| 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:
u
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.”
u
Linda Marsh: “Design greens that receive
wood shots from women. Men can hit an iron far
and high.”
u
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.”
u
Nancy Mayer: “Put the trouble or perils
where they can be seen so you can manage your
game.”
u
Dana Rader: “Ball washers and trash cans
located at the women's tees.”
u
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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