Renee Powell

Early life Renee Powell was born in East Canton, Ohio, where she was raised Catholic. She began playing golf at the age of three. Her father, Bill Powell, is the first African American to create and build his own golf course in the US. He made miniature golf clubs for her to use as a child and was her golf teacher. Her early life was quiet, and Powell played a number of different sports as a young person, including archery, ballet and basketball. She helped maintain the Clearview golf course, driving a tractor.

Powell entered her first amateur tournament at the age of 12 and won her division. She had won the Great Lakes Bantam Golf Tournament, the Columbiana County Open, Clearview Golf Club junior, Sixth City Ladies (three times), Tiretown Open Ladies (twice), Vehicle City tourney, and the Midwest District Junior in three consecutive years. The Akron Beacon Journal called her the "Queen of the Bantam Golf Show." In 1962, she was the first African American to enter the U.S. Girls' Junior. In the junior championship, she caused an upset in winning the first round. In 1963 she won the Akron Tire Town open for a third time. She entered the Girls' Junior Championship again in August 1963. In the summer of 1964, she won a "sudden death" match in the Lyle Chevrolet women's golf tournament. She was considered a favorite in the 1964 United Golf Association (UGA) National Open and went on to take the amateur title that year.

Powell graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1964. She went on to attend Ohio University (OU) and then transferred to Ohio State University (OSU). At OU she was majoring in speech and hearing therapy, but changed her major to sociology when she transferred to OSU. Powell captained the women's golf team at both universities and at OSU, her role as captain made her the first African American to lead a major university golf team.

Professional career

Powell competed in more than 250 professional golf tournaments. In 1967, she joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She became the second African American player in the LPGA. There were times she was not allowed to stay inside the official tournament hotels. Sometimes, however, Powell and Post would not be served at restaurants and left hungry. Her win was a course-record when she scored a final-round of 67 strokes. She was briefly the first female head professional at Silvermere Golf Club. Powell later joined the British PGA and was the first woman to compete in a British men's tournament when she played in the 1977 Surrey PGA Championship.

In 1980, she retired from the LPGA. She runs a rehabilitation program, Clearview HOPE, for female war veterans.

Awards Powell and her family were awarded the Jack Nicklaus Golf Family Award from the National Golf Foundation (NGF) in 1992. She was elected as a member of the PGA of America in 1996.

In 2013, Powell was inducted into the Stark County Amateur Hall of Fame. Powell was later inducted into the PGA America Hall of Fame in 2017. Her father had also been an inductee, making the pair the only father / daughter combination to both receive this award. Upon induction, Powell said, "To be inducted into the PGA hall of fame alongside my father is extremely special as he was my only instructor over these many years."

Powell earned an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of St Andrews in 2008. In 2015, was invited to become one of the first women members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. At the formal luncheon at the club, she was allowed to bring one guest and Powell chose to bring her friend, Franco Harris. Powell and her family were honored with the Old Tom Morris Award by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America at the 2019 Golf Industry Show.