NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — A shingled white and green house that was once home to the late Glenna Collett-Vare — the supposed “greatest female golfer of her day” — has been listed for $12 million.
Located on the waterfront in Narragansett, the home at 229 Boston Neck Road sits on 12 acres of land. It was built in 1910, and has five bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Husband-and-wife duo Dan and Nicole Harding, associates of Lila Delman Compass, listed the property in September. The home features an ocean-facing sun porch, a fireplace in the living room, covered front porch, eat-in kitchen with a butler’s pantry, a formal dining room, and covered oceanside deck.
“You step out onto the property and it’s just magical,” Dan Harding said. “It’s right by Narragansett Beach. But it’s still private and feels like you’re in your own sanctuary.”
In the listing, he called the property “understated luxury, a slower old-world pace,” and “a place to recharge.”
There are hints of the home’s history — as well as its late owner’s — scattered about. The wallpaper in the bathroom has illustrations of tiny green trees, shaped as if they were pruned for a country club’s golf course. Doorways, interior and exterior trim, porch benches, and stairway banisters have been painted a deep green-cyan color.
Collett-Vare had many nicknames within just 10 years of breaking into the game. She was called the “female Bobby Jones,” the “queen of American golf,” and the “Arnold Palmer of women’s golf.” She is still the only golfer to win six US Women’s Amateur Championships in the tournament’s history. In a 1929 Golf Illustrated article, the late Dorothy Campbell Hurd, who won the US Women’s Amateur championship three times, credited Collett-Vare with changing the game for women.
“She taught us a new game,” Campbell Hurd said. “Before Glenna, we ladies used to aim just for the Green. Glenna showed us that ladies can play for the flag.”
Dan Harding said pictures of Collett-Vare on greens all over the world are displayed throughout the home, as are championship trophies and silver cups with her name etched across.
Collett-Vare never turned professional, but was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975. The US Golf Association has awarded a trophy to one player in Collett-Vare’s name each year since 1949. Since 1953, the Ladies Professional Golfer’s Association has awarded their Vare Trophy annually to the player with the lowest average on the tour.
Born in New Haven, Conn., in 1903 but raised in Providence, Collett-Vare grew up in an athletic-minded environment. Her father, George Collett, was cycling in France when she was born. She competed in swimming, diving, and tennis by the time she was a teenager. Collett-Vare was busy playing — and starring — on her brother’s baseball team.
In 1919 she was 16 when she first competed in the US Women’s Amateur. She won her first-round match and by 18, she became the champion after shooting the lowest qualifying scores. At the time, she played off the men’s tees and she drove a ball 307 yards — which is believed to be the longest drive ever hit by a woman at the time.
Collett-Vare was known to spend her summers in Narragansett at her home on Boston Neck Road, which she owned since before 1940, said Harding. She played at the Point Judith Country Club and competed in the Point Judith Invitational for more than 60 years.
Despite her talents advancing women’s golf in America, the sport and industry surrounding it continued to be plagued with sexism.
In the early 1990s, after Collett-Vare died, her two adult children arrived at Metacomet, the same club where Collett-Vare took her first swing, with the memento that club officials had requested from them. Her son was invited into what was a men’s-only grille at the time while her daughter was barred from entering. The family wrote to the club, requesting a change in policy or return of the cup. But the trophy was sent back by mail. Metacomet later changed its policies and underwent a large effort to recruit more women before it closed in 2020.
Collett-Vare was 85 when she died in 1989 in Florida. But according to public records, her home on Boston Neck Road has stayed with the family. Harding said he is working with her two grandchildren to sell the property.
The home “is in incredible shape. It’s 113-years old and you really wouldn’t know it,” said Harding.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.