Carolyn Barnett-Howe Featured in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

No Longer an Eye Opener, Barnett-Howe blends with men

Posted: Aug. 26, 2008 by Dan Manoyan

These days, Carolyn Barnett-Howe slips in and out of the Wisconsin State Open scene as comfortably as a pair of high-mileage Foot-Joys.

When she pulls up to the scorer’s tent in her golf cart, there are no audible gasps of amazement that someone of her gender is actually competing in the tournament. When she hovers over putt, there is no finger-pointing accompanied by comments like “there she is!”

After 13 go-rounds with the state’s best players, it can be said . . . she blends.

“It is an ‘Open’ after all,” she reasons.

Being the only woman in a man’s world hasn’t always been as smooth, say as sipping Arnold Palmers at the 19th hole. Barnett-Howe can’t remember the year, but she’ll never forget the words she heard after posting an 82 at Blackwolf Run, set up at a monstrously long 7,200 yards, at one State Open in this decade.

“One of the fathers of the one of the players — I won’t mention any names — says to me, ‘You shot an 82; who would ever want to take a lesson from you?’

“You know what I told him? I said ‘I don’t see your name up there on the board anywhere. You should try it some time.’ ”

Barnett-Howe, now 46 and still giving lessons through her own Appleton company “Swing Solutions” with her husband Steve Howe and at Irish Waters in Kaukauna, is as feisty as she is talented. While she is generally welcomed by her fellow players at the State Open these days, she remembers the bad old days.

“Let’s put it this way, I think I know how Jackie Robinson must have felt,” said Barnett-Howe, who is actually the second woman to qualify for the tournament. Cindy Swift was the first, playing in the tournament in early 1980s.

“There have been some less-than-kind things said in past years.”

Her fellow competitors can’t complain about Barnett-Howe getting any breaks because she plays from the same tees as the men. The only concession that is made to her is that she is allowed to wear Bermuda shorts, instead of the dress slacks the men are required to wear.

As petty as it may seem, Barnett-Howe’s golf apparel became a burning issue before the 1992 State Open at Oneida Country Club in Green Bay.

“It all got started because the newspaper up there wrote that if I can’t wear pants, I shouldn’t be allowed to play. That is just so dumb. That would be like saying Condoleezza Rice has to wear pants because she is the Secretary of State. She is still a woman even though she is Secretary of State.

“Then, one of the pros announced that he was going to protest my presence if I showed up to play. Thank God, there were some men on the board who knew what they were doing.”

Barnett-Howe is particularly thankful to retired Madison Blackhawk Country Club pro Mike Schnarr, who was, in effect, her Branch Rickey.

“He was the president of the (Wisconsin) Section at the time and told this pro that I had every right to be in the tournament and every right to dress as a female. Mike Schnarr is the type of gentleman you like to remember.”

“I’ve never talked to Mike about this, but what he did really means a lot to me. It’s never been an issue since.

“I guess it’s natural that I had to go through that. I mean when Annika (Sorenstam) played a PGA Tour event, she had her critics like Vijay (Singh). But the gracious gentlemen I’ve played with have far outweighed the other kind. I don’t think I’ve ever played with a partner who wasn’t gracious, to be honest.”

Certainly that was true at the recently completed State Open at Eau Claire Country Club. Barnett-Howe was paired in the first two rounds with Derek Pirkl of Stoughton and prominent Milwaukee amateur, Gary Menzel.

“It’s a blast playing with Carolyn,” Menzel said. “I’ve known her for a while but we never played together before last week and she is great to play with.

“There still may be some guys who don’t want her out there, but she plays from the same tees and conditions as us, so why shouldn’t she play?”

It can never be argued that Barnett-Howe is some sort of token female who doesn’t know how to play the game. She has won four State Women’s Opens and two PGA Women’s National Club Pro Championships.

Although she has never made a cut in 13 State Open tries, she has come close on several occasions, including this year when she shot a two-round score of 154 (77-77, 12-over par) and missed by four strokes.

That placed her near the middle of the pack for the tournament, with 52 of the state’s best players finishing below her on the scoreboard.

“I know I’m not as good as most of these guys, but the reason I keep playing (in the State Open) is because I feel I can always learn something from them. I’m always watching and observing what they do.

“I think probably a lot of the success I’ve had in women’s tournaments is because of my experience playing against the men. The women’s tournaments seem easy after playing against these guys.”

Barnett-Howe’s learning experience hasn’t been limited to just ball striking. She claims she has learned plenty about the different psyche of the male and female golfer.

“The main thing is now I know how to behave like a guy on the golf course,” she said. “I don’t make a spectacle of myself, I don’t get in anybody’s way and I know when to say ‘good shot’ and when to be quiet. I don’t think anybody would ever say of me, ‘she doesn’t know when to shut up.’

“I’m very quiet when I play with the men. By nature men are more serious and more quiet when they play competitive golf. There are some competitive women who aren’t very chatty, but generally most of the women I play with like to talk on the golf course.”

Although she isn’t the first woman to play in the tournament, Barnett-Howe would like to be the first woman to make the cut. She knows that at age 46, her biological clock is ticking on that count.

“I haven’t made a cut, but I still think I might,” she said. “I’m playing the best golf of my career in my 40s . . . that’s why I don’t quit trying.

“I just keep having fun. I’ve missed the cut 13 times, but I don’t see it as a failure at all.

“The way I look at it, I’ve had the honor of qualifying 13 times.

“That’s a lot for any professional, male or female.”