Maxwell’s journey: From Bogey Hills and Lincoln Park to World Golf Hall of Fame

Susie Maxwell Berning, who passed away Tuesday at 83, was a member of the first class in 2005 of what was then the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, later merging with the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame. Here is a link to her induction video and bio.

Louise Blumenthal Johnson, the current president of the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association, said Maxwell-Berning was an icon for golfers in Oklahoma and throughout the world.

“She was an icon, a mentor and an absolute friend to everyone in Oklahoma,” Johnson said. “She was an inspiration to all of us as she managed to play on the tour, raise a family and win multiple championships, all at the same time.”

Steve Carson, longtime and now retired pro at Lincoln Park Golf Course in Oklahoma City, met Maxwell Berning when U.C. Ferguson was still the head pro and she was giving a clinic. They caught up several times over the years when she would visit her childhood course.

What jumps out most about her and her golf game? “When I think of her game, it’s her tenacity. She was committed, very committed to playing well and did it with such dignity also. She was just an outstanding ambassador to the game. She loved to teach and taught long after she played the tour. She kept giving to the game.”

Where does she rank among elite Oklahoma women golfers? “She and Nancy Lopez have to rank up there pretty good. Both were great ambassadors for the state, no doubt about it.”

Is there any way to measure what Susie meant to the growth of women’s golf? “Obviously, she had a big impact on girls around here, that’s for sure. But that’s such a hard thing to measure.”

Below is a story that ran in the June, 2020 issue of Golf Oklahoma.

By Ken MacLeod

You won’t find it listed anywhere now, but long vanished Bogey Hills Golf Course played a crucial role in launching Susie Maxwell Berning on a path that has led her to the doorstep of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Most know the story of how young Susie Maxwell came to be tutored by legendary Lincoln Park Golf Course head professional U.C. Ferguson. She owned two horses on her family’s rented property near Lincoln Park, and riding and caring for them was her passion. One got loose and decided to roam the course. Mounted on her other horse, she gave chase and the two managed to churn up several of the greens in the process. 

After the grounds crew threatened to call the police and Ferguson severely scolded her, Susie begged to be allowed to caddie, like her brothers Roger and Bill, to work off her debt. Ferguson had a different idea. He volunteered to give her lessons if she would take up the game. So Lincoln Park became her home away from home as she played and practiced continuously.

Bogey Hills was the creation of her enterprising older brother Roger, who was a caddie and devoted player at Lincoln Park as well. Roger created a rough five-hole course around their house. One hole required a shot over the house, another over the barn. It was a great place to practice your accuracy, creativity and control, as well as have a great time with friends.

Roger, who went on to play at Oklahoma State and then became a name in the golf world as director of golf properties for Marriott, went so far as to register the course with the National Golf Foundation and open an account with Munsingwear to secure uniforms for his high school team. One day, Roger was in the pro shop when a salesman for another company asked Ferguson for directions to Bogey Hills. Roger tried to slink out of the shop.

Susie’s favorite practice area was on the Lincoln Park grounds on a hill overlooking a creek. Retrieving her own balls she had saved up, she would endlessly practice, trying to keep from having to wade in the creek for errant shots. She also chipped and putted on what she called “the slowest green in the world.”

Perhaps practicing so much on rough conditions toughened her for a career that included three U.S. Open Championships and four majors overall among her 11 victories on the LPGA Tour.

She will join another golfer with three U.S. Open titles – one Tiger Woods – when the class is inducted at a yet to be determined time in 2021. Also in the four-person class are architect Marion Hollins and former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

“I’m extremely honored,” Maxwell Berning, 78, said. “Frankly I never thought it would happen to me. To be in the Hall with Mickey (Wright), Judy (Rankin) and Patty (Sheehan), all great friends, is quite an honor.”

It was another Patty who, along with Ferguson, inspired Susie to make golf a career. Soon after Ferguson showed her the fundamentals he called her to a clinic Patty Berg was giving at the course.

“Watching her made me think that hey, there’s really something to this game,” Maxwell Berning said. 

Her hard work paid off quickly as she won three consecutive high school titles before going off to play on the men’s team at Oklahoma City University. Now recognized as the top NAIA women’s program with eight national championships since 2005, there was no women’s team at that time. Coach Abe Lemons, better known for his wit and basketball playing and coaching, listed her as S. or Sam Maxwell when going to tournaments.

“Abe was great, a wonderful sense of humor,” Maxwell Berning said. “He would drive the van to the tournaments and we would have a great time. The boys would be surprised when they found out S. Maxwell was a girl, but they were mostly all right with it.”

After college she received an invitation from then-Southern Hills professional Doug Smith to come up and practice at the famous course. A member put her up in an apartment and her game really began to blossom. She won the Oklahoma Women’s Amateur Championship in 1963 and entered her first LPGA event – the Muskogee Civitan Open in 1964, finishing eighth and collecting a much-needed $450. She came back in 1965 and won the tournament for her first tour victory and also that year won the Women’s Western Open, then considered an LPGA major championship.

She won twice in 1967 and broke through with her first U.S. Open Championship in 1968, shooting 5-over to defeat Wright by three shots at Moselem Springs Golf Club in Fleetwood, Pa. She thrived on tight, difficult courses where par was a good standard, winning the Open again in 1972 at Winged Foot and 1973 at Rochester CC. She said she won a total of $16,000 for those three Open victories. 

“I didn’t make a lot of birdies, but on the tougher courses I made a lot of pars,” she said. “At Winged Foot, I don’t think I missed a fairway in four rounds. And I was a good putter, particularly on fast greens and especially when the putt was for par.

“Jim Flick and I talked a lot about why that was. He said you don’t try as hard when it’s for birdie. The way I see it, you’re supposed to make par and maybe that’s why I concentrated more on those. I didn’t hit a record number of greens so I would have to chip it close and just be a grinder.”

Like her mentor Ferguson, Maxwell Berning has been teaching the game for the past 19 years at The Reserve in Palm Springs, where she was recently made an honorary member. She stayed on the LPGA Tour at least semi-regularly through 1993 though she took time to raise daughters Cindy and Robin. She played her final LPGA event in 1996.