Women and Golf — A Look at 500 Years of History
While golf today is often viewed as a primarily male-driven sport, women’s golf history dates back to the earliest days of the game. In fact, women have been hitting the fairways since the mid-16th century when Mary, Queen of Scots, was known to play regularly. The famous royal was so fond of the game that she received criticism for spending more time playing golf than attending to her duties as a monarch. She also commissioned the building of the St. Andrews Links golf course and is even credited with coining the term “caddy,” which came from her calling her assistants cadets.
Beyond the role that Mary, Queen of Scots, played in the early history of golf, little is known about other women playing the game until the mid-1800s. Like the male golfers of this period, early female players typically belonged to the middle and upper classes because they had the time and financial resources needed to play. However, due to dress standards and other restrictions, women were often relegated to playing on putting greens and short courses only. In 1867, the first women’s golf club, The Ladies Putting Club of St. Andrews, was formed. This triggered the development of other women’s golf organizations, and all-female competitive events soon followed.
In the UK, the Ladies Golf Union held the first national women’s golf championship in 1893. Over three dozen competitors from England, Ireland, and France played in the tournament, which England’s Lady Margaret Scott won. That same year, another top female golfer of the day, Isette Pearson, invented the first golf handicap system. This development, which the men of the sport embraced, became a great leveler that enabled players with less experience to play alongside more talented golfers.
As women’s golf continued to grow in the UK, its popularity was also rising in the US. The early 1900s saw women playing in several tournaments along the East Coast. Soon, top female golfers were also competing in men’s tournaments. One of the most notable of these golfers was Babe Zaharias, a former Olympian who competed in the 1938 Los Angeles Open, a PGA event. Zaharias would go on to become one of the greatest female golfers of all-time, winning dozens of professional and amateur tournaments throughout her career.
Zaharias was also a co-founder of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), which was launched in part to address the disparities between the size of women’s and men’s tournament winnings. Since its founding in 1950, the LPGA has played a significant role in growing the popularity of women’s golf. The 1963 US Women’s Open Championship was the first televised LPGA event, and it helped bring in recognition, corporate sponsors, and more substantial prizes for female golfers. By the end of the 1960s, the LPGA Tour had grown to include 34 events with over $600,000 available in prize money.
Over the next few decades, women’s golf grew to the point where many players could make a career out of playing golf. In 1981, Kathy Whitworth became the first female golfer to earn $1 million in career winnings, a feat that has since been achieved many times over by numerous players. With the introduction of LPGA programs to reach youth and develop female golfers, more and more women began hitting the links, and the sport is now full of top talent. Many of today’s most successful female players have career winnings exceeding $10 million. As in other areas of life, not everything is equal in men’s and women’s golf, but more female athletes than ever are participating as professionals. The significant impact that women have had on the game over the years cannot be denied.
