Golf Blog

Archive for the ‘Ladies Golf’ Category

Recently a reader wrote into Bunkered magazine to ask wether golf was returning to the elitism of the 20s and 30s. So is golf elitist?

Well; it can be. Same as any sport / environment. There are golf clubs where you are made to feel excluded if you are young, female, black, asian or even just middle / working class. There are also gyms where everyone is ripped, and wearing mankinis to exercise in; bars where everyone is wearing designer clothing, and drinking champagne; shops where the patrons and shop assistants give you affronted looks for daring to profane their doorstep.

Unfortunately, idiots abound everywhere, and you shouldn’t let them put you off the game.

Cost is another aspect that is reported to be problematic. Again, some golf courses will charge you upwards of £100 for a round of golf, and perhaps not even serve you in the clubhouse. Refuse to patronise these establishments. You can get a decent round of golf for under £20, often with a sandwich thrown in.

Again, golf equipment can be expensive, but it needn’t be. It’s like with cars; while a Porsche may be perfect, a Proton still gets you from A to B, with a certain amount of pleasure.  Likewise, a custom fitted set of monogrammed clubs may be the ideal, why not wait for a sale and pick up a great clearance set of irons, which will look great without bankrupting you or consigning the children to go barefoot.

Finally, remember that elitism is rather pathetic, very eighties and a little bit sad.

It’s interesting how in the 21st century (and under a Tory government) sexism still persists, in sport particularly. Google “male golfer” and you get profiles of famous male golfers, pictures of the game’s greats and awards given out. Google “female golfer” and you get so called ‘news’ articles called 9 women golfers we’d like to see naked plus a whole lot of photo-shopped porn. There’s a popular, PR 5 golf blog by a female called Golf Girl. Her profile pic has her in a bikini and she’s done a swimsuit calendar.

I had to search extremely hard to find a blog that wasn’t composed of gratuitous glamour photography, but came across a female golf blog called Real Women Golf, which challenges the stereotype of golf being purely male, punctuated by trophy wives and paid models (from companies like “Eye Candy Caddies” ick ick ick).

She’s a woman on a budget, who talks about how her golf shoes were the only shoes she bought that year, and how she had to drop caffiene because it made her hands shake during her game. Normal everyday stuff, which applies to lady golfers looking for a kindred spirit.

Gender should not be an issue in sport. Female golfers have to handle casual prejudice about their abilities (like female drivers), belittling and dismissive sexualisation, and the fact that women in golf at all is regarded as a joke.

Women golfers can – and do – challenge this unpleasant gender discrimination, but it also requires male golfers to adjust and improve their attitudes. Of course, it’s not all bad. The Leaderboard Golf company has banned the Eye Candy Caddies, saying “Exploiting outmoded notions of golf as a male bastion is not ‘just a bit of fun’—it damages the reputation of the sport as a whole as well as its appeal to members of the younger generation of either sex.”