The big screen documentary The Founders chronicles stories of the founding 13 members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association as they fought overcome incredible odds in order to form the longest running women’s sports organization in the world in the late 1940’s. Although fierce competitors in an intensely individual sport, The Founders worked as a team to shift the public’s perception of what it meant to be a lady on the links. While their male counterparts drew adoring crowds and handsome purses for their athletic achievements, The Founders used money from their own pockets to stage tournaments in small, far-flung towns that questioned whether female golfers were even worth watching. Together, they logged thousands of miles a week-marketing equipment and themselves with hit parades, clown cars and boxing rings-just for the opportunity to tee off from courses that they also had to groom.
Love of the game and the ardent belief that, as much as the men, they deserved to be paid for playing fueled the determination of these sports pioneers. From the glamor girl to the consummate athlete, from the shy sweetheart to the boisterous “it-girl,” The Founders’ personalities, talents and drive collectively made the noise necessary to gain the attention of a sport long considered only gentlemen’s territory In the face of criticism, these women broke boundaries, set records and built a family. Today, the LPGA is the oldest continuing female professional sports organization in the United States, and through golf clinics, scholarship programs and thriving charitable foundations, The Founders still work to ensure that women have a lasting place on the green.
