Frank and Ann Stranahan
In 1965 the Wayzata Country Club hosted the 65th Women's Western Golf Tournament. I was 17, in my fifth year of caddying. As one of the top caddies at the club, I was given an opportunity to pick many of my loops, including a bag for the big tournament. After studying the list of entrants, I selected the 35 year old Ann Stranahan, former fashion model and wife of PGA tour winner, Frank Stranahan.
The summer of '65 was the peak year for my caddying. While I did caddie in my college years, I worked on the grounds crew, picked up balls on the driving range, worked in the shop and one summer traveled the country playing tournaments. I knew every member who played golf in the small membership.
Patterns of play have changed significantly from the '60s. Peak play today tends to be all day Thursday and Friday, with the least amount of play on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. In the '60s peak play was Wednesday afternoon, men's day, Saturday morning men and Sunday afternoon couples. Frequently there would be only one or two groups on Tuesday afternoon, Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon. Many Fridays would find only one or two caddies getting a loop and I would get it.
Guest day would be the only day non members would play. In fact, guest fee revenue was so insignificant Homer Martinson, the club's golf professional, would allow his friends to come out and play at no charge.
Today young men and women caddie through college. In the '60s college students rarely caddied for a summer job as they worked higher paying construction jobs. As a result, as a high school senior, I was one of the oldest kids in the caddie yard.
Today the Women's Western does not carry the prestige it did when the top women players in the country competed. Ann Stranahan was one of those women. She was a top player in a small circle of national women, along with the likes of Judy Bell and Barbara McIntire.
When I selected her I pictured a drop dead gorgeous lady, maybe with a daughter in tow who would love to see the sights of Minneapolis. And with her former PGA tour player husband to give me a lesson or two and maybe get a golf game. It's always good to dream!
Ann was the runner up in the 1960 British Women's Amateur. However, while Barbara McIntyre was the reigning Women's USGA Amateur Champion, there was an allure of what Ann Stranahan might bring .
She appeared at Wayzata CC a day later than the balance of the field. Tall, attractive with barn red hair piled on top of her head, she was subdued as I pulled her golf bag from the rental car and walked to the practice tee. Most of the ladies were on site for two practice rounds. Ann only had one.
She was quiet and friendly but not overly so. Conservative but fashionably dressed, Ann did not appear to have a circle of friends playing the national circuit. She kept to herself preparing and playing the tournament.
She was married to Frank Stranahan, a high profile athlete in the late '40s, '50s and early '60s. An early believer in conditioning and strength training, the movie star handsome Stranahan mentored Gary Player as he developed his conditioning program in 1958. Known as the "Toledo Strongman", Frank was ahead of his time, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, meat and dairy.
Stranahan was the son of the founder of Champion Spark Plugs, thus led a life blessed with unlimited financial resources. He traveled the world playing golf and lifting weights. Growing up at the Inverness Club in Toledo, he was taught the game by Byron Nelson, then the golf professional.
Frank Stranahan was the US Powerlifting Champion in his weight class from 1945-1954. During that time he finished second in the 1947 Masters, won the British Amateur in 1948 and 1950, and was the runner-up at Minneapolis Golf Club in the 1950 US Amateur. He was the runner up in five majors in his career. He was a member of the '47, '49 and '51 Walker Cup Teams. Clearly one of the greatest amateurs of his day.
After marrying in 1954, Frank ventured out onto the PGA tour as a professional, winning six times including the 1958 Los Angeles Open. He finished tenth in the 1958 US Open.
Following his retirement from competitive golf, he went on to Harvard and the Wharton School of Business. Being the fitness freak he was, Frank became a long distance runner, competing in 102 marathons in the early 60's. He died in 2013 at the age of 90.
I was disappointed he did not appear at the Women's Western, but even more disappointed in Ann's play. She was not sharp. Maybe it was the design of the golf course, coming from the short tight Inverness with small greens to the long Wayzata CC, with its huge greens and bunkers a great distance from the greens. Or maybe it was something else. As a premier national player, she should have easily qualified for match play.
Less than a year later in 1966 Ann and Frank's oldest child, Frank Jr. died of cancer. The boy was 11 years old. While I have no knowledge of the date of his diagnosis, it is not out of the realm of possibility than she was aware of his condition. Distracted, not wanting to be at the tournament, evidenced by her late arrival, she had little focus, interest or intensity while playing.
Ann missed the cut, paid me generously and left with little emotion, heading back to Toledo. I never heard anything about her again. She died of cancer at age 45 in 1975.
I was fortunate to have another contestant, 28 year old Donna Gilliam, decide to change caddies and I was assigned her bag. A strong player from Northern California she won two matches before falling in the semi finals.
It was a thrill to have a national event at our course, fun to be in the hunt with Donna, but disappointed my vision of the week did not come to fruition in A Life Of Golf.
