Wendy Wisser celebrates 24 years of golf with the Lady Niners

Wendy Wisser

Wendy Wisser

Pat Kaer

This summer, PCL9GA member Wendy Wisser celebrates 24 years with the Lady Niners. She is the only original member that is still in the league.

PebbleCreek opened its doors in June of 1993. Wendy and her husband Karl moved from Phoenix in August and were the twentieth residents to close on their house. Wendy was barely old enough to join a senior community and Karl was still working. She had wanted to move into a community like PebbleCreek ever since she visited her grandparents in 1956 in an adult community in Florida. Everyone there was so friendly and involved in activities. Wendy wanted the fun and games that she saw there.

In 1993 PebbleCreek was a very different place. The Wigwam Resort and Estrella Community College were near, but not much else besides cotton fields. At that time there was no clubhouse and only nine holes of Eagle’s Nest were completed. When they moved in, Wendy had never played golf. After a few lessons she and her friends decided they wanted to play golf in a nine-hole golf league for beginning golfers like themselves. Original PebbleCreek resident Jinny Pearson helped the Niners get started. She was a member of the 18-hole league but has since become a member of the Lady Niners. They met with resistance from the golf pro who didn’t want a nine-hole league. Both Jinny and Wendy reported that after Jinny had a talk with Mr. Robson at a party, the Lady Niners became a reality. They had some rough times in the beginning. They were few in numbers and inexperienced at golf. Wendy attributed the further development of the Niners to Gerry Montoya who became a pro here in 1998. The group became part of the AWGA in 1998 or 1999.

In the 24 years, Wendy has volunteered in the league by helping with scoring, pairings, rules, greens committee, social activities and tournaments.

Wendy nostalgically reports that in the early days the league was simple and fun. There were no fancy tournaments and they didn’t even have winning payouts for weekly play. What started as a group of friends that wanted to get together and play nine holes of golf has developed into an AWGA golf league with over 200 members. Wendy says the Lady Niners are much different than in the early days. But she still loves the Niners and PebbleCreek and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

If you would like to join the PebbleCreek Lady Nine-Hole Golf Association, contact President Patty Greene at 623-547-0760 or [email protected]. New member applications are available at the Eagle’s Nest Pro Shop or on the website PCL9GA.org.