A Step in the Right Direction

There were clubs all over the world who copied the traditional British clubs and their male-dominant ways but, when it came to the 1960s, the Swedes, for one, saw sense. In deciding the best way ahead, they picked up on the good things that this traditional British game had to offer had to offer and eschewed the bad.

They wanted golf to be a family affair and, very soon, their attitude was reflected in the success of golfers such as Liselotte Neumann and Annika Sorenstam. In terms of their youthful development, these players thrived on being brought up in an environment where women were seen as equals as opposed to second-best.

Asia, by and large, has copied the Swedish way.

There was a Japanese lady who, on being told a particularly grand club near Tokyo was only for men, purchased the establishment for herself and introduced another set of rules but, for the most part, women golfers in Asia get the encouragement they deserve. In Korea, in particular, they have been churning out major championship winners galore on the distaff side of the game and, as in Sweden, it is the men who are having to play catch-up.

Of course it is about time the powers-that-be in the Western world admitted they got things wrong and accept that equality is the way ahead. Yet there will be a downside, not least for the media.