THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507080045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Women in Golf
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Breakfast meats are still being warmed on the clubhouse grill when members of the first class of the Wonder Women Golf School are in full swing at the rear of the Stumpy Lake practice range. As they beat balls into a harsh sun, even their meekest efforts draw praise from school founder Veronica Karaman.
``That's your best shot yet,'' she tells Molly Young, who invested birthday money to enroll.
``Wow, look at you,'' Karaman calls to Jacqueline Yockey, who sees the game as a way to spend more time with her husband.
``Good swing, Mary Pat,'' she yells over to Mary Pat Cassidy, who longs to join her friends on the golf course but doesn't want to be embarrassed.
``Now that's the best shot I've ever seen you hit, Mary,'' she says to Mary Harper, a first-grade teacher in Virginia Beach whose goal is to play in local competitions.
``Wonderful swing, Beverly,'' she tells Beverly Stiles, a school counselor in Currituck and renaissance woman with a history in softball, bowling, in-line skating, tennis, horseshoes and volleyball.
``My greatest joy is when a woman comes to me and she doesn't think she's even going to hit the ball, and I get her to hit it in the air and it's going somewhere, and they have this incredible look on their face - like, `I did that?' '' Karaman says. ``I like teaching men to play golf, but there's an immediacy to teaching women that's a reward unlike no other.''
At a June 17 luncheon, Karaman honored Wonder Women's first graduating class. During three two-hour sessions, she taught them the basics - grip, stance, posture, arm and hand alignment, hand motion, short game and full swing - all for about $150.
``I wanted a woman who can relate to me because men's and women's swings are different,'' Harper says. ``I wanted somebody who would understand that. I wanted someone who would help me compete, not just go out and say, `Well, that's my eighth shot. I'm not going to hit any more on this hole!' She's done an excellent job.''
Karaman's second class already is in session at Stumpy Lake. She also has started a Williamsburg branch of Wonder Women at Kingsmill.
A Pittsburgh native, Karaman attended Duke University, the first woman in her high school class to receive an athletic scholarship to college. She left Regent University to try the Futures Golf Tour in 1988. Within months, she became seriously ill, needing a year before she had the strength to walk nine holes.
She hadn't played in a tournament in more than a year when she arrived at Las Colinas in Dallas to qualify for the 1989 U.S. Open. But she earned a spot in the field.
``I just felt that with all the things I had done, my heart was in teaching women,'' she said. ``Women need much more encouragement than men. Men say, `Show me,' and off they go. But women have much more ability than they think. It's thrilling to pull it out of them.'' by CNB