A Perthshire golf club is honouring one of Britain’s most successful female golfers.
“Wee Jessie” Valentine died in 2006, aged 91. But her legacy paved the way for generations of girls and women golfers.
The six-times Scottish Ladies Champion was voted the world’s number one lady golfer in 1937, at the age of 22.
She designed a range of Dunlop golf clubs for women.
And in 1959, the Perth-born legend became the first golfer to receive an MBE for services to the sport.
Jessie, known fondly as “the Fairway Maid of Perth”, was made an honorary member of the Blairgowrie Golf Club in 1969.
And now the club has collated a series of photographs reflecting her honours-strewn career.
Her son Iain, a Blairgowrie member and former chief executive of the Hong Kong Golf Association, joined other family members and guests for the unveiling of the “Jessie Valentine Wall” in the clubhouse dining room.
Jessie’s biographer Dr Eve Soulsby was also there to reflect on her remarkable contribution to the game.
She said: “In my opinion Jessie is the greatest Scottish lady golfer, ever.”
Jessie Valentine collected honours throughout her life
5ft 2in Jessie was the daughter of Craigie Hill professional and coach Joe Anderson.
She was also granted honorary membership at her beloved Craigie Hill and inducted into the Scottish Sporting Hall of Fame.
Crowned Scottish Ladies Champion six times in the 1930s and 1950s, she represented Great Britain and Ireland in six Curtis Cups.
And after winning national championships in New Zealand and France, she won the British Ladies Amateur at Turnberry in 1937, 1955 and 1958.
Her career was put on hold during the war years, but Jessie was far from idle.
She drove an ambulance while her fiancé and future husband George – a Perth motor dealership owner, councillor and St Johnstone director – was held as a prisoner of war.
Jessie turned professional at the age of 45 to take over the reins of a Perth sports store from her father.
The diminutive golfer with the “spirit level backswing” went on to write a book, titled Better Golf, Definitely.
And in 1967 Jessie received the Frank Moran Trophy awarded to “the Scot who has done most for the game of golf.”
Her enduring standing in the sport she loved was reflected when Jessie, aged 78, was invited to play at the opening of the Jack Nicklaus designed Monarch’s course (later named the PGA Centenary Course) at Gleneagles.
And in 2019, Perth’s most famous golfing daughter was honoured with an exhibit at the former Museum and Art Gallery.
From Old Tom to Wee Jessie
Blairgowrie ladies captain Margaret Marshall said the photographic tribute to Jessie was inspired by a gallery wall paying homage to Old Tom Morris and golf in general in the Links Clubhouse at St Andrews.
“Iain, the family and Eve have been very supportive,” she said.
“And we have gathered some marvellous photographs capturing Jessie’s extraordinary life and career.”
Iain said: “Mother loved this club, and it was a big moment for her when she was made an honorary member in 1969.”
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