That's a Wide Stance

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

A wide putting stance is nothing out of the ordinary. I think of Padraig Harrington and Kenny Perry when thinking of golfers today widen their stance provide more stability. Jessen's stance, pictured above, is probably the widest in golf history.

Jessen began using the stance in 1964, and that year she won five times, finished second five more times, and came closest to winning a major, losing a playoff to Mickey Wright at the U.S. Open.

"The wider it got, the better putter I was," she recalled. "It was like doing the splits. It was like reading greens with my weight thrown to the outside. If I stepped down incorrectly, I had to start the routine all over. I couldn't adjust it myself. That wide stance was one of the reasons I was winning."

That quote was included in the obituary of Jessen that appeared in the Seattle Post-Ingelligencer, her hometown newspaper, last year. The P-I also explained the incredible run of bad luck with health matters that plagued Jessen's career:

However, injuries and illness repeatedly interrupted her play, to the point when she was awarded the Ben Hogan Award as the comeback golfer of the year after sitting out a full season and returning and winning for the last time in 1971. She overcame two different neck injuries and was diagnosed with uterine cancer when she was 32, submitting to 14 surgeries.

... She was on the driving range one day when she lost all feeling in one arm. She had suffered nerve damage, likely from hitting off of mats. Radical surgery was necessary to fix the problem.

"I had my throat cut," said Jessen, who had a vertebrae disc removed from the front and replaced with a piece of her hipbone. "The surgeon said he would have refused to operate had I been a housewife. But for me, it was a choice between taking the risk or giving up golf."

Playing in Massachusetts, Jessen and her caddy stopped to buy a soda at a concession tent when a freakish windstorm blew a 12-inch diameter wooden pole into her neck, causing her to lose feeling in her arm again and have more surgery.

In Michigan, she narrowly missed a bridge collapse during a golf event, one that sent several people tumbling into the water.

Also in Michigan, Jessen was walking up a fairway when she heard a loud noise and the sky suddenly turned dark.

"They said, 'Hit the ground!' and I did," she recalled. "We saw bees go overhead. It was like watching something on TV."

Despite all that, she still won 11 times, had one great season, and made a lot of putts.