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Red Hot at 
the Red Tees

Women golfers, the industry's 
fastest-growing segment, complain 
they're not always made welcome at the club

“I have played at courses with clients that had to get board approval for me to play on a Saturday morning. The stares and cold atmosphere made it very uncomfortable for me to enjoy my day.”
-- Dana Rader, teaching pro,
Ballentyne Resort

By Steve Tuttle

Women are taking up golf in unprecedented numbers and providing the industry with millions of new customers eager to lay out cash for everything from tee times to equipment to expensive clothes.

But traditions and habits are slow to change in what traditionally has been a male bastion, a lag that's leaving these new customers feeling that they haven't yet been accepted as full-fledged members of the club.

That's what we found from a survey of the 14 women members of the North Carolina Magazine Golf Panel, a sampling not large enough to be scientifically valid but still definitely enlightening because the respondents include some of the best and most respected female players in the state.

Perhaps most surprising is that 12 of the 14 said they still occasionally encounter rules that directly or indirectly restrict their access. Particularly at some private courses, women still can't get a Saturday morning tee time or order a sandwich in the “men's grill,” the panelists said.

Even a pro golfer, such as Ballentyne Resort's Dana Rader of Charlotte, has problems. “I have played at courses with clients that had to get board approval for me to play on a Saturday morning. The stares and cold atmosphere made it very uncomfortable for me to enjoy my day,” she wrote on her questionnaire.

And it isn't just the “no women on Saturday morning” rules that irritate the women members of the Golf Panel. Several also said they have been barred from entering the “men's grill” at courses and that they've had to change clothes in women's locker rooms that were cramped and inferior to the men's.

Joan Ruvane of Durham, who's been active as a USGA volunteer for many years, said she tries to laugh it off. She recounted playing at one course where women weren't allowed in the bar. “This was particularly amusing,” she said, “because the only route from the course to the ladies room was through the bar.”

At another course Ruvane said she wanted to stop at the turn for something to drink. The drink was served through “a small opening in the wall from the women's locker room to the men's bar.”

Page Marsh Lea of Southern Pines, one of the best women golfers to come out of UNC-Chapel Hill in many years, said simply: “I was a member of a club which restricted play on the weekends for female members.” She emphasized the “was.”

Similar comments were made by panelists Sally Austin, the women's golf coach at UNC-Chapel Hill; Dianne Daily, the women's golf coach at Wake Forest University, Terri Foote, a 3-handicapper and USAirways pilot from Cornelius; Brenda Kuehn of Fletcher, a three-time All-American at Wake Forest and a two-time member of the Curtis Cup Team; Marge Burns of Greensboro, a member of the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame; Linda Marsh of Jamestown, a member of the USGA Women's Committee; and Stephanie Neill Harner of Charlotte, a four-time All-America golfer at Wake Forest.

Michael Dann, a member of the Golf Panel who is assistant director of the Carolinas Golf Association, said it's his understanding that North Carolina has proportionately fewer courses that restrict access to women than most other states. “I'm not aware of any clubs in the state that are being sued over lack of equity, as many are in other states, particularly in the Northeast,” Dann said. Spearheading those lawsuits is a group called the Executive Women's Golf League. There are no actions by the group against any North Carolina course, as far as could be determined.

Dann said most public courses, which depend on walk-in traffic and which must comply with state and federal public accommodation laws, long ago dropped any racial or gender-specific restrictions. Private courses, he added, generally aren't subject to the same laws but most also dropped such policies in recent years because “so many of their members were baby boomers whose wives and daughters were taking up the game. Their wives and daughters came home and told daddy what was happening, and daddy didn't like it.”

One private North Carolina course definitely is ahead of the curve, Dann said. “At a course in Graham, the men voluntarily gave the women some prime starting times because they're faster and better.”

Other words of advice from the women members of the Golf Panel:

Stephanie Neill Harner: “To make courses and their facilities more appealing to women golfers, women must be considered throughout the operation, not just given the shorter or smaller version of what is prepared for men golfers. In course design, don't just move the tee markers forward 25 yards and expect women to enjoy the course. Position the tee boxes so that the majority of the `trouble' can be negotiated by going `beside' or `around' rather than `across.' I believe women perform better on holes that feature greens that allow shots (both approach and chip) to roll onto the surface; i.e., not have to carry a bunker in the front center of the green.”

Linda Marsh: “Design greens that receive wood shots from women. Men can hit an iron far and high.”

Joan Ruvane: “Offer at least two sets of USGA-rated tees for women (and) publish all tee yardages for both men and women — not just the male championship length. Should a course advertise `7,500-yard championship layout, 4,025-yard ladies tees,' they have invited me to seek my golf elsewhere.”

Nancy Mayer: “Put the trouble or perils where they can be seen so you can manage your game.”

Dana Rader: “Ball washers and trash cans located at the women's tees.”

Anne Strickland: “More lockers in women's area and at least one rest room on each side.”

Finally, Harner said she was impressed by one course she played recently in Connecticut. “Their clubhouse is small yet adequate and almost half of its space is specifically designed and used for child care. I do not recall if this child care is included in the green fee or offered as an additional fee, but what a way to attract busy moms to your course!”

 

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