Equality in Golf

The spiritual home of golf, St Andrews, is closer than ever to abandoning a tradition that perhaps belongs in the past. While discrimination is clearly an issue that needs to be resolved in every day life, are single-gender sports clubs really guilty of it?

Currently the reported 2000 members of the St Andrews Golf Club are all male and this had long been a rather contentious issue. There are many single gender clubs in modern society but, for some reason, single gender golf clubs are thought of as immoral and are therefore highly frowned upon.

In a response to the new Equality Act, the committee at St Andrews Golf Club has written to the existing members to recommend the admittance of female members from now on. This recommendation may be a sign of the old guard of one of the world’s most traditional sports finally moving with the times; or it may be born out of fear of prosecution thanks to the Equality Act.

The committee at St Andrews is made up of past club captains and trustees and they have decided that the best way to protect the long-term interests of the club is to change the single sex policy to allow female golfers full access to the clubs facilities.

Unsurprisingly, this recommendation has been welcomed by women’s rights campaigners who have long opposed the exclusion of women from various golf clubs and societies.

The R&A, which needless to say has close ties to St Andrews, has resisted calls to admit women as full members and have provoked criticism from various parties including the Labour party following its refusal to extend honorary membership to the latest principal of St Andrew’s University, Dr Louise Richardson, because she was a woman, in 2009.

Arguments over discrimination on a basis of gender have been at the forefront of current affairs for some time now and in most cases changes have indeed been needed and fully justified. However while there are plenty of people who are supportive of the issue in hand, there are those who don’t see single-gender sports clubs as a problem.

Shona Malcolm is the chief executive officer of the Ladies Golf Union, which has over 3000 affiliated women only clubs. She is supportive of single gender clubs as they “allow golfers the freedom to choose what kind of club they want to join.”

Sheila Hartley, who is the company secretary of the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association, which has 442 affiliated women-only clubs, shares the same viewpoint. Hartley, who is in favour of single-gender clubs hinted, “It appears to be only an issue to the public when it’s male-only clubs. There are female-only clubs and that doesn’t appear to be an issue.”

While the issue of equality between genders is sure to rage on among certain groups it seems as if the people who matter in golf, i.e. the golfing community itself, don’t have a problem with single gender clubs as they tend to provide atmospheres that suit the needs and tastes of their members. Perhaps the only problem that remains is current clubs whose membership is made up of both men and women, that still have an undercurrent of sexism flowing through the club.

Are you a member of a golf club? Have you ever suffered from any form of discrimination on the golf course and what are your views on single-gender sports clubs?

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