By Liam Wyllie.
A club champion on seven occasions between 1994 and 2018 at Pinjarra located an hour south of Perth in Western Australia, Valerie recently claimed her eighth, taking out the B Grade Club Championship a month shy of her 90th birthday.
Competing across three rounds of strokeplay, the long-time Pinjarra member produced scores of 100-101-92 to clinch the title – an extraordinary effort at an age when most would struggle to get off the couch.
A member at Pinjarra since 1989, Valerie has now won club championships across four decades – 1994, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2018 and now 2025.
Despite such an incredible record, Valerie remains modest, as her younger sister Carole Just explains.
“She wouldn’t go and brag about anything – she doesn’t like a big fuss,” said Carole.
“Last year when she turned 89, she told me, ‘Don’t tell anybody.’ But I brought a cake to the course anyway and when the girls started singing happy birthday, she turned to me and said, ‘I told you not to tell anyone!’”
Remarkably, Valerie only began using a cart last year, having walked the course for her entire golfing life.
“Last year was the first time she’s been in a cart,” Carole said. “She’s always walked – and she still doesn’t like going in one.”
Valerie’s golf journey began in Beverley, a rural town in Western Australia, where she moved in her 20s to start her teaching career. It was there she met her late husband, Barry Winfield, whose family inspired her to take up the sport.
“Her first year out of teachers training college, she was sent to Beverley,” Carole recalled. “She didn’t even play golf then, but she fell in love with a guy whose whole family were golfers.
“Every Sunday they’d go to his parents’ house for tea, and the whole conversation was golf, golf, golf – so she thought, if you can’t beat them, join them.”
At Beverley Park Golf Club, Valerie won multiple competitions before she and Barry retired to Mandurah. Sadly, Barry passed away not long after they moved, but Valerie has continued to play the game introduced to her by her husband.
She played for many years at Mandurah Country Club, where she also served as club captain, before joining nearby Pinjarra Golf Club, where she’s been a member for more than 30 years.
Soon after joining, Valerie became club captain at Pinjarra and encouraged Carole – now in her early 80s – to take up golf.
The sisters now play together every Tuesday and Thursday, often competing in club events. In 2023, they teamed up to win a foursomes competition.
Valerie and Carole are two of 13 siblings, and their younger sister Glenise Just, now in her mid-70s, is also an accomplished player – the current Club Champion at Green Head Golf Club and a former long-time champion at Latham Golf Club.
Valerie’s latest triumph coincided with another milestone at Pinjarra, as 15-year-old Hayley Rasmussen became the club’s youngest-ever women’s champion, finishing five shots clear of her nearest competitor with rounds of 85-88-90.
Margaret Hughes won the C Grade Club Championship by 14 shots with rounds of 102-103-99.
STORY: Liam Wyllie | GOLF AUSTRALIA