Long Before Modern Equality Debates, This 1884 Golf Club Got It Right From Day One

In an era where modern golf culture is actively grappling with its past, striving for genuine equality, dismantling outdated barriers, and encouraging female participation, it is easy to assume that women’s integration into the sport is a relatively recent campaign. But when I happened upon my own club’s history, I was rather delighted with what I found.

The history of women’s golf is far richer and more deeply woven into the game's fabric than many realise. There are records of ladies playing a tournament in Musselburgh as far back as 1811. By 1867, the St Andrews Ladies’ Golf Club was established as the world's first women's club, and the home of golf followed this in 1893 with the landmark formation of the Ladies Golf Union.

That very same year, Royal Lytham & St Annes wrote its own name into the pioneering chapters of the women's game by hosting the inaugural British Ladies Amateur Championship. Lytham’s early embrace of female competition set a precedent that echoes through its legacy.

Exactly one hundred years later, on the centenary of that 1893 tournament, Catriona Matthew announced herself to the world by lifting the Women's Amateur Championship title on those Lancashire links.

This spirit of early inclusivity wasn't confined to the Lancashire coast. I am a member at Aldeburgh Golf Club in Suffolk, a classic coastal retreat whose club was formed in 1884. We are a traditional club in every sense - proud of our place in the Top 100 courses across Britain and Ireland, perched above the Alde Estuary - yet we are far from stuffy.

When the layout was recently updated for the first time since 1922, I was charged with diving into our archives for the new website. Beneath the surface of our traditional reputation, I discovered generations of remarkable stories that put modern debates into fascinating context.

We believe Aldeburgh to be the oldest club in Britain, possibly even the world, to offer equal rights to men and women from the outset. At a time when many historic venues are navigating the transition toward full equal-access membership and modernising their bylaws, Aldeburgh didn't need a modern equality act to catch up. Inclusivity wasn't a modern addition or an afterthought; it was woven into the fabric of the club from day one.

Club founder Skelton Anderson came to Aldeburgh because his wife inherited a house here. The Scot decided the town needed golf and the club was born above the Alde Estuary and two miles from the coast.

Anderson’s wife and founding member Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first British female physician and surgeon, co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, and later became Britain’s first female Mayor.

Garrett Anderson wasn’t an anomaly in her family either, as sister Millicent Fawcett was a well-known suffragette (the first woman to be honoured with a statue in parliament square). Her husband, Henry Fawcett fought for equality for women in parliament in his role as a politician.

From what I understand, the women of the founding families were treated as equals and so the club followed suit. Our incredible photo archive uncovered in 2011 and published by our club historian Stephen Barnard plots this tradition in photographs.

The importance of young women being not only accomplished but physically active seems to be one of the reasons golf is so ingrained in generations of women in Aldeburgh and this year's Lady Captain is a perfect example. Susie Manson-Bahr’s family have been here for ever; her great grandmother Mina Vertue was one of the early lady members.

Grandmother Peggy Wilson (née Vertue) was also a revered member who was pregnant with Manson-Bahr’s father when she was a young Lady Captain in 1929. While the late 1920s were certainly a time of unbuttoning of shirts and slight loosening of ties, it’s almost inconceivable to think that would have been considered acceptable anywhere except a place where women were, in their own right, seen as equals.

Manson-Bahr also tells a wonderful tale of how grandmother Peggy took part in the 1930 English Ladies Amateur Championship that was hosted at Aldeburgh just 8 months after giving birth to her father and by now a mother of three children under 5!

Today, golf discussions frequently centre on making the game more family-friendly, accessible, and accommodating to women at every stage of life. Looking at Peggy's story, it strikes me that Aldeburgh was quietly fostering that exact environment nearly a century ago, normalising female athleticism and participation long before it became an industry soundbite.

Manson-Bahr’s father’s godmother was Joy Winn; our club’s greatest ever female player - her photo has pride of place in the lobby of the club along with other historical figures of importance. Other early players Mabel Potterton and Suzette Pettit also wrote their names into the club history with the standard of golf they played. (The English Ladies Amateur Championship has been played at Aldeburgh five times).

Until last September our track played as a tough par 68 for men. Now, thanks to the advent of four new holes, we have two par 5s. Mackenzie & Ebert carried out the changes, which have gone down really well. As I stand on the tee on the new 7th par-5 or our risk-reward drivable par 4 8th with a view of the estuary and the clubhouse, I wonder what Joy Winn would think of the changes we have made to this historic place. I hope she would have approved.

Our ladies section ages from juniors to 95 (and still playing at least twice a week) and our Septuagenarian-and-over competitions are some of our busiest, so I am pleased to report that women living in active good health continues to be a theme at Aldeburgh. Having never been part of a ladies section before I joined in 2018, I feel I chose well - although I continually get beaten by women 30 years older than me and could never live up to the standards set by some of our greatest.

As golf globally continues its journey toward inclusivity, Aldeburgh stands as a gentle reminder that tradition and equality don't have to be mutually exclusive. We didn't have to break down walls to let women in; those walls were never built here in the first place. Standing on the tee today, I don't just feel part of a golf club, I feel part of a legacy that was ahead of its time, and one that still feels wonderfully alive.