Are there any Female only golf clubs in the world? Has there ever been?

[Jeff Schley]

In Chicago we know seems to have a concentration of male only clubs (Butler, Old Elm, Black Sheep, Bob O’Link) and there are others in the country.  Is there or has there ever been a female only golf club? This is apart from some UK clubs have a women’s club that shares a course with men.


Would be interesting to hear and if any market would indeed support such an idea in today’s world.

[Sean_A]

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,60714.msg1438944.html#msg1438944


Happy Hockey

[Duncan Cheslett]

Wirral Ladies GC was set up for the wives of members at nearby Royal Liverpool. It is a very attractive heathland course of slightly under 5000 yards.


A men's section was sanctioned from the early days but it has long been run by and for ladies.

More recently however, the club has re-branded itself "Wirral Golf Club" and a sizable proportion of members are senior men who clearly prefer to play on a course where length is not of primary concern.


https://www.wirralgolfclub.com/

[Ian Andrew]

Toronto Ladies. There are male members, but it's a woman's club.

[Dave McCollum]

Marion Hollins a founding force:


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=31179.15;wap2

[Bernie Bell]

What is now Bethesda CC in Bethesda MD was a women's club, designed by Fred Findlay, for a time.


https://www.bethesdacountryclub.org/club-history

[John Emerson]

Women’s putting club in St A’s.

[Bill Gayne]

The St Rule Club

[Mike_Young]

I think there is one in Antartica...

[V. Kmetz]

The paucity of affirmations make their own point.

A NLE course/club -- a Ross no less -- Hudson River CC, in the northernmost section of Yonkers, NY was birthed as a 6, then 9-hole Saegkill GC -- a Women's-only offshoot (wives) of St. Andrews Golf Club (often cited as a patriarchal first organizing club in America), created as the Apple Tree Gang moved north from the Odell Farm to their fifth and final (current) location in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY in 1897.

In 1915, the Saegkill name was dropped for HRCC, becoming a standard golf and country club, while the course was expanded to 18 holes by Ross who utilized a variant of extant Saegkill holes as part of his closing stretch (12 - 17). (Oh yeah - 18 was a 145 - 155 yard par 3 over a small pond)

We all hold an NLE or two with a tear in the eye and a song in the heart and Hudson River CC - though it started to disappear when I was just arrived (1968) - is such place for me. As I review old aerials and walk the surrounds of the Executive Office campus that has long obliterated 99% of its features, I can yet sense how magnificent, commanding and inspirational a course this seems to have been...sweeping dales and rolls dotted by crags of protruding rock, all with a throne above the stirring river below to the west and the Saw Mill River valley to the east.

But it started as a Women's Only club

[Tom_Doak]

This is another idea on my bucket list.  I think it would be fascinating to design a course around women's games - rewarding not driving distance but the accuracy to hit a ball through an open door 100 yards away.


The sad part is, in today's politically correct world, many would insist that such a course be designed by a woman - which is as stupid as deciding that a woman could not design a course for men.

[jeffwarne]

This is another idea on my bucket list.  I think it would be fascinating to design a course around women's games - rewarding not driving distance but the accuracy to hit a ball through an open door 100 yards away.


I remember taeching a woman at Atlantic who I would suggest hit a 7 or 9 wood to land it on a green due to the (previously) silly small runup approaches they had there. She would stripe the most perfect 4 irons from 120 right onto those 8-10 yard slanted approaches in sheer defiance of my suggestions.

[Tim Martin]

This is another idea on my bucket list.  I think it would be fascinating to design a course around women's games - rewarding not driving distance but the accuracy to hit a ball through an open door 100 yards away.


The sad part is, in today's politically correct world, many would insist that such a course be designed by a woman - which is as stupid as deciding that a woman could not design a course for men.

Tom-I think it’s a great idea and could have the unintended consequence of some crossover appeal from senior men if egos can get put aside. Finally I don’t think it needs to be built by a women but obviously could be.

[Sean_A]

This is another idea on my bucket list.  I think it would be fascinating to design a course around women's games - rewarding not driving distance but the accuracy to hit a ball through an open door 100 yards away.


The sad part is, in today's politically correct world, many would insist that such a course be designed by a woman - which is as stupid as deciding that a woman could not design a course for men.

Tom-I think it’s a great idea and could have the unintended consequence of some crossover appeal from senior men if egos can get put aside. Finally I don’t think it needs to be built by a women but obviously could be.

Yes, it would be marvelous if more women built any golf courses.

Happy Hockey

[Pete Lavallee]

Just curious, what is the highest rated golf course built by a woman?

[Stewart Abramson]

This is an excerpt from the history of the Glen Head Country Club on Long Island, which was originally, Women's National Golf & Tennis Club.

"Glen Head began in the early 20’s when members of the Creek Club decided that they no longer wanted women golfers, most of whom were their wives, intruding on their private domain. They assembled 176 acres and built Women’s National Golf & Tennis Club, a renowned golf course for women, with 22 tennis courts, among them 11 of the finest grass courts in the world. When we took over, we used all but two for parking and putting, and we had a good deal of trouble persuading the 21 man Board that at least two should be preserved because some day tennis might be “in”. Women’s National existed actively until the 30’s. Then the Depression caught up with it and the Creek Club Trustees, holders of the mortgage, foreclosed.

[Pete Lavallee]

Marion Hollins of Cypress Point and Pasatiempo developed the WNGC in Glenhead before heading to California. There is also the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto, although they allow male members.

[Tim Leahy]

I believe LACC South course was the ladies course at one time although I don't know if it was exclusively for women.

[Sean_A]

Come on, Formby Ladies can't be the only exclusively female club with a golf course!

Happy Hockey

[Thomas Dai]

Didn't Sunningdale Ladies morph into Sunningdale Heath relatively recently?
In the UK quite a number of the 'second' courses at premier venues started out as 'the ladies course' but have joined-up with 'the boys next door' over the decades with some amalgamating or changing identity in some way or other.
Aberdeen Ladies would be another example. Separate Clubhouse to Royal Aberdeen, and essentially plays over the Silverburn Course. I believe the two are currently in the process of joining-up more formally.
atb

[Greg Gilson]

McLeod Country Club in Brisbane (Australia)...the "members" were ladies and men were "associates". Unsure if that's still the case.

[Brian_Ewen]

http://www.aberdeenladiesgc.co.uk/