This page explains how women’s golf heritage is organised across life stages and shared themes.
🏛️ Heritage Series Introduction – Women’s Golf: A Living Continuum
Women’s Golf Heritage – A Living Continuum
Women’s golf is a story of continuity, creativity, and courage.
From the first girls’ societies to today’s global networks, each generation has shaped its own place in the game — as players, organisers, and leaders.
Together, their stories form a living continuum: a celebration of the women who made golf not only a sport, but a shared legacy carried forward for life.
Introduction
The history of women’s golf is not a straight line of championships and records, but a continuum of participation and leadership that stretches across generations.
From the first girls who learned the game in school fields and family clubs to today’s super senior competitors, women have built — and continually rebuilt — their own spaces within golf.
This Heritage Series traces that evolution through five interconnected life stages:
- Junior – (Under 18 (some countries U16 / U19)
- Amateur – (Typically 18+)
- Mid-Amateur – (25+ (R&A / USGA standard))
- Senior – (50+ (most nations), some 45+)
- Super Senior (65+ (varies by nation, sometimes 70+)
Each stage tells a story of perseverance and purpose.
Together, they reveal how women’s golf has survived and thrived not through institutional privilege, but through the collective effort of players who organised, taught, mentored, and governed themselves.
Their work created the structures, communities, and traditions that still sustain the game today.
Structure of the Series
| Stage | Focus of Heritage |
| Junior Heritage – The Grassroots of Possibility | How girls first found entry into golf through family, school, and pioneering figures like Mabel Stringer, whose Girls’ Golfing Society encouraged play and leadership at a young age. |
| Amateur Heritage – Building the Foundations | The creation of the Ladies’ Golf Union (1893) and parallel organisations worldwide, proving women could govern and compete on their own terms. |
| Mid-Amateur Heritage – Rediscovery and Resilience | The under-recognised “missing middle” where women balanced life, work, and golf, creating independent and digital communities to keep the game alive. |
| Senior Heritage – Independence and Leadership | The rise of the Veteran Ladies’ Golf Association (1921) and the growth of senior societies that embodied women’s self-governance and continuity. |
| Super Senior Heritage – Lifelong Play and Legacy | The celebration of longevity and community; women who remain active well into their seventies and beyond, carrying forward the memory and spirit of the game. |
Themes and Threads
Across every stage, several enduring themes emerge:
- Access and Opportunity – the struggle to secure time, space, and recognition within a male-dominated sport.
- Leadership and Organisation – women’s creation of independent governing bodies and community structures.
- Friendship and Mentorship – the intergenerational links that keep women connected to golf throughout life.
- Continuity and Change – how language, identity, and participation have evolved while the core values of integrity and respect remain constant.
Commentary – A Game Carried Forward
The Heritage Series shows that women’s golf was never simply granted inclusion — it was earned, shaped, and sustained by the women who played it.
Their history is both local and global: built in clubs and communities, yet connected through shared purpose.
From Mabel Stringer’s early societies to the digital networks of today, women have defined golf as a space for friendship, leadership, and lifelong learning.
This continuum is more than a timeline — it is a living ecosystem.
Each generation inherits the legacy of the last and, in turn, leaves the game stronger for those who follow.
In celebrating this heritage, we recognise that women’s golf has always been — and continues to be — a story of collective resilience, creativity, and belonging.