By Dalton Balthaser

 

2020 has been full of firsts. Some good and some bad.

 

For Montaup Country Club’s Kay Bullock, it has been a year full of good.

 

Bullock claimed her first Rhode Island Golf Association’s Women’s Player of the Year honor by 85 points over fellow clubmate Nancy Diemoz.

 

“It feels like a huge accomplishment for me after all of the years I have been playing,” said Bullock, 55, of Warren. “Winning Player of the Year makes me feel like I belong with the top female golfers in the RIGA. It feels really good.

 

“I truly enjoy being around all the ladies and the camaraderie. I always say I want to have fun even while I am competing. I told my husband the time I stop having fun on the golf course is when I will give up the game. It’s all about having fun for me.”

 

In claiming the Women’s Player of the Year, Bullock becomes the first African American to win a RIGA Player of the Year award in the 118-year history of the Association. 

 

“It’s absolutely wonderful and I didn’t know I was the first,” said Bullock. “I have coached golf at Classical High School for the last few years and a lot of the African American girls are timid when I encourage them to come and try the game. Most of them believe that it isn’t a sport for them but a white-only sport. I want to introduce more African American girls to the game. Golf isn’t the type of game for one type of person. It’s truly a game for everyone.”

 

Bullock has the ability to impact young kids in her community, whether at Classical or as a member of the Board of Directors at Button Hole, where she said she tries to encourage as many different types of kids as she can.

 

“I got into golf quite late in life at the age of 35,” said Bullock. “At the time, I was already married and had five kids. My husband [Peter] told me to take up golf. I had zero interest in taking up the game and over the years he kept bugging me to give it a try so my plan was to take a lesson and prove to him I wouldn’t like it. When I took that lesson, I didn’t hit one golf ball and I immediately fell in love with the game.”

 

As a late bloomer to the game, Bullock shares her story with anyone who is hesitant to play. Golf is a game Bullock says never crossed her mind throughout her childhood and early adulthood. But now it’s one she can’t live without, and her infectious personality will inspire many different types of people to give the game a try.

 

“Growing up in Belize, I never thought I would be a golfer,” said Bullock. “I didn’t know what golf was. But now, it’s one of my favorite things to do and I hope to be able to help encourage more diversity and inclusion in golf moving forward.”