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Lopez’s Books on Golf

Lopez’s Books on Golf

It stands to reason that the little girl who helped her opponents tee up their balls in her very first pee-wee tournament would grow up to be someone who still wants to help others enjoy the sport she loves. Toward that end, Nancy Lopez wrote two books on golf, and wrote forewords for at least two more. Both of her books, The Education of a Woman Golfer and Nancy Lopez’s the Complete Golfer (reprinted as The Complete Golfer), offer golfing anecdotes for the trivia buff, recount the author’s personal experiences, and provide her opinions of other golf greats, in addition to instructing readers on the proper technique and equipment. The books are accessible and friendly, just like the author. The reader and/or golf student will finish these books with the feeling of having sat down for a chat about the ins and outs of the sport, although that conversation just happened to be with one of the legends of the game.


See Also

Chi Chi Rodriguez

Lee Trevino

Great Lives from History: Latinos

Nancy Lopez

by Norma Lewis

American golfer

Lopez is credited with increasing the profile and popularity of women’s golf and the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Her likable personality and gracious accessibility has charmed the fans and the public alike. When she joined the professional tour, she created a media buzz and wide interest in a sport that had previously been ignored.

Areas of achievement: Sports

Early Life

Nancy Marie Lopez (NAN-cee MAH-ree LOH-pehz) was born in Torrance, California, the second daughter of Mexican immigrant Domingo Lopez and Marina Griego Lopez. The family moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where Lopez and her sister Delma grew up. At age eight, she was playing golf with her parents. Domingo Lopez saw that his daughter had a natural ability for the game and became her coach and most enthusiastic promoter.

Nancy Lopez.

324_Lopez_Nancy.jpg

(AP Photo)

At the age of nine, she entered her first pee-wee tournament, a children’s competition, and finished the three-day, nine-holes-a-day event 110 strokes ahead of her nearest competitor. In fact, she was so far ahead that she had the time to help other children tee their balls. When she was twelve, she played better than her father, and she won her first New Mexico Women’s Amateur championship. Already a golfer to be reckoned with, Lopez became the first girl to play on a boys’ high school golf team, as there was no girls team in her school. The boys had no reason to complain, especially after she led the team to two state championships.

The Lopez family was not poor, as Domingo owned an automobile repair shop, but they were not rich either. However, they willingly made the sacrifices that were necessary to finance Nancy’s lessons and her time on the links. One of these sacrifices was driving her two hundred miles to play in Albuquerque; because they were Mexican Americans, the Lopezes were not allowed to play at the Roswell Country Club. Domingo even built a backyard sand trap in order for Nancy to practice at home. Nancy herself had the discipline to practice and maximize her natural talent, but she still had a normal childhood. Along with the golf lessons, she tap danced, swam, and played volleyball and basketball. She lived a typical Mexican American, Catholic life in a tight-knit family.

After high school, Lopez went to the University of Tulsa on a golf scholarship. She dropped out of college after her second year and turned professional in 1977. That same year, she was named Rookie of the Year by Golf Digest. One of Lopez’s disappointments is that her mother died of a heart attack shortly before she turned professional and never saw her daughter win a professional championship.

Lopez married her first husband, Tim Melton, in 1978. The couple met when Melton, a Pennsylvania sportscaster, interviewed her. The marriage ended in divorce three years later, in part because he wanted her to retire from golf.

Life’s Work

Lopez became a media sensation during her rookie year on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour when she won eight tournaments, five of which were consecutive. She was named LPGA rookie of the year. The following year she was named player of the year, following that with the receipt of the prestigious Vare Trophy. In 1979, she played in nineteen tournaments and won eight, an achievement Sports Illustrated magazine heralded as “one of the most dominating sports performances in the last fifty years.” She can also boast of three career holes-in-one. Among her many firsts, she was the first woman golfer to earn $1 million; in 1997, she earned $5 million.

In 1982, Lopez married Major League Baseball player Ray Knight. During Knight’s career, he played third base for the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros, the New York Mets, and the Baltimore Orioles. The couple had three daughters, Ashley Marie, Erinn Shea, and Torri Heather, and settled in Knight’s hometown, Albany, Georgia. Never a prima donna, Lopez never lost sight of the fact that golf is only a game. However, she was serious about the game, continuing to practicing and having the discipline for an extensive exercise regime that included five hundred crunches a day.

Among Lopez’s forty-eight tournament wins are the Sarasota Classic, Mazda Championship, LPGA Championship, Coca-Cola Classic, Women’s Kemper Open, and Elizabeth Arden Classic; she received some of these wins multiple times.

Lopez was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1989 and at that time was the youngest person to achieve that honor. She easily met the requirements (the most stringent in professional sports halls of fame) of thirty tournament wins, with two of those being major titles. She has said that her only professional disappointment is that she never won the U.S. Women’s Open, although she came in second four times.

On her farewell tour in 2002, Lopez played in only fourteen tournaments. She decided to retire because of health issues and to spend more time with her family. Her painful arthritis had required several knee surgeries over the years, and in 2000, she underwent gallbladder surgery. Lopez enjoyed her long run as a professional golfer, but she has often said that as much as she liked being a professional athlete, she enjoys being a wife and mother more. She has credited a happy marriage with her success. Her supportive husband has been known to caddy for her, and he always gave her career the same respect he gave his own.

Some critics have noted that Lopez’s golf swing is awkward. She agrees, but she has said that her swing worked for her, so she never tried to change it. The only real weakness of her game was her chip shot. She was not a good chipper because she seldom missed the green, so she had little chipping experience. Lopez founded the Nancy Lopez Company in order to market a line of golfing equipment and clothing for women. In addition, she has written two books on the sport. To keep busy in retirement, Lopez and Knight opened Ashbrook Quail Preserve in southern Georgia, a hunting and fishing lodge where the couple are hands-on owners and where Lopez, an avid cook, enjoys pulling kitchen duty.

Significance

Nancy Lopez has remained true to her Latino roots, and in 1997 received the Hispanic Heritage Award. The Nancy Lopez Elementary School in Roswell, New Mexico, where she grew up, was named in her honor. This was done partly in recognition of her phenomenal athletic success but also because as the hometown girl who made good, she has been a role model for girls in general and for Latinas in particular. Whether winning or losing, Lopez maintained the grace and innate goodness that made her one of America’s sports sweethearts. The annual Nancy Lopez Award honors the world’s best female amateur golfer.

Further Reading

1 

Dye, Alice, with Mark Shaw. From Birdies to Bunkers: Discover How Golf Can Bring Love, Humor, and Success into Your Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Lopez wrote the foreword, and the book discusses the greatest golfers, including Lopez, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, and Babe Didrickson Zaharias.

2 

Lopez, Nancy. The Complete Golfer. Reprint. New York: Galahad Books, 2000. Packed with instruction about golfing technique and geared toward woman. Lopez also provides her impressions of other women golfers. Originally published in 1979 as Nancy Lopez’s the Complete Golfer.

3 

_______. The Education of a Woman Golfer. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979. Lopez writes about golf technique, her personal experiences, and golf lore,

4 

Reid, Cindy, with Steve Eubanks. Cindy Reid’s Ultimate Guide to Golf for Women. New York: Atria Books, 2003. Reid and Eubanks thoroughly cover every aspect of the sport in order to help the aspiring woman golfer improve her game.

5 

Vaughan, Roger. Golf: The Woman’s Game. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 2001. Lopez wrote the forward for this book that covers one hundred years of women’s golf and discusses the greatest players, herself included.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Lewis, Norma. "Nancy Lopez." Great Lives from History: Latinos, edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera, Salem Press, 2012. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLL_10013240035401001.
APA 7th
Lewis, N. (2012). Nancy Lopez. In C. Tafolla & M. P. Cotera (Eds.), Great Lives from History: Latinos. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Lewis, Norma. "Nancy Lopez." Edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera. Great Lives from History: Latinos. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2012. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.