'I Was Criticised, Bullied On Social Media And Forced To Retire As Lady Captain'

Being a member of a golf club is an absolute joy for many women. The members bag tag brings with it a real sense of belonging, the pride of representing your club, forging life-long friendships with like-minded women, social fun and so much more. Sadly that enjoyment is sometimes spoiled by silly things that go hand-in-hand with club life. We spoke to an array of women about their likes, dislikes and experiences of golf club culture.

The Social Scene

Julie Whelan - Like: “I just love the sense of ‘belonging’ you get at a golf club. Membership has allowed me to forge friendships with such a wide range of people. Playing golf is healthy competition but great fun too. I love the challenge of the sport and being able to improve with coaching. 

The mixed golf set-up in both clubs I have belonged to has been fantastic. So many competitions, like mixed friendly matches, with meals afterwards, providing great socials. Plus you get good quality and good value food in the clubhouse. It’s a great setting to eat, socialise and relax. Best of all I love the flexibility of being a member. You can just turn up and play golf when you want.”

Dislike: “The misogynist view of many men, particularly those over 70 years of age. This has, at times, been horrendous. I had to take a lot because I led a real change programme on our club management committee. Calling it out appears to be a new concept for many clubs. When I first joined a golf club all the photos of men around the clubhouse was ridiculous! This has now changed as I led a review, however there seems to be an acceptance by so many women that men should run the club, backed up by pedantic and non-inclusive rules. Take the very term “ladies”. We are desperate to get younger women involved in the club, but this term acts as a barrier. We are playing the long game here and slowly phasing it out to use the term women.”

Golf Club Politics

Sian Lewis - Dislike: “I was on the management committee of a club during the period when they had to change the inequitable tee times. Unfortunately our ladies day went with that. Some women at the club started a hate campaign against me to get me expelled from the club because they blamed me for this. I had to retire from being Lady Captain and I was bullied and criticised on social media. If you read England Golf’s ‘Equality, Inclusion and Diversity’ policy you will see that clubs can no longer get away with having days exclusively dedicated to men’s or women’s golf only. The law came in in 2010. 

Six months later I asked for a medical suspension and wasn’t granted one, even though many others were (unbeknown to me at the time), so I left the club. When I was ready to return the general manager tricked me into filling in an application form which then went to the management committee who refused my application because they said I was disruptive. I believe that a group of women prepared a case against me, which was not factual. It was a very traumatic situation but I am determined to get to the bottom of it on principle. Our club is being sold and they accused me of only wanting to rejoin so that I got a pay out.”

Inequality On The Time Sheet

Pippa Farr - Dislike: “Our club has a men's and ladies' section. The ladies competition day is a Tuesday, which is great for the older retired ladies but doesn’t accommodate the younger generation and those who are working. The men play on a Saturday which closes the tee times until late afternoon. This means I can’t play a round on a Saturday (and often Sunday) until late afternoon (as there are often competitions on a Sunday morning also.)

To me this is a very traditional set-up and doesn’t provide equal opportunities. During the summer, the longer hours of daylight means I can get out for a few holes of golf in the evening, but I would love to have the option to play in a mixed competition on a Saturday.

Sarah Chappell - Dislike: "I am new to golf and on a pathway to improve at my club. I have recently attained my handicap and have found the level of inequality astonishing. Saturday mornings are men only. Saturday afternoons junior competitions, only some (occasional) women’s competitions on a Saturday afternoon after 2.30pm. That’s fine, I suppose, in the summer, but if my partner plays his competition in the morning and I play mine in the afternoon, we lose a whole day of our weekend together (some might see that as a bonus!) 

I have questioned why women can’t play at the same time as the men, only to be told that some are allowed to enter as long as they have a very good handicap! Yet there are no men’s competitions played in the week, which would free up some of the weekend times for those of us who are not retired, parents and working women. It appears that club rules are written by men for men, so in their eyes the current system works just fine. Membership schemes are inflexible and outdated.”

Adrienne Lane - Dislike: “Societies, wakes, weddings, meetings…all bring in money to the club. I realise that we need outside enterprise as the cream on top of our fees, but they should not be held as more important than the members, who are the mainstay through thick and thin of the club. Having been around golf for 50 years, as a once club captain, married to the twice club president, I’ve seen it all and it’s sad to see how corporate golf clubs are becoming. 

As a result of the pressure on tee times and our ladies section shrinking, our competition tee times have been reduced to just one hour reserved in the mornings. This simply does not suit everyone, especially those that work. We also end up catching up all the men’s fourballs, which causes slow play and frustration for many as it is against the men’s religion to let women through! I don’t think the men have any regard for us as golfers at all. we are seen as a nuisance to them, which is a great shame. I am still a reasonable golfer (17 handicap) and have an ambition to be the only octogenarian at the club playing scratch matches.”

Emily Rowbottom - Like: “I’m proud to say that we operate as an equal opportunities club (at Woolley Park GC). Women can do exactly the same as the men in terms of access to tee times, competitions, space and use of the club facilities. Women and men are here to spend their leisure time. They don’t need to be surrounded by rules telling them what they can and can’t do. We participated in the Women in Golf charter recently and our England Golf rep said that we were the first club to pass without needing to make any promises or goals. The most inclusive they had visited.”

A ‘Women’s’ Day

Katarina Hakansson - Like: “The people at my club are lovely, not like others where they are definitely all doom and gloom. I was welcomed with open arms when I joined three years ago and the men cheer me on when I play well. I’ve beaten the men several times and they don’t complain. We are a small club with very few female members. We do want more but I can see why it might be daunting for a woman joining a club with no ladies' section or competitions. I always tell women who are interested in joining how welcoming our club is.”  

Dislike: “I strongly dislike having separate men’s and women’s competitions. They should all be mixed in my view. I also don’t understand the point of separate cards now that we have the new World Handicap System. Your handicap is your handicap and you simply choose the tee, it compensates for the difference in ability.”

Lizzie Haigh - Dislike:  “Our club policy on competition days was written by white, middle-aged men about 50+ years ago. I am on our senior management team so I did bring it to our new club secretary’s attention. How ridiculous it was that no-one from minority groups had been asked to be involved. I asked if there could be more mixed competitions that men or women could enter at the weekends and I was told by the club captain that there are ‘men at the club who do not like women on the course and do not want you in their competitions! We don’t want to lose those men and can’t afford to, so we won’t be offering any more mixed golf.’ 

The most depressing thing about that conversation was realising that we will only get equality at our golf club if men allow us to have it. I often question whether I should just find another club to join but I think a lot of clubs are the same and not truly equal.”

Club Cliques And Ageism

Julie Whelan - Dislike: “We all work hard to make sure this doesn't creep in but it is prevalent in many women’s sections. When they get together there is always a kind of general moaning, with everyone being an expert. I particularly despise the sense of members' entitlement. Moaning about those who have volunteered and yet are doing their best.”

Kaysha Sharrock - Dislike: “I only started playing golf last summer, actually just to help make up the numbers. I thought I’d drop out after a couple of weeks but as it transpired I totally fell in love with the game and after six obsessed months had a handicap of 17! I graduated the beginners academy and was told that I should just continue with one-on-one lessons as there wasn’t a pathway for women like me that progressed so fast. I am still on the waiting list for full club membership now. 

I asked what they proposed I should do for the next year and three months while waiting and they told me to go and find another club! To which I responded, but if I do that I may not come back and I feel that the club that introduced me to the game through their lessons would benefit from me as a member as there is a real age gap, especially for women like me. 

They simply said, “of course you’ll come back, everyone wants to be a member here!” How very arrogant. Naturally I’ve found a new course out of principle, which turned out to be the best thing i ever did, but it’s one hour away. The club has a massive under representation for both women and younger players in general that want to play golf as a sport, rather than just fill the hours in later life. There were empty ladies spaces which they ‘let the men borrow’ in Covid. I had a call from the other club saying that they had now been tasked with signing a Ladies Golf Charter. So they have clearly realised that there are cracks and criticisms and many stuck in their ways. They got me into golf offering a ladies pathway and led me to a cliff edge!”