Some of The Issues Golf Clubs Still Need to Address

Golf likes to kid itself that it has moved with the times and is now a fully-inclusive sport. If only that were true.

I firmly believe that our sport still needs to address many issues before such a claim can be made.

Let’s start with its treatment of women, shall we?

A friend of mine has recently retired to Yorkshire with his wife. They are both keen golfers and decided that they wanted to join a club in the area. A simple enough task, you might think. Read on…

They approached a club that shall remain nameless and were invited to come along and have a chat with the secretary, who had told them there were vacancies. They already knew that the annual subscriptions were reasonable and, having played the course, they had decided it was the one they wanted to join. So far so good.

The informal chat with the secretary was going fine. They liked everything they heard so they told him that they wanted to take up two seven-day memberships and that they would be paying in full, there and then. 

This was what they heard next:

"I can happily offer you a seven-day membership sir but we don’t really encourage women to play at weekends so your wife can only have a five-day membership."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. Why, what’s the problem?"

"The problem is that this is clearly a sexist golf club and my wife and I want no part of it. Thank you. Good day."

I would remind you that this is 2024!

Muirfield was kicked off The Open rota because it would not allow women members. It was only readmitted after an about-turn - a change of heart that was implemented for no reason other than the fact that club wanted The Open back. There have been similar issues with Royal St George’s in the past. And many other so-called top golf clubs. Augusta National springs to mind.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Many golf clubs still apply restrictions when it comes to tee-times for women. Why? It makes absolutely no sense. And it surely contravenes any number or laws, rules and regulations. But still it happens. 

I know from my own experiences over the years that many male golfers look down their noses at women who dare to want to share the course with them. I have never got it and I still don’t. 

Quite apart from anything else, it is abundantly clear to me that women seem to get more enjoyment from the game and are more likely to rake bunkers, replace divots and repair pitchmarks.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg for me.

When looking to join a golf club in Norfolk earlier this year after a long layoff there were three things that appalled me:

1. I wrote to every club within a 10-mile radius of Norwich to express my interest in joining. And guess what? Just two bothered to reply. You may think this is because they are all full and don’t need any more members but I know for a fact that this is not the case. It simply proves that emails are not monitored and that too many clubs employ individuals who are inefficient. I actually turned up at a couple of courses, sought out the secretary/manager and told them I had emailed to ask about possible membership. I was greeted with a shrug of the shoulders. It is not good enough. For the record, I did join one of the two clubs that replied.

2. Clubs have become greedy. What possible justification is there for imposing a joining fee? This is something from the dark ages - and that is where it belongs. I also have to ask if subscriptions in the region of £1,500-£2,000 are too expensive? I believe they are. And £7.50 for a pint of beer? Come on. A friend is a member of a Norfolk club that increased its annual subscription by £300 in 2024 without a word of explanation.

3. In this day and age, surely it is not beyond golf clubs to provide websites that were not designed by Noah before he climbed aboard the Ark. So many of them look like an aterthought. They are clunky, they are slow, they don’t use graphics, they tell you next to nothing about the course you want to visit. And don’t get me started on trying to book a tee-time online. 

Have these clubs never heard of social media? Do they not realise that almost every single one of their members owns a laptop and a mobile phone - and know how to use them!

I know from talking to fellow golfers that many clubs still don’t measure up when it comes to making visitors feel welcome. 

The impression is that many simply want to take our money and are glad to see the back of us. Again, this is something I simply do not understand. Visitors surely provide a welcome income stream - they will play 18 holes and will probably also have a bacon roll before they start and a beer or two and a bite to eat when they finish. And if they have a good time, they will tell their friends. If they don’t, they will still tell their friends - to avoid it like the plague.

And what of courses themselves? 

The most common complaint I hear and experience for myself is the condition of bunkers. I know the wet weather we have experienced presents greenkeepers with all sorts of issues. But surely a huge part of the problem is that many courses use the wrong sort of sand?

I have visited a lot of courses this year and can count on one hand the number where I have experienced "proper" sand in the traps. For the most part, it feels like playing out of builder’s sand and the problem is that when it gets wet it is like playing from hard-set concrete. At my own golf club the seniors committee has even discussed taking the bunkers out of play during the winter, something that was quickly dismissed.

But this is clearly an issue that the sport as a whole needs to address.

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