There are any number of reasons why Dottie Pepper is a deserving recipient of the Old Tom Morris Award, which she was scheduled to have received January 31 from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America at a ceremony in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pepper won 17 times on the LPGA Tour, represented the United States on six Solheim Cup teams and, two decades ago, began a television career that has enhanced her voice and presence in the game.
All worthy reasons for the award, but there is another, perhaps more basic reason, that Pepper and Old Tom, the legendary Scottish greenskeeper turned course designer and pro, belong together.
Like Morris, Pepper learned the game from the ground up.
“After our turkey farm closed, my dad built a nine-hole pitch-and-putt course with a lighted range,” said Pepper, who was raised and still lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.
“That’s where I honed my early skills and where I picked the range and mowed the fairways. I helped make sure the course was ready. I did…