Shelly Stouffer – 2024 PNGA Hall of Fame Inductee
Growing up in Prince Rupert, B.C., Shelly Stouffer developed a love for the outdoors and for activity of all kinds. She was a natural athlete with a love of competition, playing multiple sports, such as badminton, track and field, and every kind of water sports.
And golf?
“We were a lot closer to Ketchikan (Alaska) than we were to Vancouver,” she says, looking back. “I guess I was 15 or 16 when I first picked up a golf club. A friend of my sister got me into it.”
So, along with all her other athletic pursuits, Shelly played on the golf team her final two years of high school.
When her parents retired to Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island, she went with them and attended Malaspina College (precursor to Vancouver Island University) to play on the college’s basketball and badminton teams.
“But I had to stay busy during the off time, so after class I spent my afternoons at a driving range, pounding golf balls,” she recalls.
And it was there that she met Ben Colk, at the time a retired honorary member of the PGA of BC who became something of a legend in the region’s golf community.
“He saw me at the range almost every day, and took an interest in me,” she says. “It’s funny how far a little attention can make you go.”
Colk encouraged Shelly to look into golf as a career path. She got a job at nearby Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay, starting out on the grounds crew and moving on to the pro shop and then the club’s fitness center.
Still working on her game, she attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, playing on the women’s golf team from 1993-1995. After graduating, in 1996 she married Ward Stouffer, then the head professional at Fairwinds, but she had plans for her golf game.
Shelly declared herself professional in the fall of 1997 and took off for the mini tours, traveling around the world, playing wherever she could – Asia, the Futures Tour, the Canadian Tour. With high expectations and an inner drive that wouldn’t quit, she had some small successes, winning once, and played in six major championships, including qualifying for the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open. She made a few attempts at the LPGA Tour’s qualifying school, with her last effort coming in 2004.
Then she and Ward had two sons, born in 2005 and 2007, and Shelly started building her practice of Dynamic Kinesiology, traveling around B.C., while Ward continued at Fairwinds.
In 2011, Shelly had her amateur status reinstated, and began making plans for her future game.
And that future came quickly. She won the Canadian Mid-Master in 2011 (her first of three titles in that national championship), and there was no stopping her after that. She won the 2012 PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur and was selected to her first PNGA Lamey Cup the following year.
When her husband, Ward, passed away suddenly in early 2017, Shelly’s family and friends rallied around her.
“Yes, it was a difficult time,” she said. “But they were all there, supporting me.” Knowing that golf would help her, she kept at it, playing where she could.
As the titles began to stack up, Shelly had her eyes set on 2020 vision. On December 31, 2019, she turned 50, and became eligible to play in senior competitions.
“But then the pandemic hit in the early part of 2020, and that basically shut all those plans down, along with everything else,” she said. She played a lot of golf during the shutdown period, but only recreationally with friends.
When the restrictions started easing up, Shelly picked up right where she left off, winning several regional, provincial, and national titles, culminating with two more PNGA titles, five Canadian national titles, and then winning the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.
Her sister, Sandra Comadina, who had turned Shelly to her friend to get her into the game, would herself go on to become a Canadian PGA teaching instructor in the Vancouver area, and would also go on to become one of Shelly’s biggest fans. When Shelly was a semifinalist in the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, Sandra was not surprised to see her come back the next year to close the deal in winning the 2022 national championship, held that year in Anchorage, Alaska.
“You know what, she is so solid,” Comadina said after Shelly’s win in 2022. “She’s so consistent and is such a good putter. She’s got the full game firing on all cylinders right now.”
As she had been doing for most of her playing career.
Accomplishments
- BC Women’s Mid-Amateur Champion – 2016, 2019, 2023
- BC Women’s Mid-Master Champion – 7 times
- BC Senior Women’s Amateur Champion – 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
- BC Zone 6 Women’s Champion – 1995, 2022, 2023
- BC Zone 6 Senior Women’s Champion – 2022, 2023
- BC Team, Amateur National Champions – 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
- BC Team, Mid and Senior Amateur National Champions – 2022
- PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Champion – 2012
- PNGA Senior Women’s Amateur Champion – 2022, 2023
- PNGA Lamey Cup Team Member – 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2024
- Canadian Women’s Mid-Master Champion – 2011, 2021, 2022
- Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur Champion – 2022
- Canadian Senior Women’s Amateur Champion – 2021, 2022
- Canadian Senior Women’s Amateur 2023 – 4th Place
- U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur 2015 – Round of 32
- U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur 2022 – Qualified
- U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur 2023 – Round of 64
- U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur 2021 – Semifinalist
- U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Champion – 2022
- U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur 2023 – Round of 32
- U.S. Senior Women’s Open 2022 – T29
- U.S. Senior Women’s Open 2023 – Qualified
- Boise State Invitational Champion – 1994, 1995
- PNGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year – 2023
- Sport BC Awards, Master Athlete of the Year – 2023
- Inducted into Golf Hall of Fame of BC – 2023
- Inducted into Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame – 2024
