Origins of Women’s Golf
“Women’s golf was founded and evolved through women’s desire to compete.”
Long before there were trophies, scorecards, or governing bodies, there was a shared desire among women — to test themselves, to belong, and to compete.
From the coastal towns of Scotland to the growing leisure resorts of the 19th century, women found in golf a rare space where skill, independence, and social connection could coexist.
Golf offered something few activities of the time did: every stroke was her own. Whether a fisherwoman playing for a shawl on the links of Musselburgh in 1811 or a lady of leisure putting across the dunes at St Andrews, women discovered in golf both freedom and fellowship — a way to measure themselves against the course, the weather, and each other.
Though often unrecorded, these early players laid the foundation of women’s golf. They shaped its culture of respect, perseverance, and quiet ambition. What began as a pastime became a movement — one that would evolve into organised championships, national associations, and a global game.
Early Matches and Milestones
Women’s golf did not wait for permission to begin. From the early 1800s, women were not only playing — they were excelling. On the links of Musselburgh, St Andrews, and North Berwick, matches were fiercely contested, often with handmade clubs and balls, and occasionally with curious onlookers lining the dunes.
By the late 19th century, skill and strength had become defining features of the women’s game. Players like May Hezlet, Dorothea Douglass (later Chambers), and Agnes Grainger were driving beyond 150 — even 200 yards — a remarkable feat given the equipment of the time.
The pursuit of accuracy and scoring consistency soon followed. Early reports tell of women breaking barriers in both distance and precision, with the first sub-70 rounds marking a turning point: women could master the technical and mental challenges of the game every bit as completely as men.
Each powerful drive, each carefully judged putt, carried meaning beyond the course. These women were not guests in golf — they were competitors, innovators, and pioneers of performance.
A Game for Every Woman – The Birth of the Handicap System
As women’s golf spread through the late 19th century, a quiet revolution was taking shape — one centred on fairness. With only a handful of women in each club and wide differences in ability, early organisers faced a defining question:
How could every woman compete on equal terms?
Their answer — the handicap system — would transform golf forever.
Introduced and standardised under the guidance of the Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU) from 1893 onward, handicapping gave women of every level a chance to play together. It meant that a newcomer could share a fair contest with a seasoned champion, and both could win through skill, judgement, and persistence.
This innovation reflected the heart of women’s golf: competition with compassion. It turned individuality into inclusivity and made the game accessible across ability, geography, and generation.
As clubs and associations adopted the system, women began to compete beyond their own courses — linking communities across counties and, eventually, across nations. The handicap system was more than a mathematical tool; it was a statement of belief: that golf was for everyone who wished to play.
Barriers and Boundaries
Yet for all this progress, women’s access to the game remained restricted. Through much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women were allowed to play only at certain hours, on secondary courses, or under “the kind permission” of men’s clubs. Facilities were limited; recognition even rarer.
But exclusion bred determination.
Denied entry to the structures of men’s golf, women built their own. They formed ladies’ sections, independent clubs, and regional associations that organised tournaments, managed handicaps, and nurtured the game’s growth.
These clubs became communities of purpose — spaces where women could lead, compete, and belong. Leadership, administration, and camaraderie flourished side by side. Every competition, every meeting, every stroke became an assertion that women not only played golf, but defined it.
By the time the Ladies’ Golf Union unified competitions across Great Britain and Ireland in 1893, women’s golf had proven its permanence. Out of exclusion came independence — and from independence, excellence.
Foundations of a Global Sisterhood
The ideals born in Britain soon travelled the world. News of the LGU’s organisation, tournaments, and sportsmanship inspired women across Europe, North America, and the Commonwealth.
In France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, women founded their own clubs and associations, often beginning with only a few determined members and a patch of rough ground. They wrote constitutions, shared handicapping systems, and built competitions that mirrored the spirit — and sometimes the sophistication — of the LGU.
By the early 1900s, letters, scorecards, and goodwill passed between continents. International matches emerged, and friendships formed across oceans. Women golfers recognised in each other not rivals, but allies: bound by respect, ambition, and the joy of the game.
From these connections grew the first global framework of women’s golf — a sisterhood united by competition, inclusion, and love of the sport.
Their legacy endures in every fairway and federation today.
It is the legacy of women who played, organised, and believed — together — that golf could belong to everyone.