Resident of Pleasanton

Lisa A. Cobler passed away peacefully at home on November 29, 2024, in Pleasanton, California, after a valiant 5-year battle with breast cancer. She was 66.

The second of three children, Lisa was born Elizabeth Ann Baxter on June 19, 1958, to Vincent N.and Barbara Baxter in Oakland, California. The family soon after moved to Los Gatos, where Lisa spent her childhood attending the local public schools.

Lisa’s parents and both sets of her grandparents were avid golfers, so it was nosurprise that Lisa took up the sport at age 9, immediately taking a liking to the game.

She grew up playing at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos and quickly excelled, first in club tournaments and then in the tournaments of the Junior Golf Association of Northern California (JGANC). By the end of her junior golf career, Lisa had won over 30 age-bracket and overall JGANC tournaments. While attending Los Gatos High School, Lisa was one of the earliest beneficiaries of the then new Title IX law, allowing her to play for three years on the boys’ varsity golf team.

As a teenager, Lisa began competing successfully in regional and national women’s amateur tournaments. Her first amateur career top finish came in 1975 when, at age 16, she won the Women’s Golf Association of Northern California (WGANC) Championship, becoming the youngest winner of the title. Not long after, she won the Southern Oregon Women’s Amateur Championship. At age 18, Lisa reached the quarterfinals of two of the three top women’s amateur national events, the Women’s Western and the Trans National.

Following high school, Lisa attended San Jose State University where she was part of a recruitment effort which took the Lady Spartan golf program from virtual nonexistence to Lisa and her teammates being undefeated in the Northern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and placing sixth in the 1977 AIAW National Collegiate Golf Championship (predecessor to the NCAA Women’s Tournament).

Lisa was named Golf Digest magazine’s Ms. Golf 1978, and in 1979, she was among the first women to be invited to and play in the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am.

She would be one of the two woman amateurs competing at the Crosby Clambake again in 1980, this time joined by her Spartan teammate Juli Simpson (Inkster).

Lisa’s professional golf career started after college when she began competing on the European and Asian tours.

She became particularly popular in Japan where she enjoyed a successful 15-year modeling, promotional, and endorsement career.

Beyond her interest and pursuits in golf, Lisa worked at the San Jose-based family financial planning business, Baxter & Associates, for several years beginning in 1985.

It was during this time that she met Michael Cobler, and in 1991, they married and settled in Saratoga, California, later relocating to Pleasanton. After the birth of their son, Kevin, Lisa retired from her professional golf activities, and she applied for and was granted reinstatement of her amateur status.

Lisa was a long-time member of the Olympic Club in San Francisco and Ruby Hill Golf Club in Pleasanton, and though she continued to enjoy golfing casually with family and friends, she never lost her competitive spirit – winning the women’s club championship at the Olympic Club multiple times and at Ruby Hill thirteen times.

Preceded in death by her mother, Barbara, Lisa is survived by her husband Michael, son Kevin, stepdaughter Katie, father Vincent N. Baxter (Claire), brothers Nicholas E. Baxter (Anne) and Vincent R. Baxter (Lorraine), stepsister Loring Williams (Chad), and nephews Jay Baxter (Kimia) and Glenn Baxter.

A private funeral Mass has been celebrated. Gifts in Lisa’s memory may be made to the First Tee Tri Valley, 4501 Pleasanton Ave., Pleasanton, CA 94566.