By Daniel Rapaport
The Home of Golf could be underwater as soon as 2050, according to a new climate-change study.

The study, released by Climate Central—an organization comprised of leading scientists and journalists who study climate change’s impact on society—and analyzed by The Herald predicts large swaths of Scotland’s coastline could be submerged due to increased annual flooding and sea level rise. This includes St. Andrews Links, located in the town of St. Andrews on Scotland’s eastern coastline.

An image from Climate Central’s interactive map that predicts where the water levels will have overrun the coast in 2050 (areas marked in red) shows that the Old Course at St. Andrews would essentially be submerged.

Climate Central published an interactive map to show which areas could be affected. It predicts a widening of the River Clyde, which would impact areas to the west of Glasgow, as well as damage to Dundee, Fife, Stirling and a number of other Scottish metropolitan areas.

St. Andrews’ Old Course is one of five Scottish courses in the Open Championship’s 10-course rota. The map also suggests two other Scottish rota courses—Carnoustie and Royal Troon, both located on the coast—could be severely impacted.

Photo from Climate Central’s interactive map predicts water levels for 2050.

“As these maps incorporate big datasets, which always include some error” an explainer on Climate Central’s website reads, “these maps should be regarded as screening tools to identify places that may require deeper investigation of risk.”

This is not the first time Scotland’s coastal golf courses have been included in warnings about rising sea levels. In 2018, the Climate Coalition released a paper called “Game Changer: How climate change is impacting sports in the U.K.”

“Unchecked, the impacts of climate change could significantly affect the sport over the long term, particularly in Scotland,” the report states, noting that one in six of Scotland’s 600 courses are located on coastline.

The 2018 report used Montrose Links, a course that dates to 1562 and sits on the northeast coast of Scotland, as a case study. The North Sea has crept 70 meters closer to the course in recent years, according to research published by Dundee University.

“As the sea rises and the coast falls away, we’re left with nowhere to go,” Chris Curnin, director of golf at Montrose, is quoted in the report. “Climate change is often seen as tomorrow’s problem, but it’s already eating away at our course.”

The potential impact has drawn the attention of the R&A—the governing body of golf in the United Kingdom, and the organization that puts on the Open Championship—which started the Golf Course 2030 initiative in 2018. The goal of the project is to “consider the impacts, both positive and negative, of the changing climate, resource constraints and regulation on course condition and playability.”

In January 2020, the R&A pledged £650,000 to various sustainability projects in an attempt to proactively safeguard courses from the effects of climate change. The organization has also tapped Steve Isaac as its Director of Sustainability.

“The planet’s climate is shifting and we can all expect more extreme conditions and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns in the future,” reads a section on the R&A’s website dubbed “Planning for Climate Change.”

“This will have a major impact on the way golf courses must be managed and it is important to ensure that the management approach at your golf club can cope with whatever the weather throws at it. A sustainable approach to course management offers the best chance of stability in unpredictable times.”

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1. Lee Westwood In Abu Dhabi

Ahhh, January. Remember how easy life was way back then. Lee Westwood made golf look simple too, most of the time anyway, en-route to a 25th European Tour title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to become just the third player to win on tour in four decades after Mark McNulty and Des Smyth. Lucas Herbert’s playoff win in Dubai was dramatic, Graeme McDowell’s Saudi triumph rather romantic. But Westwood’s lesson in longevity won Abu Dhabi the Desert Swing. We wonder now what Westy’s defence will look like.

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2. Great To Be Back

Four months after the season was suspended in Qatar, the European Tour returned to action at Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg near Vienna. It has been a fraught wait and the Austrian Open rather fitting crowned Marc Warren champion. It was a fourth European Tour title after the sweet-swinging Scot’s own long wait – six years – since his previous win.

It was low key but absolutely brilliant to be back.

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3. The UK Swing

The European Tour went back to its roots with a hastily-arranged, six-event UK Swing that was an unexpected bonus for lovers of “traditional” golf. The geographically-clustered swing was, as CEO Keith Pelley sign-posted at the time, a “glimpse into the future” and we are down with that. If we had one wish for the future it would be the promotion of courses like Sunningdale in the magical Surrey/Berkshire sand-belt. Wishful thinking maybe but hey, who would have thought a few months ago that a face mask would be an essential piece of golfing kit? If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s how we suddenly treasure the pleasures of great things from our past.

Sam Horsefield galloped away with a pair of UK Swing wins but for us it was Rasmus Højgaard’s triumph at the ISPS Handa UK Championship (pictured) that got us all emotional. More specifically it was the return to the Brabazon course at the Belfry that had us romanticising glories of Ryder Cups past. Sure, time and technology has moved on but here was proof why we shouldn’t totally dismiss tradition.

We’ve had a soft spot for Andy Sullivan ever since the genial Englishman won a space flight as a hole-in-one prize at the 2014 KLM Open and promptly turned it down.  “I’m thinking, if anything happens to the pilot, I’m in charge and that’s not a position I want to be in. So I’ve put the mother-in-law up for that one,” Sullivan joked in a Golf Channel interview two years later. We loved Sully’s seven-stroke win at Hanbury Manor and didn’t his post-victory video link-up with the family after the English Championship epitomise how even celebrating has changed in the era of COVID. The laughter, and tears, flowed after a near-five year wait for his fourth European Tour title. “It was just the people that have missed this win, my brother-in-law was only 24 and he was taken from us. so it’s quite emotional for him not to witness it. It means quite a lot for me to do it for him today, and a good friend of mine has passed as well. It’s nice for my family, to win for my little boy who is only two years old, it’s just nice for him to see Daddy being successful.” How cool is golf.

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Englishman Garrick Porteous hits from the hay on the 16th hole during the final round of the Scottish Championship presented by AXA at Fairmont St Andrews

4. The Home Of Golf

With the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship canned, it was a bonus to return to St. Andrews for some links luvviness at the  new Scottish Championship presented by AXA – especially as we’d been robbed of the season’s ultimate (links) highlight, the 149th Open at Royal St. George’s. It was doubly sweet that Adrian Otaegui, with his Dubai-links, won on the Fairmont course. With that said, here’s a memo to Keith Pelley rescheduling, along the line of our earlier Sunningdale plea: How about events at gems old and new like Royal Dornock, Cruden Bay, Nairn, Western Giles, Machrihanish and North Berwick? If you really want to appeal to the purist, head back to Prestwick. We know, we know, the original home of the Open would be embarrassed by today’s big-boofers. But would it really if the weather gods were alerted? Hey, it’s been a tough year. Let us dream on.

Adrian Otaegui (Spain) tees off on the 14th hole en-route to victory

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5. Golf In Dubai Championship

We’ve loved some of the new destinations added to the reimagined Race to Dubai schedule, the double-header at Aphrodite Hills with those breath-taking Cyprus vistas a fresh case-in-point. But for those of us who regularly golf the UAE, the exposé of Greg Norman’s Fire course at Jumeirah Golf Estates will be a special treat. More than a few believe it is a stronger design than Earth. Whatever your opinion, the 11-days at JGE culminating in the DP World Tour Championship are sure to provide a dramatic ending to this unthinkable year, a European Tour season that hasn’t turned out so bad after all.

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We bring this up because someone had the bright idea that Scotland, known for being the Home of Golf, to keep, um, golf out of the country’s latest tourism endeavor.

The 110-page “insight findings” report from Lucid People Ltd. on a Scotland campaign video found golf to be too divisive to people. If that sounds ridiculous, know it’s not the only head-scratcher in this Powerpoint, which looks like it was put together by a drunk 19-year-old who found out 40 minutes before class starts that the semester-long project is due. Said report also warns of using Sean Connery, Scotland’s favorite son, because his James Bond role is “obtuse” and “facile.” Insert “curious emoji with hand on chin” here.

Oh, and God. No God references, according to Lucid People Ltd. Why? No idea. It just says don’t mention the Big Man. Okay, then.

You know what? Lucid didn’t go far enough. Scotland should throw out whisky and the Highlands. No mention of “Braveheart,” either. The tourism board should simply go on Getty Images, find stock photos of “innovation” and “people in the workplace” and work up a slideshow. That, or take the report from Lucid and toss it in the ocean.

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Mind you, it’s more Mother Nature’s doing than anything the folks at the Home of Golf concocted. Even so, locals have spent the past few days apologizing for the unusual dry spell over the previous month and the unique wrinkle it has created heading into the championship: a links course playing not simply firm and fast but crisp and arid.

Just how baked-out is Carnoustie? Even USGA officials would be trying to slow things down if it weren’t that this was a links course and you don’t slow these things down at a links course. You embrace them. So why then isn’t there a discussion of any potential “line” being crossed with the course set-up, a la Shinnecock Hills? While everything is parched from tee-to-green, the putting surfaces remain soft and receptive. Apparently, those things can be slowed down. (And probably should be.)

All this is a preamble to the fact that for the first time since 2006 at Hoylake, where Tiger Woods famously lifted the claret jug without lifting a driver, players preparing to compete in golf’s oldest championship are facing a different kind of challenge. For the last few days, under continued sunny skies, they have been left to determine how they will colour in the rest of the scene and play what’s traditionally considered the toughest test on the Open rota.

RELATED: Carnoustie Golf Links—A course tour

Because of this, the mood ahead of Thursday’s opening round has been a bit more frenetic than in recent years, or at recent majors. Practice rounds ahead of golf’s big four events have become drab affairs. Many of the top golfers scout the course days ahead and only walk a few holes during tournament week to double-check their initial calculations. This time around, there is real work being done, golfers and caddies cramming before play officially begin in what many believe is the most unpredictable Open in years.

Ross Kinnaird/R&A

So what are they actually doing? Tiger Woods alluded to his practice rounds amounting to “trying to get a feel for the speed of this golf course.” How far does your driver go (or can it go)? For that matter, what about your 5-iron?

Justin Thomas said one of his on the 18th hole rolled 305 yards, compared to his ordinary distance of 230. “If you get it downwind and you hit kind of that flat, little flat draw and it gets running,” Thomas said, “it will go pretty much until it runs into something.”

The default reaction is that players will ratchet back their aggression off the tee, lest they see their ball barrel through the fairways into parts unknown. But that presents its own problems. Even if you use an iron rather than a metal wood, as Thomas noted, the ball will roll forever, bringing into play all the mess outside the fairways that you’re trying to avoid.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

For long hitters such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy, the swing key might be to let it rip regardless. If you’re feeling good about the way you’re hitting the longest club in your bag, why not go for broke so long as you’re not bringing previously “unreachable” bunkers into play?

“If I can hit driver and take the bunkers out of play, absolutely going to do that,” Johnson said. “You know, this week, the bunkers, if you hit it in, it’s a penalty shot. … If I can carry all the bunkers and keep it out of them, I’m going to hit a driver.”

Weather will certainly dictate how golfers play when things begin in earnest. The forecasts, however, call for relatively mild conditions: Occasional rain but nothing in the order of Open monsoons, and wind in the 15 mile-per-hour range. Of course, the course could take a soaking and it still wouldn’t get soft. If anything, it will slow down the greens more.

Come to the tournament proper, then, spectators outside the ropes—and those at home on their couches back in the U.S.—are likely to see anything and everything. Which is pretty cool. Variety is something sometimes lacking in modern golf. That shouldn’t be the case this week.

Warren Little/R&A

“I think that’s the beauty of [the Open],” said Justin Rose, who fancies himself among the favourites this week. “It’s going to favour a patient [player] for sure because, you know, even if you play this golf course aggressively, you’re going to have ups and downs during the week. You’re going to have bad lies. You’re going to have shots that do end up in bunkers. You’re going to have breaks and bounces that go against you. So I think accepting that is probably the biggest, wide sweeping statement that the player who wins is going to have to be patient with all of that for sure.”

Rose admitted on Tuesday that he had still not yet finalized the game plan he’ll take with him to the first tee on Thursday. It isn’t unusual, he claimed, needing this much time to figure things out during a major week, but the importance of having a Plan A and Plan B in place was even more of a premium given the magnitude of the event.

The trick will be to stick to said game plans, something that’s easy to say on Wednesday but harder to put practice when you finally are putting up scores that count.

“I think where you really can get in trouble is just pressing out here,” Thomas said. “You know, I could see, for instance, like myself, I’m probably going to hit a lot of irons out here. If I get two, three over par early, front nine, whatever it may be, potentially trying to change my game plan and start hitting drivers, and then you start hitting them into bunkers, gorse bushes, whatever it may be. And you start making more bogeys and double bogeys, and next thing you know, you turn a one- or two over into five or six over.”

Indeed, the anxiousness of playing a major championship is the variable that, no matter the course conditions, will have its traditional impact on this week’s outcome.

So who do mega-firmer and mega-faster mega-favour? A bomber? A plodder? A man with three Open victories to his credit says perhaps neither, necessarily.

“I mean, feel has a lot to do with playing the Open,” Woods said, “and I think the guys traditionally over the years who have done well have been wonderful feel players and also wonderful lag putters because a lot of times it is difficult to get the ball close and have a numerous amount of putts from about 40, 50 feet.”

Despite so much uncertainty over what’s the best way to play the course in its present state, there is likely one thing you can still count on from Carnoustie: The final hole is going to impact the championship. History makes this abundantly clear. Whether Johnny Miller in 1975 (bogey on the last), Jean van de Velde in 1999 (triple on the last) or Padraig Harrington in 2007 (double on the last, but still a playoff winner), no lead is safe at Carnoustie. No matter what colour the course they’re playing.

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By Alex Myers
Do you like golf? Duh. Do you like working outside? Maybe? Well, St. Andrews might just have the perfect job opening for you.

On Monday, The Home of Golf tweeted out a link to apply for a staff position as a greenkeeper at the historic property. Check it out:

We are currently looking for experienced and suitably qualified #greenkeepers to join our team at the Home of Golf on a permanent basis. More info here: https://t.co/1BzV06IgOi pic.twitter.com/DqTN3Ys4FU

— St Andrews Links (@TheHomeofGolf) July 9, 2018

Hey, I have a Toro lawnmower. . . Hmm. . .

OK, so you need more qualifications than that. In fact, you need to know a lot about turf maintenance and irrigation. I mean, we’re talking about keeping a golf course in great condition, not a backyard that’s about the size of the Road Hole Bunker. And not just any golf course. Again, this is THE Old Course (and the six other courses managed by St. Andrews Links).

But if you do know about all that stuff, this would be a dream job, no? Working the land that’s hosted 29 Open Championships? Raking the very bunkers Tiger Woods amazingly avoided during his romp in 2000? Mowing the grass in the “valley of sin,” where Constantino Rocca sank that incredible putt to force a playoff against John Daly in 1995? Pretty cool.

According to the posting, “A competitive salary and good conditions will be offered to the right candidate who displays a flexible attitude and good commitment.” Heck, I’d probably give up health benefits if “good conditions” means a weekly tee time at The Old Course.

So hurry up and submit a résumé, sorry, CV, if you’re interested. The closing date for applications is July 13. Good luck.

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By Ryan Herrington
When the R&A announced earlier this month the host site for the historic 150th Open Championship in 2021, there was one clear choice: the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Similarly, as the R&A and USGA prepare to celebrate the Walker Cup turning 100, the Home of Golf seemed once again a fitting venue to mark the occasion. On Monday, the R&A formally named the Old Course as the site for the 2023 Walker Cup, which will be played 101 years after the first matches were held at National Golf Links of America in 1922.

This will be the ninth time that the Old Course will host the biennial amateur matches between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland—the most of any single course. Most recently, the Walker Cup was played at St. Andrews in 1975, when future major winners Jerry Pate, Craig Stadler and Curtis Strange propelled the U.S. to a 15½-8½ victory.

“We are delighted to see the Walker Cup return to our calendar of prestigious events at the Old Course,” said Euan Loudon, chief executive of the St. Andrews Links Trust. “I am sure many talented golfers on both sides of the Atlantic, some of whom may just be at the beginning of their golfing journeys, will be inspired by the prospect of competing in amateur golf’s premier match at the Home of Golf.”

The choice of the Old Course adds to an impressive list of upcoming venues for the prestigious amateur matches: Royal Liverpool in 2019, Seminole Golf Club in 2021 and Cypress Point Club in 2025.

Related: Could the Old Course one day disappear?

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By Ryan Herrington
A future without the Old Course at St. Andrews? Or Royal Troon? According to a new report, it’s a reality golf fans could potentially face in the wake of data about the impact of global warming.

The Climate Coalition, which represents more than 130 organizations in the United Kingdom studying the effects of climate change, released a paper titled “Game Changer: How climate change is impacting sports in the U.K.” In it, the group makes the case that rising temperatures can and will have a detrimental impact on some of the area’s most popular pastimes, including golf, soccer, skiing and cricket.

According to the report, six of the seven wettest years on record in the U.K. have taken place since 2000. Citing new rainfall patterns, rising sea levels and increased storm surges, the report states that golf courses along the coasts are already dealing with the adverse effects of erosion and will continue to be faced with issues down the road.  

“Unchecked, the impacts of climate change could significantly affect the sport over the long term, particularly in Scotland,” the report states, noting that one in six of Scotland’s 600 courses are located on the coast.

The report mentions by name the Old Course at St. Andrews, the iconic Home of Golf and Open Championship venue, and Royal Troon, another cherished venue in the Open rota, as vulnerable. Other seaside courses in the U.K. that host the Open include Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Muirfield, Royal St. George’s, and Turnberry.

Related: What we saw during an early visit to Carnoustie as it preps for this year’s Open

The Climate Coalition used Montrose Links as a case study. The first reference to golf being played at there was in 1562. In the last 30 years, however, the North Sea has crept 70 meters closer to the course, according to research published by Dundee University.

“As the sea rises and the coast falls away, we’re left with nowhere to go,” Chris Curnin, director of golf at Montrose, is quoted in the report. “Climate change is often seen as tomorrow’s problem, but it’s already eating away at our course.”

Cumin notes that in 2017 a rock armour protecting the first green and second tee would no longer suffice in a severe storm. The course, with the help of the local council, was forced to take rocks from near the third tee and move them to the armour to help fortify the area and prevent a major storm from doing significant damage to the course.

The report quotes Steve Issac, the R&A’s director of sustainability, about growing concerns for the sport.

“It [climate change] is certainly becoming a factor,” Isaac says. “Golf is impacted by climate change more than most other sports. Trends associated with climate change are resulting in periods of course closures, even during summer, with disruption seen to some professional tournaments. We are witnessing different types and timings of disease, pest and weed outbreaks. The future threats are very real, with course managers having to show adaptation if we are to maintain current standards of course condition. It is something we take very seriously.”

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By John Huggan
This time he was all smiles, almost a grimace-free zone. One week on from being told to “grow up” and labelled “a disgrace” by former European Tour professional Gary Evans, Tyrrell Hatton strolled to victory—for the second straight year—in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews.

Five strokes ahead with 18 holes to play in the European Tour’s nod to the AT&T Pebble Beach-style pro-am, the 25-year-old Englishman all but ended any doubt as to the destination of the first-place cheque of €676,133 with a run of four straight birdies from the second hole. Out in 31, five under par and by then seven strokes clear, Hatton, the tournament’s first repeat winner, could afford the steady back-nine that saw him cruise in with a six-under 66, took him to a tournament-record 24 under par and reduced the final margin of victory to three strokes on the way back into the Auld Grey Toon.

Former Ryder Cup player Ross Fisher’s course-record 11-under-par 61, which included three-putts from just off the green for a closing par on the 18th, carried him into second place for the second year in a row. No one else was within seven shots of the now two-time champion.

RELATED: Ross Fisher breaks Old Course scoring record … in disappointing fashion

Indeed, on a day of little or no wind and with more accessible pin positions than one might see in an Open Championship, the relatively soft Old Course was all but defense-less. By way of illustration, the leading 11 finishers were a cumulative 62 under par for their final rounds. It wasn’t quite pitch-and-putt, but it wasn’t far off.

None of which should diminish the sometimes temperamental Hatton’s achievement. All in all, his was a remarkable performance, one containing 26 birdies. Only twice, both on the opening day at the Old Course, did he drop shots over the 72 holes that combined two rounds at the Home of Golf with one each at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

“This week was the first time I had ever defended a title or had the challenge to try and do it,” Hatton said. “It felt like it was a lot harder today than it was last year. I’m so happy that I managed to get over the line. I didn’t see a leader board on the back nine until the 16th green, when I saw Ross was at 21 under. The 15-minute wait on the 17th tee certainly made the drive seem harder than I wanted it to be. But fair play to Ross. It was an incredible round of golf, and he certainly did push me all the way.”

For Hatton this win, his second on the European Tour, represents the highlight of a disappointing season in which he missed the halfway cut in all four major championships. After a T-4 finish at the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in March lifted him as high as No. 14 in the world, Hatton slumped badly. At one point he failed to qualify for the weekend in eight of nine successive events. His best effort anywhere before a T-3 finish at last month’s European Masters was as long ago as April, a lowly T-29 in the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage.

All of which saw Hatton’s world ranking fall to 29 before a promising although ultimately disappointing T-8 finish at last week’s British Masters. Leading at the halfway stage, Hatton fell away badly in a final round marked by petulance and poor body language, which provoked Evans’ public criticism.

“I listened to too many opinions and just got on a bad run,” said Hatton of his summer of discontent. “If you’re not holing putts and hitting a few bad shots, you feel like you can’t score any worse. That’s the sort of phase I went through. My swing feels good now though.”

Elsewhere—and a long way down the leader board—Rory McIlroy completed his final tournament of 2017 with a even-par 72 that left the four-time major champion in a tie for 63rd place, 20 strokes back of Hatton.

“I think my last round of 2017 sort of summed up all of 2017,” said the Northern Irishman, who will not play again competitively until the Abu Dhabi Championship next January. “Not much happening, good or bad. Just sort of stuck in neutral. It hasn’t been the year I wanted on the golf course. I think there’s a lot of areas of my game that need sharpening. Wedge play and putting would be the two main areas that I need to get better.

But I see no reason why I can’t be better in the next 10 years. That’s why I feel like these next three months are important for me to put some really good things in place, step away and reassess where I’m at and where I need to be.”

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By John Huggan
Golf in Scotland has much to be proud of. Having invented the stick-and-ball sport that has travelled the world and been adopted across the globe, the game in sunny Caledonia remains, in important ways, the model for what goes on elsewhere. There are, for example, 18 holes in a standard round because that is how many there are at St. Andrews. And the size of the hole, 4¼ inches across, was determined in the 19th century by the diameter of the tool the “keeper of the greens” used at Musselburgh in East Lothian.

But some of the attitudes and practices exported from Scotland are a lot less praiseworthy, with the long-term separation of the sexes within clubs high on that list. Whether or not such a state of affairs would have developed elsewhere in the world without Scotland’s example is debatable, but there is no doubt that the first single-gender clubs sprang up there.

Things are changing on that front. In 2014, only 260 years after its inception, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews voted to allow female members. And earlier this year, the Muirfield-based Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers announced they would do the same, albeit only after a second poll overturned a first in which an insufficient percentage of the membership voted for change. The famous East Lothian links was then immediately restored to the 10-strong rota of Open Championship courses. “Unseemly haste” was the phrase used by some who felt a period of exile from hosting the game’s oldest championship, and any income derived from it, might have been more appropriate from the R&A.

But outside of these long-established “elite” establishments, it’s been hard to get a good fix on what it is it really like to be a female member of a more typical Scottish club. Here, speaking under the cloak of anonymity, Holly (not her real name), a single-digit handicap player and a long-time member of two Scottish clubs, shares just a few of her experiences.

JEFF PACHOUD

ANNUAL DUES AND TEE TIMES
Some would argue we are actually getting a very good deal, as women in Scotland tend to pay less for their golf than men. That is an issue going forward in clubs looking to eliminate discriminatory membership practices. Women will be asked to increase what they pay, but will they agree to it? I’m not sure. I don’t have a problem with it personally, but I fear that financial equality could lead to a lot of women giving up the game.

In many ways, women who are currently golfers are content with the status quo. But they tend not to have full-time jobs and can play at times when the courses are not so busy. It’s a selfish attitude, but that’s the way it is. And the end result is that there hasn’t been any real push for change from women inside the game.

In contrast, working women in my experience want equality. They need to play at the same time as men who have jobs. Instead, because so many clubs still reserve prime tee times on weekends for men (the traditional view for a long time now), these working women are forced to squeeze in a few holes at the end of a full work day. Some clubs are making efforts to introduce joint tee times, but the process has been infuriatingly slow.

Then again, I do know that women’s competitions can sometimes suffer from similar insularity and “cliquey-ness.” One lady of my acquaintance gave up the game after a year of being drawn to play in the last group in every competition.

WHY WOMEN AND MEN PLAY
A lot of women see golf as more of a social thing. I’m talking in general terms. But men do tend to be more competitive in my experience. Women play golf for different reasons: friendship, community, belonging. Women will get together and organise charity events. And many men find it hard to have a game without money being involved. They need wagers.

CLUB LIFE
The shift towards more equality has been received differently in different clubs. In the so-called “regular” clubs, I don’t see much of a problem. But in the more historic and entrenched clubs there is still a resistance. At those, I am regularly asked why I’m not home doing the cooking and the cleaning. That would be funny if those men were joking. However, most times they are not. There is a tolerance more than anything when it comes to women getting more involved at clubs.

Worse yet, that tolerance is rarely evidenced out on the course. There remains a lot of patronising going on. I put up a bit of a shield and just try to ignore it. In part, it definitely appears to be a generational thing. I recognise what I’ve seen throughout my career. The older generation is dominated by dyed-in-the-wool misogynists. They don’t understand gender equality and, even if they did, wouldn’t give pay much attention to it. The sad part is they don’t actually understand what they are saying. Quite often I get compliments that are patronising. Things like, “Wow, you hit the ball really well…for a woman.”

Then there is this thing about not letting women play through on the course. That is still a lingering issue. Letting women who are playing faster play through still seems to be a huge blow to the male ego. I see this with visitors, too. If you have a pack of men on a golfing holiday, you still see plenty of faux machismo and testosterone going on. (All of the above is exacerbated by the undeniable fact that the vast majority of men should actually be playing from what they sneeringly refer to as the “ladies tees.”)

There was a time when I would have agreed with the notion that things will change as the next generation of men will be more enlightened. But it depends on how younger men are trained by their fathers and the people they play with. They will be influenced by those they play golf with. Disappointingly, albeit from a small number, I still see chauvinism in younger male golfers. Mostly though, the juniors and younger boys are far more advanced when it comes to gender equality. They are certainly better than men of my generation.

MUIRFIELD
The Muirfield case was interesting, if only because I don’t know of one woman who would want to be a member of the Honourable Company. The course is great, but the club not so much. That it required the second vote to allow female members hints to what women are walking into. However, there is a principle at stake. Here we have a group of men who are occupying one of the best courses in the world and they exclude people like me because of my gender. If I was black, they wouldn’t be able to enforce such rules. That is disgusting, and thankfully they’re trying to move on. Mind you their idea of equality is putting women on the waiting list for membership, meaning it will be three-to-five years before anything really happens. That seems similarly disgraceful.

Jane Barlow/PA Images
Sign inside the clubhouse at Muirfield after it was announced in March 2017 that women will be admitted as members following a ballot by The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers

I look at clubs like the Honourable Company with some amusement. Whatever rituals they want to keep secret, I would find it difficult to associate myself with such people. Still, it is accessibility that is the real problem. There is a club local to me, all male, where I have been prevented from walking through the front door. I was told to enter the clubhouse by the back door. There was a minimalist women’s changing area. But why have that if it is an all-male club?

I had first-hand experience at another all-male club local to me where I was invited to go for a drink. I was the only woman in the group. When we got to the front door of the clubhouse I stopped and pulled back. One lad, who was Swedish, told me to “carry on.” But I told him I couldn’t. Just then a window opened and I was told that I was “OK today.” So I went in. But when it was explained to the Swedish boy what was going on, he insisted we leave. So we went for a drink somewhere else.

All this said, I don’t want to diminish how really important it was that clubs like the R&A or HCEG did not get to run or host public events like the Open Championship in their previous forms. All that stuff cannot have done Scotland’s reputation any good internationally. We were figures of fun for a while, our image ruined. But if the HCEG owned an ordinary course and wanted to be all male I wouldn’t be averse to that. Their problem is the preeminence of the course and that only enhances their inability to leave the 19th century, never mind the 20th. There really was no rhyme nor reason for their continuing attitudes. They did it because they could, I guess. The good news is everybody is moving on.

PROGRESS
Some clubs are doing well because they are adapting to the new model. They offer a big proposition to members and guests, based on the American model. You can wander anywhere wearing jeans, golf shoes, rain wear. In the more traditional model there has been little change. I haven’t seen any.

Jane Barlow/PA Images

What I can’t understand is why golf clubs sit empty when members will get in their cars and drive miles to sit in coffee houses. I don’t subscribe to the notion that members have stopped using the clubhouse because of changes to local breathalyser laws. It is just outmoded and outdated. I increasingly tend to just play and go, but for me that is a time issue. Even so, for many reasons I just don’t see people going into the clubhouse any more, certainly not at weekends.

The best part of golf-club membership is the feeling of community. Everyone has the same passion for the game, so there is great opportunity to make new friends. There have always been people within clubs who would go out of their way to make that happen. They give selflessly of their time to make new members welcome. But that is also the worst of golf. There are lots of people who give their time but they are also rules fascists or “can’t doers.” They are as big an obstacle as any when it comes to golf moving forward.

Sad to say, I’ve almost given up trying to make a difference in golf. I feel like I’ve been banging my head off a brick wall. Golf trundles on in the same old direction. And to make it turn would take an enormous amount of effort, coordinated effort. There are too many people with too many conflicting interests. I’m not sure we will ever see complete equality.

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