Jane Carter reflects on Claire Dowling becoming the first woman Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – and remembers the days when they were often among only a handful of women in the room.
There have been a handful of moments during my career when I have allowed myself to think that women’s golf might finally have turned a corner. Not as many as I would have liked, but the news that Claire Dowling would become the first woman Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews was certainly one of them.
And for those of us who know Claire, there is something particularly satisfying about the woman making history being someone who has never appeared especially interested in making history herself.
When women were few and far between
I first got to know Claire properly through England Golf. I chaired the Marketing Committee, while Claire chaired Handicapping and Course Rating. We weren’t on the same committee, but our paths crossed constantly at meetings and presentations, often finding ourselves speaking one after the other.
There weren’t many women occupying those sorts of roles in golf at the time. There were plenty of shared looks across meeting rooms, plenty of shared frustrations and, thankfully, just as many shared smiles. What struck me then, and has stayed with me ever since, is that Claire never needed to be the loudest person in the room.
She is articulate, genuinely funny, deeply knowledgeable about the game and thoroughly grounded. She listens properly and has always had that valuable ability to respect golf’s traditions without being constrained by them.
It would also be wrong to talk about Claire principally as an administrator. She was an outstanding golfer, representing Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup and competing at the highest level of the amateur game. That playing career is an important part of what she brings to the role. She knows the game from inside the ropes as well as around the committee table.
If you were choosing the first woman to Captain the Royal and Ancient, it would be difficult to imagine anyone better equipped.
From first member to first Captain
And we shouldn’t gloss over how long this particular moment has taken to arrive. For most of its history, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews was an exclusively male institution. It was not until 2014 that its members voted to admit women, with Claire among the first women to become members. Little more than a decade later, she becomes its first female Captain.
That journey is significant, even if Claire herself will almost certainly play it down. She has never struck me as someone who wants to be described as a trailblazer. She has simply got on with the job, whether as a player, an administrator or in the many other roles she has held within golf.
Perhaps that is part of what makes this appointment feel important. A woman taking her place at the top table of one of golf’s most historic institutions still matters, but you hope there will come a time when it doesn’t warrant a headline at all.
The right woman for the moment
Over the coming year, there will inevitably be attention on Claire because she is the first. But I hope that doesn’t obscure why she is there. This is a Curtis Cup golfer and a hugely experienced golf administrator who understands the traditions of the game but also how it has changed.
There is, however, one important gap in my knowledge. Despite all those hours Claire and I spent in and around England Golf meetings, I still don’t know exactly what she makes of the World Handicap System.
I’m hoping to put that right when I sit down with her in the coming weeks, once the ceremony and cannon fire have subsided. Knowing Claire, I suspect she will spend a good part of the conversation asking about me instead.
And perhaps that tells you more about the first woman Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews than any headline could. She understands what it means to be the first. She just won’t make it about herself.
