golf Alliance Board of Directors from 2014 – 2018.

Sara was given the Ike Grainger Award by the United States Golf Association in 2010 for 25 years of service and in 2011 she received the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association's Matthews Award for Lifetime Achievement. She was elected to the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2003 and to the MWGA Golf Hall of Fame in 2016.