MY LIFE: FROM FAIRWAY TO AIRWAY

by Betty Hicks

All fans of the Ladies Professional Golf Association should include My From Fairway to Airway in their libraries of important golf books. Betty's unique and fresh perspective on the beginnings of women's professional golf makes for fascinating reading. Her personal memories of Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg and other LPGA stars, as well as movie star Katharine Hepburn and golf course developer Marion Hollins offer intimate, never previously told details of the lives of the women in golf in the 1940's and 1950's. As an active tour member and a teacher of golf around the country, Betty battles discrimination against women with courage and heart. Her love of flying leads Betty into her second passion-aviation. She describes the undeniable beauty of the skies as well as its perils. As she progresses from private pilot to flight instructor, Betty tells of her humorous adventures flying solo and with unsuspecting passengers. Betty is a member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Hall of Fame, the Women's Sports Foundation International Hall of Fame and the California Golf Writers Hall of Fame. She has received the Ellen Griffin Rolex Award for golf instruction and is also a member the International Forest of Friendship Aviation Hall of Fame.

130 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2006

About the author

Betty Hicks has drawn on her experience and love for sports in Gym Shorts, her new series for seven to ten year-olds. Growing up, Betty enjoyed everything: basketball, swimming, softball, horseback riding, field hockey, ice skating, tennis, skiing, and more. As an adult, she’s an avid fan of college basketball and the Olympic Games, and, an average fan of just about everything else you can think of.

In Gym Shorts, Betty welcomed the opportunity to provide younger readers with books about different types of athletics—basketball, soccer, swimming, baseball, track, tennis—you name it! But she especially wanted to write books that weren’t just about the wins and losses on game day. Friendships, fears, school, parents, pets, homework—all the things that weave their way into the lives of kids who play sports—are a crucial part of every story.

Betty has also put her own single and stepparent experiences to good use in five additional books for eight to twelve year-olds. Depicting funny, true-to-life family situations, Betty brings laughter and meaning to the experiences of growing up, not just in a divorced family, but in any family.

Betty has a BA in English and an MFA in the Study and Writing of Children’s Literature from Hollins University. She has published stories in Highlights and Pockets magazines, is a member of The Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and has worked as a book reviewer for Children’s Literature.

She and her husband, Bill, live in Greensboro, North Carolina. She spends much of her non-writing time reading, traveling, playing golf, and pursuing her photography hobby. But her number one favorite pastime is hanging out with her five grandchildren. Not only do they bring her joy, they unknowingly give her exciting subjects and plots for every new book!