IV Early Women's Golf Clubs Part 2
1881 to 1890
Troon on West Coast
The Ladies' Golf Club Troon was instituted on 22nd August in 1882, although women had been playing the Troon course prior to this date. The entry fee was two shillings and sixpence. Soon after, as the Golfing Annual reports
‘A special course for the ladies has been laid out on Troon Links, and over this course the members of the boys' club are allowed to play.
When more land became available in 1896, the Portland Course was created which is the second full course at Troon. The present clubhouse was opened on the 11th September 1897 and provides the Ladies Club with superb views of both Troon courses and Arran.
Juniors under 12 had been allowed to join Troon Ladies golf club since 1887. Of course, many of them would be the children of lady members, and it is noticeable that Ladies Golf Clubs such as Troon and Lundin promoted Junior golf and their related competitions.
Women's clubs abound - at Bath, Elie, Cupar, Yarmouth and Lytham St Annes
In 1883, the Bath and Kingsdown Golf Club created a Ladies Club with a 9-hole course though women with a handicap below 6 were allowed to play the gentlemen’s course. They had 23 lady members and 17 gentlemen members in 1888.
At Elie and Earlsferry, the Ladies Club began in 1884, founded by Mrs Anderson of Lossiemouth. By 1898 they had 25 members. However, clubhouse facilities were non-existent until 1928, when they were granted use of the ‘card room’ in the clubhouse, and full changing facilities only arrived in 2003. They now enjoy their own space in the clubhouse on the one of the oldest golf courses in the world.
Elie Golf Course Hole 13
The Cupar Ladies Golf Club is recorded as being instituted in 1885 and playing over a course at Bonvil Park. This club also admitted gentlemen members and by 1888 there were 23 women and 14 gentlemen members.
In the same year the Yarmouth Ladies’ Golf Club was instituted, now part of the Great Yarmouth and Caister Club.
In 1886, women formed a section with Lytham and St Anne's, which had 22 members in 1887.
A Montrose Ladies Golf Club was formed in 1892, which flourished for over 40 years, but did not survive the Second World War and was disbanded in 1947.
Miss Issette Pearson and Wimbledon Ladies' Golf Club
1886 marked a milestone year in women's golf, as it is in this year that Miss Issette Pearson is noted playing golf at Wimbledon. She was the daughter of one the Wimbledon Golf Club members originally called the London Scottish Golf Club, (whose tangled history is outlined here). She would would become a luminary in the formation of the LGU in 1893 as well as the development of handicapping for both men and women.
After a decade of neglect the ladies section of the London Scottish was effectively not operating. With the support of the other male clubs there, a new club called the Wimbledon Ladies' Golf Club was formed in 1890, and the first secretary was, appropriately, a Miss Tee. A ladies course of 9 holes of 1,420 yards was laid out round Thatched Cottage, which they used as a clubhouse. During the First World War this was requisitioned by the army, and the Royal Wimbledon GC allowed them to use their Warren Farm course, an arrangment which continued after the war finished. By 1921, they appear to have become a permanent feature of the Royal Wimbledon GC.
Ascot and Aldeburgh - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and the first club with equal rights
Ascot Ladies Golf Club, founded in 1887, had a 9-hole course on Ascot Heath, but they amalgamated clubs and courses with the Royal Ascot and their 9-hole course in 1895 to make an 18-hole course. The club organizer, Skelton Anderson, was the husband of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first female doctor in Britain and local mayor.
The first golf club which gave equal rights for women, in 1890, as full members is believed to be Aldeburgh, founded in 1884, though the research to confirm this has still awaited. The reason why it happened at Aldeburgh may well have been due to the fact that the course and club organizer was Skelton Anderson!