Susie Lee has driven in as the new Club Captain at The Wisley - a club that has had complete equality since it opened in 1991. After the ceremony, coach and Sky TV pundit Denis Pugh tweeted #modernclub.
Susie Lee has driven in as the new Club Captain at The Wisley - a club that has had complete equality since it opened in 1991. After the ceremony, coach and Sky TV pundit Denis Pugh tweeted #modernclub.
The past year has seen the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews finally voting to accept female members for the first time in its 260-year history and its 2,400 all-male membership urged by club secretary Peter Dawson to "do what's right for golf".
They voted "overwhelmingly" to back a change to their outdated rules and the R&A will now approach 15 women already identified as having made a large contribution to the sport to be fast-tracked through the application process.
This long overdue change of heart was welcomed by campaigners and politicians. Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation chief executive Ruth Holdaway said "The admittance of female members is a symbolic step in the move towards full equality in sport and for golf in particular." Sports minister Helen Grant said: "This is positive news for the sport and I hope we will now see other golf clubs that still have outdated same-sex policies follow suit."
It is amazing that one of the country’s most successful club’s, The Wisley, has had complete equality since it opened in 1991. The Wisley only has club competitions, has previously had a female Chairman and it is maybe poignant that with England Golf working hard to increase participation of women and girls in golf and pressure mounting on other Open venues, that in 2015 Susie Lee has driven in as its Club Captain.
Photograph: Carey Sheffield Photography