Ada Mackenzie The First Lady of Canadian Golf

On a quiet walk through Park Lawn Cemetery in Toronto, with an orange golf ball and tee in hand, I stumbled upon the final resting place of one of Canada’s greatest amateur golfers: Ada Mackenzie.

Ada attended Havergal College for eight years, where she stood out as the top athlete for three of them. It was during the 1920s that she found her swing—both literally and figuratively—becoming Canada’s darling on the links and earning international acclaim.

She captured four Canadian Open Amateur Championships and six Canadian Closed titles. In 1927, she medalled at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and in 1929, she was invited to join the Scottish national team for the British Ladies’ Open—a rare honour for a Canadian.

But perhaps her most enduring contribution came in 1924, when she founded the Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto. Frustrated by the lack of access for women to play the game, Ada simply created her own space. “I also started the club because there was no place to play,” she said, leaving behind a sanctuary for generations of girls and women to fall in love with golf.

Over her lifetime, Ada Mackenzie received nearly every Canadian sports honour available. She passed away in Toronto on January 25, 1973, at the age of 73. She never married and is buried beside her golf-loving parents, George and Mary.

1891-1973