Alison Smith Reifers
Alison over the year has been and continues to be one of the finest female amateur golfers in the State of Ohio.
The daughter of Phyllis and Marshall Smith, Alison stated playing golf at the age of eight at the Country Club of Ashland. Graduating from Ashland High School in 1973, Alison was an all-around athlete competing on two of the first interscholastic girls’ teams, softball and basketball, and also excelled in music playing saxophone in the stage band and marching bands. Not having a golf team in high school to compete on though, Alison was left to improve her game on her own, through sheer hard work and dedication. This hard work and a great deal of talent has paid off, however, with a multitude of titles. Over the years Alison has won 14 club championships including the C.C. of Ashland, Riviera C.C. in Dublin, and the C.C. of Muirfield Village, also in Dublin, where she now plays.
Undoubtedly the highlight of Alison’s golf career has been her fine showings in the Womens’ Ohio State Golf Association Championship – the premier tournament in womens’ amateur golf in Ohio. Alison won this prestigious event in 1991 and has been a semi-finalist three other times. An interesting side note is that Alison’s husband, Randy, won the mens’ state amateur title in 1987 and again in 1992, allowing them to share their respective titles for a time and making them the first husband/wife to hold state titles at the same time. In addition, Alison is a five-time winner (from1987-1991) of the Ohio Womens’ Golf Association Stroke Play Championship, and is the current Franklin County Champion, having won that tournament five times.
Ashland can be proud of Alison for her community-minded activities. One of the founders of the Babe Zaharias Classic, a fund raising golf and tennis tournament in Columbus, she served as General Chairman of the event in 1991 and has helped establish the tournament as the #1 fund raiser in the nation for the American Cancer Society.
Currently, Alison is Head Golf Coach of the Dublin High School Girls’ Golf Team, a position she has held for two years.
Alison and Randy have two children, Erin (14), and Kyle (11), and reside in Dublin, Ohio.
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