Equality Versus Tradition - Do Men's And Ladies' Captains Still Belong In Modern Golf?

A good golfing friend of mine, Aileen Simpson, became the first-ever female club captain at Brockenhurst Manor Golf Club in Hampshire earlier this year. For a traditional club with a relatively old membership demographic this was seen as really progressive and a big step forward for women’s equality at the club.

It also sent out a signal to other, more archaic clubs around the country, that times are changing and that as a society in general we now have to embrace equality in all its guises.

I’m in total admiration of Aileen and applaud the fabulous job that she is doing as Captain. Among many changes, she made sure that all four of the measured teeing grounds on the course are rated for men and women.

Aileen has also been instrumental in moving the dates of the men’s and women’s club championships, so that they are now played together on a festival of golf weekend. Progressive for working women who never formerly had the chance to play and a nod to equality because both championships are held on the same weekend.

The idea is that the leaders in both the men’s and women’s championships will tee off one after another on the final day, the Sunday afternoon, to create an exciting atmosphere for club members who want to come out and watch, support and witness these champions play golf. They then get to celebrate the respective champions together at a joint prize-giving.

As an outsider hearing Aileen tell me this I was like “wow that’s really forward-thinking,” however, there are some golfers who don’t share this sentiment. Our very own Golf Monthly contributor and PGA Professional Emma Booth among them.

Booth, who experienced gender inequality in its droves as a junior golfer, says that despite her negative childhood experiences of being treated like a second-class citizen at various golf clubs around the country playing the England circuit, having a men’s and Lady Captain is part of the history and heritage of the game and should remain.

“Moving to a set-up with just one club captain risks the loss of power and identity for the sections,” explains Booth. “I can understand the thinking in having just one overall captain but ultimately I think it results in both sections losing out. Each no longer has the opportunity to represent their demographic and decisions will get blurred.”

Another woman who agrees wholeheartedly with Booth is Carrie O’Herlihy, who I recently met playing in the Mothers & Daughters golf tournament at Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club. O’Herlihy was on the board of directors at Basingstoke Golf Club during a period of dramatic change, when the course was sold to housing developers and a new course purchased to relocate and reinstate the Basingstoke club. Brand new facilities were built and lots of decisions had to be made that would future-proof the new club.

“As a director I sat in board meetings and put forward lots of ideas,” O’Herlihy recalled, as we walked the fairways of Royal Mid Surrey together, “But I always felt as though my view was second to the men’s.”

As the Lady Captain at the time she attended many joint club functions with the men’s captain but says she was always served second. “One time we were sitting together, each with guests, and we had chosen pre-ordered food options. Both our guests happened to be vegetarian but unfortunately they ran out of vegetarian dishes. My playing partner missed out on her meal, yet the men’s veggie guest got their specially ordered dish.”

It is those subtle forms of discrimination that O’Herlihy believes will carry on, no matter what structure you give to club committees, and regardless of whether you have a gender neutral single club captain or not, because ultimately we’re a generation who grew up being treated this way, so it’s in our human nature to put men first.

Interestingly, my home county Dorset has just voted unanimously to unify and a new joint committee of men and women has been formed to make decisions together as one collective - Dorset Golf.

In a few months time we transition away from Dorset Men and Dorset Women and we will be one, all wearing the same county colours among other things. I think that this is great news for Dorset women’s golf as it has been under-funded for decades. We’ve had to cover our own costs and expenses on numerous occasions when representing the county due to a lack of budget, while the richer men’s squad were being taken out for meals and supplied with brand new equipment, such as logoed golf balls to play with during county matches.

When you think about all the changes happening in sports around the world to encourage gender equality, it seems like a natural course of progression that clubs like Brockenhurst Manor have chosen to have just one captain and counties like Dorset to have one committee. But whose view do you share? We’d love to hear your thoughts…