If Johnny Carson had been a golf course superintendent, we would know him as William Shirley. Shirley, certified golf course superintendent at venerable Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta, may be the funniest guy in the profession. With a wit quicker than the greens at Augusta National and a sense of humor drier than the fairways at this year’s U.S. Open, he regularly has colleagues rolling in the aisles at Georgia GCSA events.
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But recently Shirley was the one with tears of joy in his eyes when his daughter, Margaret, won this year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Harbour Trees Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind. It was a triumph drenched in emotion, and no small amount of retribution. The opponent she beat in September, Julia Potter, was the same one she lost to in the Mid-Am final a year before.
There was another cruel playoff in the recent past. In 2012, she was one of 15 players competing in sudden death for 14 remaining slots in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She missed out. Her father caddied for her each time. So because of those “hard losses” this year’s win, “meant more than anything,” Margaret says.
In fact, William Shirley has been on the bag for his daughter nearly as much as he’s been on a greens mower. He introduced her to the game as a toddler at Peachtree, and as she grew, so did their tradition of late-afternoon rounds followed by the drive-thru at Burger King. They played every chance they could get piling up “hundreds, maybe thousands” of rounds over the years. Daughter became good enough to play at Auburn. Dad was kind enough to loop for her then too.
When Margaret’s college career ended with a final round in New Mexico in 2008, father and daughter hugged and “cried like babies.” “It was painful knowing that was over with,” William says. “Something we’d really bonded over was suddenly done.”
The Shirleys are grateful to have had the support of Peachtree Golf Club, which has strong links with the amateur game, owing its existence to Bobby Jones, Jr. “She played 48 college tournaments and I missed four,” William says. “She played in nine or 10 Women’s Amateurs and missed one.”
“To have parents like I do who have given me the support they have…it’s hard to put into words what it means,” Margaret says. “This (U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur) is almost more theirs than mine.” Her mother, Leslie, sat in the car during the Mid-Am final because she could no longer bear to watch.
Dad’s support of his daughter was not without some pain and anguish of his own. Lifting golf bags led to rotator cuff surgery early this year. Then, trying to rush his recovery led to a repeat procedure after the Mid-Am triumph. Still, the year ends on a high note in December when Shirley – the dad – is inducted into the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Hall of Fame. That would normally be cause for joy among colleagues, but Shirley suggests that the nature of the award might lead him to be a “little more serious this time.”
