III Early Women's Golf Clubs Part 1
1855 to 1880
Beginnings at St Andrews
Towards the middle of the 19th century, there was a caddies' putting green beside the 17th hole at St Andrews, and women golfers began using this and displaced the caddies, but it would be some time later before women were granted playing rights over the Old Course. In 1855, Mrs Wolfe-Murray, daughter of the distinguished golfer John Whyte Melville, was seen playing regularly on the links at St Andrews with two golf clubs and was the subject of some public comment and even criticism. Sadly she died a few years later after giving birth.
In 1867 a women’s group began playing golf, or at least putting, at St Andrews, supported by many including Old Tom Morris. Initially known as the St Andrews Ladies Golf Club, it later become the St Andrews Ladies Putting Club and is now The Ladies Putting Club of St Andrews. It still plays over the 'Himalayas' 18-hole putting green, located near the visitors' clubhouse. Local newspaper reports say the club struggled initially and the golf strokes were of the 'putting variety'. However, 19 years later it had 500 members.
Their first president was Madeleine Boothby, the wife of an R&A member, Colonel Robert Boothby. Though it runs the Himalayas green, the Ladies Putting Club does not own a clubhouse.
Ladies Putting Club 1894 on Himalayas with Old Tom Morris
First Ladies golf at Westward Ho!
A year after St Andrews forming its club, in June 1868, at Westward Ho!, in south-east England, women golfers were playing a medal competition. This was within three months of their course being opened. They were ‘accompanied by gentlemen caddies resplendent in scarlet uniforms’. What the women were wearing is not described. The North Devon Ladies club included the daughter of the Reverend Gosset, founder of the local course, and Mrs Hutchison, aunt of Horace Hutchinson, the renown golfer and golf writer.
The rules laid down that only one club, a putter, was allowed and there were extensive allowances for drops under penalty of one shot from bushes, road and bunkers. Other rule provisions included a total ban on members bringing dogs, to avoid interference with local livestock.
Oldest Women's Course North Berwick - Play at Perth and Dunbar
Though Musselburgh is probably the oldest championship course that women played on, the oldest extant 'Ladies' Course was laid out at North Berwick in 1867. The Ladies Club was formed twenty years later and, until 1935, they were responsible for the lease of their course and employing their own greenkeeping staff. They had a timber clubhouse in what is now the grounds of the Marine Hotel. Today, their course is called the ‘Children’s Course’ and it is beside the 16th fairway.
North Berwick Ladies course, now the Children's Course, and oldest Ladies golf course in the world
In 1870, a 6-hole ladies' course was laid out at Perth to the north of Balhousie Castle. Unfortunately, this was lost and is now a built up area.
At Dunbar, there is a record of a ladies’ golf club being created in 1870 to enable them to play over holes to the west of the links, though the Dunbar Ladies Golf Club was not officially inaugurated until 1894. It played 12 holes on the men's course.
Women's Clubs formed in London and Musselburgh
Golf was becoming popular in England and at Wimbledon the women formed The Ladies London Scottish Golf Club with 14 members on 6th April 1972, which was active for several years, then began to decline. In part, this was due to the clubhouse issues which arose, when the men's London Scottish GC moved out of the 'Iron House' to Croft Cottage, following internal disagreements of governance. No particular arrangements were made for the women, and only a few hardly souls carried on playing through the 1880s (including Miss Issette Pearson) prior to the establishment of a new club in 1891 (see Part 2).
The Leith Burgh Pilot reported the formation of the Musselburgh Ladies Golf Club in 1872, and a competition on a short 12-hole course for a Ladies Cup donated by Mr Andrew Usher and won by Miss Wilson. It appears the club only lasted a year, as the 1873 Ladies Cup was not played for and was subsequently gifted to the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, since when it has been played for as the handicap prize in their Spring Meeeting. In 1887, the Golfing Annual noted that the Musselburgh Ladies club was in abeyance through 'a general lack of interest and sickness among some of the leading members' but it revived in 1888, when they played two rounds of the 9-hole course for the medal. One of their medals was open to men but the other was ladies only.
For a ladies club to have male associate members was not at all unusual, as the social aspect of the golf was a key motivation for the formation of Ladies clubs. For many young women, golf afforded the rare opportunity to meet suitable gentlemen individually in a socially acceptable setting.
Carnoustie Ladies Golf Club - oldest independent women's golf club
The Carnoustie Ladies Golf Club was formally inaugurated on 25th August 1873, two days after the Dalhousie Club had hosted a golf competition for women over a dedicated Ladies course. The first secretary/treasurer was Mr Murdock and in the early days the financial support of male (associate) members was needed, but in 1886 the first lady secretary was elected and the club became more independent. The present clubhouse was designed in 1895 and constructed at a cost of £510, which was £100 over the estimate. The club is considered the oldest independent Ladies Golf Club.
Carnoustie Ladies Golf Club clubhouse
Soon, there were many Ladies courses, such as at Carnoustie, though they were not the secondary courses that we know today. In 1890, the local Courier newspaper reported that ‘an average of 3 is considered grand scoring’ on the Carnoustie Ladies course, from which we can deduce that it would have looked more like a Par 3 course. That is not to say it was not challenging and at Carnoustie the men must have played the ladies course for practice as the Ladies club had to remind them on at least one occasion in 1883 that men could only play the Ladies course when accompanied by a Lady member. Today Carnoustie Ladies play the three courses of the public Links.
Young ladies golf and their golfing knowledge was growing apace. It is reported that in the 1878 Open at Prestwick a young girl in the crowd pointed out that Jamie Anderson was teeing up outside the teeing area on the 11th hole of his final round. He corrected his mistake, played the hole in one and duly won the tournament.
Pau in France
Pau in France was another pioneering place where women played on the men's course. There are pictures of them, from 1856 onward, playing with men, before the Ladies course was created in 1877. This short course lasted until 1941 when it was dug up for food production and never re-instated.
Pau courses courtesy of Pau GC, showing part of Ladies course at bottom
The creation of the Ladies course was attributed to the influence of Sir Victor Brooke, father of Lord Allanbrooke, who moved there for his health in 1864, when he got married. The Pau Ladies Club was always considered a section of the main club.