Rosedale golfer has won 17 of past 20 women's club championships

Decades of golf dominance began out of skills learned in softball. 

Dee Donegan, now 63, grew up on the diamond, and she was good. As she grew, she became more competitive. She played travel softball for an organization based in Richmond, Virginia, called the Stompers. They dominated teams up and down the east coast, Donegan said, and she had a lot of fun doing it.

But in 1995, her boyfriend and eventual husband, Jim Donegan, expressed concern that she was going to get herself hurt if she continued to play softball. Dee Donegan heard him, but she wanted to remain active and competitive. They settled on a compromise.

What if Dee Donegan took up golf?

Jim Donegan already played golf at a high level. He even tried to make it into the PGA Senior Tour, though he never did. Golf was something they could do together, he thought. 

He bought Dee Donegan an entry to a week-long camp at Grand Cypress Golf in Orlando, where she would learn the basics of swing mechanics and rules. Dee Donegan said she shuffled through three instructors that week, learning new things from each. 

To her surprise, Donegan said, she took to the game right away. Golf swing mechanics were more similar to her softball swing than she thought, and she was able to make an easy transition. Donegan said she models her swing after Fred Couples, who came from a baseball background and that turned into a long, successful golf career, including a win at the 1992 Masters.

She enjoyed the camp so much, she went back to the same camp for two more years to refine her game — and enjoy the Florida sun for a week, of course. 

Flash forward to 2023, and the Donegans have now lived at Rosedale Country Club since moving there in 2000. Dee Donegan has become the most dominant golfer in club history. Starting in 2003, Donegan has won 17 of the last 20 Women's Club Championships and holds the record for the lowest round in club history, when she shot a 66 while playing with her husband and two friends in June 2004. 

How has she done it? Natural talent helps, but so does her mindset. 

"I have a killer instinct, but I'm still happy to just be out there," Donegan said. "If I'm having a bad day, I'm still happy. It's four hours of being calm, but being focused. I'm relaxed, but I'm working." 

Donegan said she sets a goal for herself every time she plays. It differs each round, but it is purposefully always a high bar to clear. That way, Donegan said, she's not crushed if she does not reach it, but it is motivating enough to have her always trying her best. It's a constant but light pressure, which is how she keeps improving. 

Donegan's memories from her dominant run are numerous, but her fifth championship win stands out, she said. Donegan trailed the leader by three strokes heading into the tournament's final hole, which she described as a narrow par 5. Donegan said her initial plan was to play for a birdie and hope her opponent royally screwed up. After a "monster drive" off the tee, her plans changed. She thought she could get close to the hole with a 7-wood and potentially get an eagle. 

She did one better. Her second shot was crushed, too, and bounded into the hole after one bounce for an albatross. Her opponent bogeyed the hole to hand Donegan the most unlikely championship of her career, at least thus far. 

"That was pretty crazy," Donegan said with a smile. Then, with a defiant point of her finger: "I smoked that 7-wood." 

Donegan also treasures the memory of sinking a hole-in-one on the 130-yard No. 13 hole on August 11, 2007. Donegan said she used a 7-iron and actually thought she hit it a little thin and that it would run through the green, but it hit the flagstick instead, dropping into the hole. Donegan celebrated by jumping up and down in joy. 

Donegan was named Rosedale's most improved golfer in 2006. She was shocked by the honor, she said — but at the time, she and the club had no idea just how improved she was. She just kept winning. 

As Donegan has thrived, she's picked up new skills, but she's unwilling to part with some old equipment. Donegan said she's had the same Orlimar 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood and 9-wood that she ordered in her first years of training after seeing them promoted in a late night infomercial by World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Ken Venturi. 

"He said they were good for people who sweep, which I do," Donegan said. "I've tried other clubs, but they don't do it for me. My clubs have no more grooves on them, but I can make them do whatever I need them to do." 

After so much success, it would not have been a shock if Donegan had followed her husband's ambitious path of trying to make a professional tour of some kind, but she never did. 

"Then it would become more work than fun, and I like fun," Donegan said. "I do like going to places to play tournaments, and I like to bear down and focus. But coming out on top in these events is fun. I'm fine being an amateur." 

Donegan's best advice for getting into golf is to be picky when finding an instructor. Lots of people are knowledgeable about the game, she said, but golfers should look for someone with a compatible communication style and personality to their own, as that is the biggest key to learning. 

Doengan misses softball sometimes, she said. But she's healthy and has found a game that accentuates her talent. For the last 20 years, she's been a force, and she doesn't plan on stopping. 

"I'll play with anyone," Donegan said. "I just want to be out there. It makes me happy."