Ann Rounthwaite

Since the Oakwood Lady Niners are enjoying summer golf this year with their Ironwood counterparts, it seems fitting to profile some of the golfers who volunteer with both leagues. Rachel Enloe is a prime example. She has taken on the challenging position of treasurer – first for the ILNGA and now for the OLNGA.

Rachel is about as close as you can get to being an Arizona native without having been born here. She arrived in Tempe at the age of six months when her parents moved from New Mexico seeking a drier climate. She attended Rural Elementary School (now part of the ASU campus) and Tempe High School and then obtained a degree in accounting from ASU. Her impressive career began with work on transportation system budgeting and analysis. She then moved into the power generation field and worked for over 30 years doing cost and plant accounting for the Salt River Project.

During their working years Rachel and her husband Thad enjoyed travelling internationally to areas including eastern and Western Europe, China, Kenya, South America and New Zealand. She particularly appreciates having spent time touring Greece and Turkey in a less turbulent era, and having visited China two years before the Tiananmen Square massacre. She reports that they could tell from things their tour guides said in 1987 that pressure for change was brewing in China.

In 2003, after both retired, Rachel and her husband moved to Oakwood in Sun Lakes. A couple of years later, she started golfing and joined both Oakwood and Ironwood nine hole leagues. Now in her second year as treasurer for the OLNGA, she’s also currently Membership and Handicaps chair for the Ironwood Lady Niners. Both leagues have benefitted from Rachel’s professionalism and attention to detail as treasurer. It takes persistence and tact to extract the estimates necessary for budgeting and the receipts necessary for accounting from enthusiastic volunteers, and Rachel has both qualities.

Rachel also enjoys photography. After developing her skills taking pictures while travelling, she contributes clear and well-composed photographs of OLNGA events to the league’s website and to Splash articles. She and Thad also enjoy neighborhood game nights and card games.

Rachel’s motto in golf as in life is, “Don’t take it too seriously.” She believes that family and friendships mean the most in the end, and that having good friends and a good companion are particularly important. Rachel’s philosophy fits the OLNGA well. It’s a group of friendly, supportive women who enjoy playing nine holes every Tuesday and socializing afterwards. While members can compete for Pro Shop credits and awards during league play from November through April, it is not a highly competitive league. Members play for fun and make golfers of all levels feel comfortable.

Until the end of September, members are enjoying informal play, teeing off in a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. It’s a great time to join and get to know other golfers. We welcome new members, including novice golfers who want to learn etiquette and rules. For more information call Margaret Johns at 480-588-1807.