It’s fitting that the recent 58th California Women’s Amateur Championship was held at The Peninsula Golf and Country Club in San Mateo.
The Peninsula G&CC after all, was the home course of California Women’s Amateur founder Helen Lengfeld.
Born in 1898, Lengfeld’s legacy began as a player, winning her first Club Championship in 1918 at Beresford CC (The Peninsula G&CC). She sponsored a Ladies Invitational at Beresford CC in 1925, one of the first big events following architect Donald Ross’s complete redesign of the course. Naturally she won, and in 1926, the Bay Area native won the San Francisco Women’s Championship. That same year, she helped found the Women’s Golf Association of Northern California and in 1927 won their first Championship, held at Olympic Club.
Fourteen years later, Lengfeld, who was inducted into the NCGA Hall of Fame in 2016, started the California Women’s Golf Circuit, which featured stars such as Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg.
Lengfeld went on to start the California Women’s Amateur Championships, which consist of the California Junior Girls’ State Championship, the California Women’s Amateur Championship and the California Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Former champions of the events include women’s golf greats Juli Inkster, Patty Sheehan and Amy Alcott.
In 2022, Peninsula G&CC installed a display honoring the legacy of Lengfeld. Club Historian Michael Jamieson, who is featured in the accompanying video, notes the exhibit features over 40 photographs, trophies and memorabilia items of her life, including Lengfeld’s 2016 NCGA Hall of Fame induction award and a golf sweater she wore in competition knitted by her mother-in-law almost 100 years ago.
“She was probably the most important figure in women’s golf in California throughout its history,” Jamieson notes. “She has a true legacy.”