 The Clubhouse of Royal Troon Golf Club |
Helen Holm lived from 14 March 1907 to 14 December 1971. She was a leading ladies golf champion. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
Helen Grey was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Thomas Grey, a professor of chemistry, and Violet Warren. At the age of 21 in 1928 she became the first Lanarkshire Ladies Golf Championship. The following year she married a farmer, Andrew Holm, and when she returned to defend her title in Lanarkshire in 1929 it was under her married name. In 1930 Helen Holm won the Scottish Ladies' Amateur Championship for the first time. She would go on to win the championship four more times, in 1932, 1937, 1948 and 1950, as well as coming second on five other occasions.
In 1934 Helen won the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl in South Wales, a trophy she would win again in 1938. Success at national level took Helen onto the international stage. In 1936 she took part in the Curtis Cup helping the British team half the match against the USA at Gleneagles. She again featured in the British Curtis Cup teams of 1938 and 1948, but declined to travel to the USA to take part in the 1950 Curtis Cup there because of the age of her son.
In 1951, Helen was appointed GB's captain for matches against Belgium and France and, despite illness, returned to a playing role representing Scotland in home internationals in 1955 and 1957. She died in 1971, and in 1973 her home course of Royal Troon instituted the Helen Holm Trophy in her honour.
