Women's Polo Hits Willow Bend

September 1979

by Debby Slaughter

     Mallet madness has struck the women of Willow Bend Polo Club in Dallas. Since a small group traveled to Tulsa for a Sue Sally Hale clinic and the Ralph Lauren Challenge Cup, a wave of enthusiasm for women's and men's polo at the club level has rolled from Oklahoma to Texas faster than a blue norther.

     The last weekend of September Willow Bend hosted the 1st Mid-Continent National Women's tournament and a Sue Sally Hale clinic. Women from five states came to participate. Players began arriving Friday morning from all parts of Texas, Oklahoma, California, Ohio and New Mexico. During the first session of the clinic on Friday evening, Sue Sally Hale demonstrated stroking techniques while the 16 participants worked on them with foot mallets. Sesion one was followed by a ranch-style buffet dinner at the Robert Payne Farm just north of Willow Bend.

    Saturday morning the clinic resumed with more instruction, this time on horseback, in prepartation for the round robin scheduled for the afternoon. The round-robin was billed as the second annual Dallas Women's Tournament, and with all the talk about participation everyone got to play! Seven teams were fielded consisting of visiting players such as Sue Sally Hale and daughter, Stormie; Bonni Middleton from New Mexico; Pat Kimbrel and Susie Welker from Tulsa; Susan and Mary Alizon Walton from California; Emily Harris from Ohio; and, of course most important, the club members of all ages and abilities whose newly-found enthusiasm for polo made the weekend a big success.

     Sunday morning dawned very sunny and warm with a big day of polo in store. It began at 9:00 a.m. with the finals of the Dalls tournament played in round-robin form. The Willow Bend team of Dave Barrons, Jenny Grunberger, Carol Eliot and Susan Wood defeated the Ohio team of Dana Ward, Claudia Woods, Nancy Hoyle and Ann Foster. Each team played only two chukkers for this final round.

     After a morning of club polo, everyone broke for a champagne brunch in the restaurant to rest up for an afternoon of more polo The Mid-continent National Women's tournament featured Texas (Susan Walton, Bonni Middleton, Sue Sally Hale and Susie Welker) against California (Pat Kimbrel, Emily Harris, Mary Alizon Walton and Stormie Hale) in a four-chukker match. in the last few moments of the match California came on strong with Emily Harris and Mary Alizon Walton each scoring once for a 4-2 win.

     Member, visitors and attendants at Willow Bend are very excited about the prospect of other weekends of polo with players of all levels and degrees of interest. A club association has been formed to encourage new players to get involved and to educate anyone interested in playing polo at the club level. Special thanks were extended to Sue Sally Hale for her time and to Buzz Welker for all his help.

Willow Bend Magazine

 

 

Article courtesy of The Hale Collection