February 25, 2021 | BY DEBERT COOK, CMP
It’s been 12-years since my good friend, LPGA Class A Teaching Professional Wendy Boyd took her own life. Wendy was a common-sense type of woman, brilliant, and extremely proud of her accomplishments. I found it hard to believe that she had put a gun to her torso and pulled the trigger.
I met Wendy by way of my dear friends Al and Addie Cobb of Valdosta, Ga., and the three of them would play rounds of golf together, often calling me before, during, and after, to share their exploits which kept me laughing.
On many days while working in my office, the phone would ring and it would be Wendy. She’d called to talk about her latest endeavor, teaching session, ongoing job search, interviews, and some real challenges that she was having in moving her career forward.
In the last call that I had with her (about a month before receiving the heartbreaking letter below) Wendy sounded disgusted, disillusioned. She talked about her recent job loss, and, the one before that. She told me about her current job search and how that experience was going. She told me she could not understand why her strong credentials were not opening the doors for her to move up in the industry. It seemed as if her professional career had stalled, that she was hitting one brick wall after another. After all that she had worked so hard towards and in gaining her LPGA Class A Teaching Professional status, her dream of succeeding any further seemed dim to her. As she ended the call, she sounded ambivalent but encouraged and said she’d stay in touch.
On Friday, February 27, 2009, while opening a stack of new subscriber envelopes, I spotted one from Wendy. Opening it, I anticipated that she was renewing her annual subscription, again. Little was I prepared for the handwritten letter that was folded inside. Reading it and realizing the strange tone of her words, I picked up the telephone and dialed her number as quickly as I could. Only getting her voicemail, I left a message (trying to sound calm) asking her to please give me a call back as soon as she could.
That call never came. Rather, I received a phone call from one of her close friends, telling me Wendy, 57, had committed suicide in her apartment 3 days earlier, on February 25. In disbelief and tears in my eyes, I immediately looked down at the date stamp on her envelope. She had mailed it on February 24.
Over the next few days, I would discover that Wendy had also mailed similar goodbye letters to some of her closest friends, and even sent one to the LPGA, I heard.
I miss you Wendy, my dear friend. And I hope you have been resting in perfect peace.
“Mr. (Adrian) Stills made the PGA Tour in 1985, Mr. (Joseph) Bramlett made the PGA Tour in 2010, Ms. (Wendy) Boyd never did make the PGA of America due to the efforts of individuals that did not want her to succeed.” —the late Coach Herbert “Turk” Walker who passed away February 2011.
“I pray that no player suffers the disappointment so much that they find no other way to deal with the rejection. However, I know how the attitude is of some PGA Professionals who did not, and do not, want minorities to be a part of the business of golf.
I remember when I was told that I had to be a Business School 1 graduate to be considered for employment, but you could not go to Business School 1 unless you worked with A PGA pro. The PGA of America has 21 schools that are certified to have the Professional Golf Management Program as a part of their curriculum. I hope that the minority students that come out of this program have a greater opportunity for employment than Ms. Boyd and myself.”—Gladys Lee, LPGA Class A, Founder Director Roaring Lambs.
Wendy’s letter below along with her obituary was published in the March 2009 edition of the African American Golfer’s Digest.
(View the PDF version HERE)
The following article was originally printed in the Summer 2006 edition of the African American Golfer’s Digest, where three years before her death Wendy graced the cover of the magazine. Let’s all remember the life work and ambitions of Wendy Boyd.
