Women’s Golf Heritage: A Game Built by Women

A Story of Spirit, Skill, and Sisterhood

The story of women’s golf is not just written in trophies or scorecards.
It’s a story of women who built something lasting — often quietly, often together.

From windswept links to local park courses, women created their own space in a game that rarely made room for them. They founded clubs, ran competitions, raised funds, and invited others to play — not because they were asked to, but because they believed they belonged.

Women’s golf grew from friendship and persistence. It was sustained by volunteers, organisers, and players who gave their time and energy to something bigger than themselves. They didn’t just play the game — they built it.

This is their story — a heritage of courage, community, and connection — told through five stages of life and play, and one final reflection on the women who changed golf from its edges.

Junior Heritage – The Grassroots of Possibility

Every story begins somewhere — and for many women golfers, it began with a borrowed club, a patch of grass, and someone who said, “Give it a try.”

In the early 1900s, girls found their way into golf through schools, families, and community leaders who saw the value in sport. In the 1920s, Mabel Stringer founded the Girls’ Golfing Society, creating the first network for young girls to play, learn, and belong.

After the war, teachers and volunteers carried that spirit forward, organising school teams and local competitions. Their legacy continues today through programs like LPGA*USGA Girls Golf and Girls Golf Rocks, where confidence grows alongside swing technique.

Every young player — then and now — carries the same spark of possibility that once set the game alight.

Profiles: Mabel Stringer, early junior champions, and the modern-day women growing girls’ golf.

Amateur Heritage – Building the Foundations

In 1893, a group of determined women formed the Ladies’ Golf Union — the first governing body for women’s golf in the world. They didn’t wait for permission; they organised themselves.

Through them, the amateur game found its voice — and from Britain, it echoed across the world. National championships blossomed in North America, Australia, Japan, and beyond.
Events like the Curtis Cup turned competition into friendship and sport into diplomacy.

Women like Issette Pearson, Joyce Wethered, and Glenna Collett Vare showed what it meant to lead with grace, excellence, and integrity. And though the LGU would later merge with the R&A, its legacy remains in every woman who plays for pride, not prize.

Profiles: Pearson, Wethered, Vare, and today’s amateur leaders keeping the spirit alive.

Mid-Amateur Heritage – Rediscovery and Resilience

For many women, the middle years bring both challenge and rediscovery. Careers, families, and life’s demands can take them away from the fairways — but rarely for good.

The mid-amateur story is one of return. It’s where women pick up the clubs again, rebuild confidence, and rediscover joy in the game.

Groups like LPGA Amateurs, Women Who Golf, and UKWGC created welcoming spaces for women to reconnect — both in person and online. These communities celebrate participation over perfection, friendship over formality.

In them, women find more than a round of golf — they find themselves again.

Profiles: Community organisers, digital founders, and players-turned-mentors leading the modern revival.

Senior Heritage – Independence and Leadership

In 1921, Mabel Stringer did it again — founding the Veteran Ladies’ Golf Association and giving older women a platform to compete, connect, and lead.

From that moment, senior women’s golf took on a life of its own. Across Europe and beyond, independent associations formed, run entirely by volunteers and powered by purpose.

They built their own tournaments, their own networks, and their own sense of belonging. Many still operate outside formal structures — proof that women don’t need permission to lead.

Their story is one of leadership without title, friendship without age limit, and loyalty that endures through decades.

Profiles: Mabel Stringer, national association founders, and senior champions turned custodians of the game.

Super Senior Heritage – Lifelong Play and Legacy

Golf’s greatest gift is longevity — and the Super Seniors embody it.
They are living links between eras, women who have played for fifty, sixty, sometimes seventy years.

Their laughter fills the clubhouses where they once competed as juniors. Their friendships stretch across generations, proving that the love of the game doesn’t fade — it deepens.

These women remind us that golf isn’t only about performance; it’s about participation. To play into your 80s and 90s is to write living history, one fairway at a time.

Profiles: Lifelong players, Super Senior pioneers, and heritage keepers preserving the game’s story.

Epilogue – Courage and Constraint: Notes from the Margins

Some women’s stories never made the headlines — yet without them, the game would not be what it is.

They fought to join clubs that barred them, became referees when no one else would, taught and coached in the shadows, and wrote about golf when few listened.
Their persistence — quiet, steady, and brave — pushed the boundaries that others would later walk through with ease.

These women remind us that history isn’t only about who won, but who made it possible to play.

Closing Note

The heritage of women’s golf is not simply about a sport.
It’s about belonging — to something that connects generations through courage, companionship, and love of the game.
Each story told here is part of a living archive — and the next chapter is still being written, every time a woman picks up a club and steps onto the tee.