Golfer bows out after winning 25th championship
Maureen Woodhead (pictured above) is retiring with a record haul of ladies' titles at her home town club.
The 60-year-old won her maiden championship in 1993 and has dominated almost ever since, notching title number 25 at the recent 2018 tournament.
Maureen is now leaving on a high to spend more time with her husband Neil at the couple's new base in the Lake District.
She told the Tele: "I've won it now for 25 years so there's a pressure that comes with that.
"I wanted to finish sort of unbeaten, if you like.
"Neil doesn't play golf, he enjoys walking and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2010 for Quarriers so I can see myself walking a lot more now."
Maureen started out playing hockey before her late first husband, Nicol Skinner, encouraged her to take up golf.
The sport runs in the family, with her father Dan Hendry, who passed away two years ago, a past captain at Gourock and former Greenock Golf Club champion.
Maureen was persuaded by Nicol to join the Cowal View course in '79.
Nicol, who was himself a multiple championship winner, died in 2001 and the flag pole stands in his memory outside the clubhouse.
Maureen said: "I think he was fed up picking me up from accident and emergency with broken ankles because of hockey and encouraged me to take up golf.
"I won my first championship in '93 and won it every year apart from 2008 when I was beaten in the semi-final.
"Until I recently changed my car and sold the house, I lived in Golf Road, played golf and drove a Golf."
During her competitive career, Maureen also won British and Scottish Civil Service Ladies' titles.
She was Inverclyde's 'champion of champions' five times, enjoyed success with Gourock in the Greenlees Trophy and served as vice-captain of the Renfrewshire team in 2009 before helping them to claim their first national crown the following year - the first in over two decades.
