LPGA Professional Renee Powell was on the grounds at Atlanta Athletic Club for the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, and got a chance to personally meet Michelle Wie West, who has partnered with her in the Hoodie for Golf project. Wie West had the idea to produce and sell tie-dyed LPGA sweatshirts, with the proceeds going toward the Clearview Legacy Fund, which preserves the Clearview Golf Club in Ohio that was built by hand by Renee’s father, Bill Powell, 75 years ago.
Wie said she had hoped to maybe raise $50,000 through sales of the hoodies, which have sold out more than once. Currently the tote board has gone past 10,000 sweatshirts, and $225,000 for the fund.
“It's beyond our wildest dreams,” Wie West said. “
I didn't know unfortunately about Clearview until we started this, and just really learning about it has been incredible, just the stories and all of that. So it's been eye-opening to me. It's been an educational journey for me, as well.”
As Clearview turns 75, Powell feels a responsibility to keep everything at the club operating strongly for another 75 years, and to fulfill her father’s hopes and dreams to make golf a much more inclusive sport.
“The one word that I always remember my dad used was "opportunity," that everyone should have an opportunity to play the game of golf,” Renee said.
“And they gave me an opportunity, so now it really is my responsibility to make sure that 75 years from now and beyond we can all look down and see that Clearview is doing what my dad had designed it to do, and it was to make golf inclusive for all people.”
Monday, Powell will co-host a Clearview Legacy Benefit at Bobby Jones Golf Club with LPGA player Mariah Stackhouse, an Atlanta-area resident who is the lone Black player currently with full-time status on the LPGA. Stackhouse finished her round on Sunday at the Highlands Course and also was able to meet Powell for the first time.
“I had met Mariah's mother before,” Powell said, “but had never met Mariah. The videos Mariah has done, I was just so impressed with listening to her and her feeling and everything came out in the words that she used. So to see her, I felt like I knew her already, but to be able to embrace her and to thank her, too, for what she is doing and taking things forward ... I think we have a mutual admiration.”
