PHIL HICKS/STAFF WANDA SOWELL HENDRIX (holding trophy) is shown with her family during her induction into the Tyler ISD Athletic Hall of Fame on Nov. 4 at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium. The Tylerite was also recently honored as one of the top 100 golfers in Texas by the Texas Golf Association.

HOUSTON – The grand ballroom of the Houston Country Club was teeming with excitement. Filled to capacity with golfers to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s golf in Texas, the elegant evening event became a reunion for some of the best golfers in Texas.

One of those in attendance, accompanied by her daughters Holly and Heidi, was Tyler’s Wanda Hendrix. The winner of the Texas women’s amateur in 1971 and 1972, Hendrix was visiting with 1975 U.S. Open champion and longtime friend Sandra Palmer at a reception prior to the sit-down dinner. No doubt the two champions, both still fit and trim as when winning those tournaments, were sharing stories of their beloved teacher, the late Harvey Penick.

Penick, as many golfers already know, was the revered teacher for many years at Austin Country Club.

Considered the dean of Texas teachers and credited with molding champion golfers Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw, Penick’s fame increased late in his career with the publication of his “Little Red Book,” co-authored with the late Texas writer Bud Shrake.

Penick passed away in April of 1995 on the eve of the Masters that was won in storybook fashion by Crenshaw.

For Hendrix, the autumn of 2016 has been eventful. She was selected as one of the top 100 golfers by the Texas Golf Association, which sponsored the celebration billed as “Breaking 100 – A Century of Women’s Golf in Texas.”

She was cited by host Stacy Dennis during the dinner. Then, upon returning to Tyler, Hendrix was inducted in the athletic hall of fame of the Tyler Independent School District.

It was duly noted by the school district that Hendrix was way ahead of her time in golf, with her bio on the school district website stating: “Wanda Sowell Hendrix was the first female athlete from Tyler High School to distinguish herself in a sport traditionally dominated by men.”

A 1956 Tyler High graduate, Hendrix hit her first golf shot at age 12 when caddying for her father at Bellwood Golf Club, a course now closed that was located west of Tyler off of Texas Highway 31. On the last hole, her father let her hit a shot and she was hooked.

“My mother used to drop me off at Bellwood during the summers and I would play and work on my game all day long,” Hendrix said. “I played some with Pat Dyer and Jim Davis and was encouraged also by Sammy O’Shea and Nina Owens Long. We would play Scotch foursomes with a covered dish supper afterwards.”

After attending Tyler Junior College, Hendrix transferred to Texas where she met future LPGA hall of famer Sandra Haynie, another former US Open winner who was one of the special guests honored at the Houston dinner.

“One day I was playing poorly and Sandra told me to go see Harvey Penick and that changed my golfing life forever,” Hendrix said. “He helped me start playing better and I learned a lot that I still use today in my teaching.”

The best year of her competitive career was in 1963 when Hendrix won the Southern Amateur and the Louisiana State Amateur. In both tournaments, she defeated her good friend Barbara Fay White Boddie of Shreveport, who died in 2004.

“Barbara Fay was such a great friend and a wonderful golfer,” Hendrix said. “Her dad Ned was the pro at Querbes Park in Shreveport and I was teaching school there during that time. I actually rode up to the Southern with her that year. It was played at Riverdale Country Club in Little Rock.

“I had the greatest caddie who helped me read the greens – Big Ed – and Barbara Fay said that’s why I was able to beat her. Well, that motivated me to win the state amateur later that year just to prove her wrong. But Barbara Fay went on to play on two Curtis Cup teams (amateur competition for women between the US and Europe much like the Ryder Cup) so she was that good.”

In 1971, Hendrix won her first of two Texas state amateurs at River Plantation near Conroe and then repeated the following year at iconic Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. Colonial has hosted two US Opens, a Players Championship and a PGA Tour event every year since 1947. The club was started by Marvin Leonard, whose daughter Marty was at the Houston dinner.

“Oh I really wanted to win the state amateur at Colonial that year but Wanda beat everybody that week,” Marty Leonard said with a smile.

Such memories were a big part of the centennial celebration for women’s golf. The dinner was attended by a Tyler contingent that included Linda Parker, Kris Curtis and Dolly Wolf. The three women are part of a larger group of golfers who have benefitted from Hendrix’ teaching at Willow Brook Country Club the past 21 years.

Parker, a former president of the Women’s Texas Golf Association that merged with the TGA in 2014, spoke for the group when she said Hendrix has helped all of them improve their games and thus enjoy golf more.

“Wanda is just so patient and has helped a lot of us through the years,” Parker said. “She is able to work with golfers of all levels, even beginners.”

One of those beginners was Holly Baker, who plays regularly at Willow Brook.

“Wanda is one of my favorites and has done so much for me both in golf and as a personal friend,” Baker said. “Sometimes we are playing and she will ride out and watch and maybe give us a tip. Probably the funniest thing was her getting me to use a coat hanger to keep my arms together and better turn my shoulders.”

Hendrix said her teaching schedule has become lighter in recent years. She likes the more relaxed schedule and points to her Christian faith as the reason for her contentment.

“God has a plan for me even now at this stage of my life,” Hendrix said. “I remember one day at Bellwood when I was in high school and I looked to the sky and prayed that God would make me a champion golfer. I was already a Christian then and promised that I would give Him all of the credit. And I do.”