Tricky par threes are not the only things causing trouble on golf coursesthese days. The issue of women members has brought the battle of the sexesoff the fairways and into the realm of the Equality Authority. Madeleine Lyons reports.'Often younger women want to target golf clubs as the lastmale bastion, while older women can be quite happy with the status quo'
The stories of members' bar lockouts, ladies' day stand-offs and committee room showdowns are legendary in golfing circles. The battle of the sexes that rages daily on the fairways and in the clubhouses of many Irish golf courses is casting a shadow over one of the world's most civilised sports. The Equality Authority's intervention this week with a threat to revoke Bray Golf Club's drinks licence unless it complies with equal status legislation may help to bring some clubs and their members to their senses.
Until recently, women in Irish golf clubs were only accommodated as associate members, where for a discounted membership fee, they had restricted access to the golf course, and club facilities.
It took the introduction of the Equal Status Act 2000 finally to force most of the Republic's 400-plus golf clubs to reconsider their position on women members. This week saw the first casualties coming home to roost. Apart from the Bray case, there are 10 other clubs being investigated by the Equality Authority (EA) over alleged discrimination against women members.
The issue of women golf club membership has been a festering sore for years, guaranteed to provoke an emotive response from both men and women golfers. This has a lot to do with golf clubs being held by more traditional men as the last frontier for men-only enjoyment, while for some women they are seen as breeding grounds for chauvinism at its worst.
The EA has refused to disclose the clubs under investigation, but says a number of clubs have dragged their heels or employed innovative deterrents to women attaining full-member status.
Most clubs have simply changed their rules to allow women become full members once they pay the full subscription fee required of full members. Unfortunately, some clubs have then failed to extend course access to women members during peak periods, opting instead to retain designated times, usually on a week day, and in the late afternoon.
Another practice has been to welcome the transfer of women from associate to full membership, but to impose a hefty, one-off charge for the honour. This is the alleged case in Bray, while in Johnstown, Co Dublin, the Beech Park Golf Club originally asked women members to pay £5,000 - less three per cent for each year of associate membership - in order to attain full member status. Women members hotly contested this and brought their case to the Equality Authority.
After a protracted battle, the management committee rowed back its terms to the more reasonable requirement that women pay the entry fee that had been in place the year they joined.
The problem is that the road to equality at club level is often paved with rifts, resignations, and antagonism between men and women members. In April, Beech Park suspended nine women without appeal, on the basis they had allegedly insulted the captain by walking out on a prize-giving. The women apparently had moved to an adjoining room in protest that the men's management committee had taken over the running of a women's club competition against their wishes. After a solicitor's letter, the suspensions were lifted, but the committee reserved the right to suspend the women again pending the outcome of an investigation.
As one member puts it: "The club has suffered terribly. The whole thing is very petty, but it is down to the abuse of power by men. The legal costs have been immense and will continue. It's pathetic."
Other clubs that are reported to have taken a very stormy route to equal status include Naas, Castle Warden, The Grange, The Island, The Castle and Rathfarnham golf clubs. Not to mention the scores of others whose battles continue behind closed doors.
On the other side, women members' intransigence is often cited as a major bugbear, and many women golfers will testify to this, though few are prepared to say so on the record. One woman golfer who works in the industry says: "A lot of women need to understand they have to respect the traditions of some clubs, but tend to be very keen to assert their authority as full members. Often younger women seem to want to target golf clubs as the last male bastion, while older women members can be quite happy with the status quo."
Dr Betty Cody, a sports psychologist and golfer, says friction could be avoided if a more unified approach were taken between men and women members. "The key is give-and-take, and a lot of communication on both sides. You can't suddenly turn history on its head."
Cody says the real problem lies in Leinster, where, as more women become full members, there is huge pressure on the number of tee-off slots available at peak times, and this is the source of angst.
"The west of Ireland and south-east seem to be far more emancipated than those on the east coast. Their open weeks allow both sexes to play singles competitions, with women and men playing together but for separate prizes," says Cody.
To date, the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) and Irish Ladies' Golfing Union (ILGU) - the governing bodies of golf in Ireland - have stayed at arm's length from the minefield of equal status.
Apart from supporting the Act, the ILGU published a set of guidelines for its members seeking to negotiate equality. In a statement to The Irish Times this week, it stated: "It is the responsibility of each individual club to draw up its own equality constitution."
Similarly a GUI spokesman said: "We're not running clubs. We hope parties in clubs that are having problems would just sit down and discuss things, because they will have to negotiate eventually."
According to Aideen Rogers, professional golfer at the Fingal Golf Centre and member of the Island golf club in Dublin: "In achieving equality, clubs would need to approach it like they are starting from scratch, with everyone on a level pegging. The older clubs will take years to change. Many women have become figures of hate and tagged trouble-makers, with people leaving in some cases because they can't bear the tension and the politics."
Fortunately newer clubs are not having the same experiences as their traditional counterparts. Around 30 clubs built in the early 1990s received EU grant assistance through Bord Fáilte of between €100,000 and €500,000 each. In order to qualify, they had to comply with EU Equal Status legislation. These clubs include Mount Juliet in Co Kilkenny, the K Club in Co Kildare, and Glasson Golf and Country Club in Co Westmeath.
Ironically, two Dublin clubs that are often criticised for their failure to admit women - at any level - have been spared the rigours of the Equal Status Act thus far. Both Portmarnock and Royal Dublin refer to a clause in the Equal Status Act which allows the establishment of all-purpose clubs to cater for the needs of nine categories, which include gender-specific grounds. The Equality Authority says how this applies to golf clubs remains to be tested under case law, but there may be difficulties in proving a golf club exists to provide a gender-specific service.
On the upside, women are entitled to play golf in Portmarnock seven days a week for the very reasonable charge of €1, as long as they play with a member.
Meanwhile, the home of the US Masters, Augusta, has come under attack from the National Council of Women's Organisations - spearheaded by Martha Burk - to admit women to the course's clubs. The protest has prompted sponsors to pull out, and now the organisation is putting pressure on broadcaster CBS to justify televising an event hosted at a venue which practises sexual discrimination.
But for every one step forward there seems to be two steps back. This summer the Columbia Chronicle reported the opening of a men-only, 27-hole golf course in Illinois. The Black Sheep Golf Club is designed to focus exclusively on golf, and defends its ban on women saying it doesn't believe women would be interested in its "no frills" approach to serious golf. It is not illegal in the US or the UK to exclude women from golf clubs.
Just consider the venues for the next three British Open Golf Championships in the UK: Royal St George's, Royal Troon and St Andrew's. What do they have in common? All three do not admit women members.