Lancy Smith

Lancy Smith

Professional Golfer

When it comes to golf, Lancy Smith is considered the best woman player to ever come out of Western New York. Lancy grew up in a golf family. Her father often scored in the high 70s, and her two older brothers were also low-handicap players, so it was quite natural when Lancy took up the game at age eight. Ten years later she won her first New York State amateur title and since then has compiled a record that few athletes can match in any sport.

Lancy went on to win numerous other local and national awards and became recognized as one of the best amateur golfers in the nation. From 1970 to 1984, she was ranked in the Top Ten by Golf Digest Magazine 12 times, 11 times in a row including No. 1 in 1980. She was named, four times as an alternate and five times as a starter, to the Curtis Cup team which competes against the best women golfers from England and Ireland. In two of the matches, her victories provided the decisive margin for the winning American team. A member of the Western New York PGA Hall of Fame, she played in 15 U.S. Women’s Open tournaments.

Only 5-3 and 113 pounds, Lancy’s forte has been her consistency and her ability to keep the ball in play, which has often proved to be the difference against women who could drive the ball further. In 1990, Lancy cut back her play, but now she is again competing in more tournaments… and winning. In 1993, she won the Trans-National Tournament. In 1994, she won another Buffalo district championship and the Eastern Amateur championship. She achieved one of her proudest honors when she was named captain of the 1994 U.S. Curtis Cup team.

Lancy has brought, and continues to bring, a significant amount of accomplishments and recognition to the City of Buffalo.

The biographies contained on this website were written at the time of the honoree's induction into the Hall of Fame. No attempt has been made to update these narratives to reflect more recent events, activities, or statistics.