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Hailey Joy

AP English IV

Mrs. Wilson

11 May 2018

The Progression of Equality for Women in Golf

In the mid twentieth century, thirteen women who yearned to play the sport they loved

soon began to fight for equality in the world of golf. In a man’s world, women were supposed to

succumb to the expectations of society, but in terms of women’s golf, that was unacceptable to

the women who were qualified to play. Men were fearful of women entering into a “man’s sport”

and were reluctant to admit women into something they did not consider ladylike. Today, women

do not face any direct social discrimination; however, they are still held to strict standards in

terms of dress code and behavior. Despite the progression of women's equality throughout

America and in women's golf, bias still exists and is best changed by allowing women to define

themselves rather than letting society define them.

Since the beginning of sports, women have faced adversity in golf. Golf was seen as an

almost forbidden sport beginning in the late sixteenth century. According to the Women’s Golf

Journal, during her trial in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was scorned when it was pointed out that

she had played golf only a few days after the death of her husband, Lord Darnley. Her

prosecutors said playing golf so immediately following her husband's death indicated suspicious

character (“Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden- A History”). This was considered a double

standard, because in many cases men who play golf after an emotional tragedy are considered to

be relieving stress. At the end of the 19th century, even as golf began to take hold in America,
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men nearer to golf’s ancestral home, at St. Andrews in Scotland, were working diligently to

come up with ways to keep women as far from golf as possible.

One man who worked particularly hard at keeping women from playing golf was Lord

Moncrieff who decreed that women should not hit the ball any farther than 60-70 yards. “Not

because we doubt a lady’s power to make a longer drive but because that cannot well be done

without raising the club above the shoulder,” he wrote. Moncrieff further stated, “Now we do not

presume to dictate but we must observe that the posture and gestures requisite for a full swing

are not particularly graceful when the player is clad in female dress.” Lord Moncrieff was still

around when, in keeping with his recommendation, The Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A)

members built their wives a putting green next to the Old Course in St Andrews. They called it

“The Himalayas” and the idea was that the women could practice putting while the men played

golf. As much as the women loved their putting green, they longed to play at the Old Course

(“Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden- A History”). And with that determination came a push for

women golfers in the United Kingdom to have their own official body that would eventually be

called The Ladies Golf Union. Their spokesperson, Miss Blanche Martin, sought the advice of an

up and coming amateur by the name of Horace Hutchinson. His reply was more negative than

they could have imagined. In a harsh letter, he advised them that it would not be in their best

interest to form a golf union for women because women were physically inadequate to

participate in sports (“Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden- A History”). His advice did

eventually serve a purpose-but not its intended purpose. Hutchinson provided them with enough

drive to form the Ladies Golf Union just a few weeks later.

Throughout the twentieth century women's rights progressed in society, as well as in golf.

During World War II no men or women athletic events were held; all efforts were to go strictly
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towards the war. Golf equipment was not manufactured because rubber was reserved for

fashioning military equipment. While men were off at war, women began to take over running

stores, mechanical jobs, and other things that were strictly male jobs. Many women golfers

signed up for the military as well and were apart of Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

Their responsibilities in WASP included flying planes that carried bombs from the US to

England, as well as serve under various intelligence agencies. Once the war was over, everything

went back to normal (The Founders). After the war, the men took their jobs back and

corporations sent women back to being housewives. Women's rights in America had just begun

to take a turn, until the war had ended. Everything went back to how it was before and not a

single thing had changed. Once women got the taste of freedom and what equality felt like, they

refused to go back to how things were before.

By 1950, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was established by thirteen

women who wanted to make a living out of the sport that they loved. They had organized

tournaments across the country, but lacked the funding and attention that would require their

organization to thrive. When travelling, the participants had to speak at banquets to promote the

tour, campaign at local ball games, on the radio, and in stores. They visited many golf clubs and

held clinics for young amateurs as well as play with the club professionals and give them advice.

When at the tournaments the women participating would model clothes at clubhouse parties and

dance with sponsors. If one of the players refused to participate, she would be kicked out of the

tournament (The Founders). As the campaigning continued, more people became involved and

the number of spectators at tournaments began to grow.

Even though these thirteen female golfers were making progress, they still faced many

social setbacks. Many people in the mid twentieth century did not like to see athletic women. It
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was seen as unladylike to participate in anything considered remotely masculine. Women were

required to wear skirts, because slacks were considered a man’s clothing. The only press they

would receive after a tournament was on the back cover of a newspaper. Many of the

tournaments were held on unkept golf courses in terrible conditions. One woman reported

playing a tournament in 60 mph winds (The Founders). The purse gap between men and women

was alarmingly different because men on the PGA Tour objected to equal pay for women. In one

tournament, as Betty Hicks explains in the documentary The Founders, where both men and

women played together, the winner of the male division, Byron Nelson won $10,000 while the

winner of the female division, Hicks, won $500. These women were playing for the love of golf,

but they were also playing for their next meal, as well as where they were going to sleep.

One of the most influential pioneers of women's golf was Babe Zaharias. She began her

career in sports as an olympic athlete. She was a boxer, tennis player, football player as well a

track star. At the 1932 olympics she won medals in hurdles. In an interview she expressed her

frustration by saying that she was one of the best female athletes of her time, yet she could not

make a living out of it. By the 1940’s she decided to take up golf and was soon declared the

greatest woman golfer of all time. During her professional golf career, she was the winner of

seventeen successive golf tournaments. She was one of the thirteen women to found the LPGA

Tour and took pride in doing it. She actively drew in many sponsors and spectators who

marveled at her athleticism. In 1953, Babe was diagnosed with colon cancer and was forced to

take a break from the game and have surgery. Just eighteen months after her operation she came

back and won the Women's Open by ten strokes. Two years later, after a second cancer operation

she passed away. Babe was always remembered for her strength of character and willingness to

practice endlessly in order to reach the top (“Babe Didrikson Zaharias”). Babe Zaharias was an
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icon to womens golf and her legacy proved to be a milestone in the progression of equality in

women's golf.

Another pioneer in women’s golf was Marlene Vossler. She was one of the dynamic duo

between her and her sister, Alice Vossler. She held records at a young age in the world of golf.

As a child, she was ridiculed for wanting to start a career in golf at the age of thirteen. In a

magazine article that was intended to describe her early accomplishments, they inserted a picture

of her playing golf while dolls were scattered in the corner of the picture, implicating that at her

age she should be playing with dolls rather than pursue an athletic career. As a teenager, she was

deferred from playing in a boys junior championship, until the media ridiculed the organization

so much they allowed her to play. Marlene beat a friend of hers in the finals of that tournament,

which ultimately led to the end of their friendship (The Founders). Marlene was one of the

thirteen LPGA founders that fought hard to make an equal golf environment for women.

Althea Gibson, the first African American woman, was an LPGA Tour member from

1963-1978. Gibson won the Wimbledon Tennis Championship three times before retiring and

taking up golf. In a tournament in Texas at Forest Hills Golf Course they would not allow her in

the clubhouse. All of the tour members decided not to play at that course. LPGA tour members

boycotted three more tournaments because they would not let Althea into the clubhouse. In an

interview for The Founders, Louise Suggs stated, “That’s one thing that the LPGA is very proud

of. We don’t care what color you are; you’re accepted.” Finally, having the first African

American woman to play on the LPGA tour rapidly progressed equal rights for women in golf.

Once it was seen as fair for minorities to have rights, it was easier for women to keep paving the

way to overall equality.

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Currently, women still face bias in golf. Some country clubs have formal rules that only

allow men to play in the mornings on weekends. The tee times are reserved for men only, while

stating that the reason women can not play is because they, “don’t want to get stuck behind a

bunch of broads” (Booth). The reason many women are pushing against this rule is because it is

not only sexist, but also makes it more difficult for women to have business meetings in order to

be more personal with their clients. On average, women do play an 18-hole round fifteen minutes

slower than men, although women who golf frequently play ten minutes faster than frequent

male golfers. Country clubs like Burning Tree Club in Bethesda, which maintains that its tee

times are not restrictive for women, are more stubborn. They simply have no women members.

Because of their discriminatory policy, the club pays more taxes (Booth). Women are fighting to

abolish this policy, but it will take more than petitions to get the equality treatment they desire.

Not only are women restricted from certain golf courses, they are also restricted to a very

specific dress code policy. In the early 1900s women were restricted to a certain way of societal

standards, even if it meant they could not correctly execute their desired swing (“Gentlemen

Only, Ladies Forbidden- A History”). In July of 2017, the LPGA released a new dress code

policy that restricted women from wearing leggings, joggers, or shirts with plunging necklines

(“The Progression...”). The plunging neckline rule is very vague, because there is no single

definition to constitute the neckline. Instead, the rule is meant to restrict any form of cleavage

being exposed. This new rule can make more curvy women ashamed of their body, as well as

sexualize athletes. Aside from singling out certain styles of clothes, it may unintentionally single

out certain body types. In other professional sports, women’s uniforms have evolved to

contemporary cuts and materials designed to meet the athletes elevated physical demands.

Tennis players wear sleeveless tops and spandex shorts so that they can hit, reach, and lunge for
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the ball more effectively. In order for golfers to perform at the optimal level, they are required to

rotate, extend, crouch, and bend in sometimes extreme weather conditions for 5-6 hours at a time

(“The Progression...”). If professionalism in golf is the same as athleticism, then athleticism

should be promoted in the clothes that allow it. By labeling women as looking “unprofessional”

when showing cleavage or shorts worn under a skirt, the LPGA is exemplifying outdated

stereotypes that insinuate a woman's attire has a direct correlation with her morals. Women are

still regarded very differently in the media. Many times announcers for golf tournaments will

comment on how they dress rather than how they are performing. Not only have current LPGA

professionals faced a roadblock in this newly established dress code, but there still continues to

be a large difference in the purses between men and women professional golfers.

The pay gap between men and women professional golfers is alarmingly different, as

well as the benefits the men recieve that women do not. In the men’s US Open, the winning sum

was twelve million dollars, while the women's US Open was five million dollars. In a interview,

an anonymous LPGA player stated, “It’s also other perks that go along with being a PGA Tour

pro that we lack on our tour: retirement compensation, medical compensation, stuff like that.

Those things are a luxury on that tour that we never even fathom.” In 2015 a top ranked male on

the PGA Tour earned about five times more than a top ranked female on the LPGA Tour

(Booth). One major factor in the difference in pay between men and women is that the PGA tour

simply attracts more attention and sponsors, therefore producing more revenue. LPGA members

travel all across the globe for tournaments. In 2015, the LPGA played 32 events held in 14

different countries. The LPGA has over 460 tour members today, and tournaments are televised

in over 150 countries (Clemmons). Despite the pay gap between men and women in golf, women

now have many opportunities around the world to participate in athletics. In other countries, such
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as China, female golfers are celebrated by both their people and their government. While the pay

scale between men and women golfers is still developing, women have begun to thrive

economically with a career in golf.

Throughout history women have been subjected to a vast amount of discrimination in

society. Women are still objectified by certain media outlets, undergoing comments based on

what they wear, rather than what they accomplish. While the LPGA does not attract as many

sponsors as the PGA tour does, they have established themselves as a well known and respected

organization. Women have come very far from the adversity faced in the 1950’s. From not being

allowed to swing a club, to travelling the globe, women have come very far in golf.Although

they have come this far, they still have a ways to go in terms of equality both economically and

socially. If it were not for those thirteen female pioneers who decided to create

the Ladies Professional Golf Association, women today would not be able to compete

professionally as well as receive the respect that they do for their accomplishments.

Works Cited

“Babe Didrikson Zaharias.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 23 Mar. 2015,

www.biography.com/people/babe-didrikson-zaharias-9542047. Accessed 1 May 2018.

Booth, William. “Women AIM TO CUT DIVOT IN GOLF BIAS.” The Washington

Post, WP Company, 5 Mar. 1994,

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www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/03/05/women-aim-to-cut-divot-in-golf-

bias/e2971349-7258-4c3a-ad55-2aca8bb3167a/?utm_term=.65ae48c00326.

Clemmons, Anna Katherine. “LPGA Confidential Survey: Players Speak up about

Inequality.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 10 July 2017,

www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/19865737/lpga-confidential-survey-speaking-golf-

inequalities. Accessed 27 Feb 2018.

“Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden - a History” Women's Golf Journal, 1 Aug. 2017,

www.womensgolfjournal.com/golf/no-women-allowed/. Accessed 27 Feb 2018.

“The Progression of Women's Golf Is Plunging Further Than Our Necklines.” Fortune,

http://fortune.com/2017/07/20/new-lpga-dress-code-paige-spiranac/. Accessed 27 Feb

2018.

The Founders. Directed by Charlene Fisk and Carrie Schrader, Mighty Fine Pictures,

2016. Amazon Prime https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Bella-

Lotz/dp/B0713R1W72/ref=sr_1_1?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1525182489&sr=1-

1&keywords=the+founders 20 April, 2018