In the Past Lana Lawless Was a SWAT COP

Lana is a 55 year old bartender from Palm Springs, California who is transgendered. In fact, Lana was was a S.W.A.T. cop for 18 years working the gang unit in a very tough Southern California city.

As a man, Lana had been married but fathered no children. “I was hiding in the straight world,” she said, “but Lana was always in there, and I wanted her to live. I had started to go to L.A. to the clubs, playing dress-up on the weekends, but I wanted to be a normal girl.”

For 21 years, the big, burly swat cop played golf at a private club, got down to a plus-1 handicap and even won the club championship. But, after gender-reassignment surgery, she left golf and all her old friends behind. “Other than my family, I have no friends from my previous life,” she said.

After watching the 2006 ESPN broadcast of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship, her interest was peaked and she was drawn back into golf.

The image of a big burly policeman-turned-woman golf champ doesn’t sit easily with many of the other golfers because Long Drive is a sport driven by power, muscle and speed.