The women’s team at Golf Monthly often find themselves as a solo female in a fourball at an industry event. We are a rare guest within a group of golfers who sometimes have no idea how to behave. Let’s remember that through circumstances many men have never played golf with a woman,
The round often begins and ends with loads of assumptions and hiccups, which are usually unintended, but many have an air of casual sexism. We arm ourselves with a sense of humour and the courage to pull them up on inappropriate comments or actions in the hope they will think twice when next paired up with a ‘girl’.
On arrival at the golf club, this can be immediately awkward when men discover that one of us is in the fourball – a face filter is something some golfers don’t possess! Often they are petrified about the minefield of what to say and what not to say, and also the stigma attached to the female golfer. She’s slow, she won’t know the rules, she won’t be any good. However, I can safely say that after a few years of playing golf with male colleagues, they enjoy both the company and the golf.
There’s the assumption that you use women’s clubs, or that the pink bag is yours. Perhaps you need help getting the bag out of the car and placing it on the trolley. Wait, no trolley? “You can’t possibly carry all the way round, let me get us a buggy.” Agreed, this is very gentlemanly.
Another assumption is that you’ll be playing from the forward tees. A starter on the Nicklaus course at St Mellion once asked me to pick up my ball and head to the ladies’ tee. I proceeded to say, “No,I’m ok thanks, I’m happy off the yellows.” I always see moments like this as a chance to really prove a point, so I stood up and hit the shot of my life down the middle. He quickly retreated into the starter’s hut.
Whoever you are playing golf with, throwaway comments are commonplace, but comments like, “You absolute girl” or “Oh dear, does your boyfriend play?” aimed at either themselves or other male members of your group do become a tad tiresome. We’ve all played golf with men that insult themselves with references to being feminine because they hit the ball short of the hole, or didn’t hit their drive very far. The comment, “That was a bit girly” is uttered before they’ve decelerated on a chip shot.
(Image credit: Golf Monthly – Kevin Murray)
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