FIRST OFFICERS – PRESIDENT, GLADYS JODOIN; VICE PRESIDENT, MARILYN SIMMONS; SECRETARY, SHIRLEY BOWER; TREASURER, BARBARA SIDARIS
On February 25, 2000, an open meeting was held in the Glen with 27 ladies attending. The agenda included Q&A for forming a Ladies’ 9-Hole golf league. Two additional meetings were scheduled: March 4, for nomination of officers and collection of dues, and March 11, to elect officers with committees to be established at the first annual meeting scheduled for the second Wednesday in April.
Herons Glen Ladies 9-Hole Golf Association was officially formed on March 9, 2000, and was commonly known as the “Gold Miner’s Niners.” We now refer to ourselves as “The Lady Niners.”
Many of the tournaments and special events the Lady Niners continue to play in to this day are:
• Rally for the Cure (now Pretty in Pink). $1,815 was raised in 2000. We’ve come a long way since then. • The first annual Duke & Duchess was held on January 24, 2001, with 24 couples, awards and dinner. This tradition continues.
• The first Invitational, Swing into Spring, was played on February 28, 2001, which included 26 players from 12 country clubs. These are now KISS events (Keep It Simple Summer). The Lady Niners now take part in these events through Lee County’s Council of Ladies Nine Hole Golf Association (LCCLNHGA) of which there are 25 clubs.
BARBARA AND ED DRELLA
• The first President’s Cup and League Championships began in the spring of 2001; Barbara Sidaris was the first League Champion and Joan Page was the first President’s Cup winner.
The Lady Niners also instituted a fun prize of dropping a quarter in a can located in the Golf Shop before Wednesday League Day games. If a golfer has a chip-in on any of the nine holes, she wins the “prize pot” of quarters.
Birdies/eagles and holes in one are also reported, and pins are awarded to those golfers at the season’s final meeting.
In 2023, the Historian began compiling the History of the Lady Niners. Information was obtained by scrapbooks beginning in 2000. Pictures and newspaper articles were scanned into a database archived by season (e.g., 2000- 2001). The Historian keeps this database up to date with current events, which can be found on The Lady Niners website: https://mooreflorida.wixsite.com/hg9holes.
