Our STory is HErStory

Forty six years ago, in 1980, there was a group of African American Women from New Jersey who decided to join together and form a golf club.

The Dufferettes of NJ Golf Club is a proud sisterhood of women united by a passion for golf, community, and legacy. Founded in 1980 by eight pioneering African American women—Joan Bright, Joy Fernandes, Anna Hill Wheaton, Louise King, Lillian “Babe” Martin, Marian Savage, Delores Scales, and Margaret Walton—the club was established with the encouragement and support of the Garden State Duffers, a respected African American men’s golf club in New Jersey during that era. Together, they shared a vision of learning, playing, and growing in the game of golf.

Today, the Dufferettes remain a predominantly African American women’s golf club that warmly welcomes women of all skill levels who wish to learn, play, and build lasting friendships through the game.

Our mission is to recruit and engage women golfers by providing opportunities to play and improve while honoring the traditions, etiquette, and rules of the United States Golf Association. The club also supports financially challenged youth who aspire to pursue a college education through community service and fundraising initiatives.

For more than four decades, the Dufferettes have proudly grown the game of golf while uplifting one another and the community.