As part of Women & Girls' Golf Week, we find out from 94-year-old Peggy Durrant what golf means to her and how the game has impacted her life for the positive.
As part of Women & Girls' Golf Week, we find out from 94-year-old Peggy Durrant what golf means to her and how the game has impacted her life for the positive.
In 1937, the year of George VI’s coronation, Peggy Durrant joined Northampton Golf Club for the paltry sum of £3.10 shillings.
While the world has changed unrecognisably since, Peggy, now 94, would first join her father on the fairways as a youngster. Not least the membership fee, two things have remained resolutely the same: her love for the club, and the continued friendship of the members she has played alongside.
So, when Peggy reached her 80th anniversary last November, it was little surprise that her fellow lady members came out in force to help celebrate this awe-inspiring milestone, and show their appreciation for the influence she has made to the ladies’ section over the course of her lifetime.
It’s a mutual admiration.
While Peggy and her family have played notable roles at the Northamptonshire club, her father Fred Whiting would serve as club captain in 1941, while Peggy and her husband, Charles, would hold the unusual distinction of serving as club captains in the same year, 1972. The club has also been hugely influential in shaping her own experiences.
When Charles passed away unexpectedly, there was a moment Peggy questioned whether she could brave returning to the club, with the many happy memories together associated with it. As it was, the members, alongside her expansive family, provided the crutch she needed to endure the heart-wrenching time.
Of course, it is the good moments that live longest in the memory.
Whether it’s the occasions she has helped Northampton win the Cecil Leitch, the county’s prestigious handicap competition (she distinctly remembers missing one final after her handicap dropped 11 to 10 the day before the match, disqualifying her from competing), or playing alongside her son Nick, who has himself already celebrated 50 years as a member of the club!
Of course, much has changed since 1937. There was a time, at the club’s previous home, when ladies were roped off from entering certain sections of the clubhouse. Not that, she assured us, it stopped her, much to the disdain of the more traditional male members, from making it to the bar, which perhaps unsurprisingly was classed as a solely male preserve.
Then there’s the fashion. In the inter-war period, when it was still standard for women to wear full-length skirts out on the course, she vividly recalls the waterproof skirts, which were prone to dripping into your golf shoes. Thankfully some change really is a good thing!
While she made the tough decision a few years back to hang up her clubs, the golf club remains a great source of pleasure, and she continues to volunteer with registration and scoring at club events, as well as attending the weekly ladies’ tea.
Peggy only has two years to go if she is to match the achievement of Geoffrey Crosskill who currently holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-serving member of a golf club after completing 82 years and 18 days’ membership at Eaton Golf Club, Norfolk.
Few would put it past her to sail past that achievement.
Women & Girls’ Golf Week is a week-long campaign that aims to celebrate the successes of women and girls in different roles in golf and to challenge the misconceptions and stigmas that surround the sport. The week has the support of England Golf, Scottish Golf, Wales Golf, the Irish Ladies Golf Union and The R&A, and is designed to unite the golf industry behind the aim of growing the women and girls’ game. Read more of our Women & Girls' Golf Week features here.
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