A Brief History of Ladies Golf

Women’s golf is extremely popular in the UK, illustrated by the fact that there are over 220,000 registered members of the 115-year-old Ladies’ Golf Union.

Formed in 1893, the Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU) is the overall governing body for all ladies amateur golf played throughout Great Britain and Ireland. An amalgamation of all the separate ladies’ national unions from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, it also incorporates the ladies’ section from around 2,750 registered golf clubs throughout the UK.

The year of the LGU’s formation also saw the first ever Ladies’ British Amateur Championship, played at the links course of Royal Lytham & St. Annes. This inaugural tournament was played in a hole-by-hole format and won convincingly 7 & 6 by Lady Margaret Scott, whose prize was The Amateur Trophy which is still the prize for today’s winners.

The first international Ladies’ amateur international took place in 1895 when England triumphed over Ireland at Royal Portrush Golf Club. The next major landmark in UK’s ladies’ golf came one year after World War One hostilities ceased in 1919, when the very first girls’ Open Golf Championship was held at Stoke Poges golf club.

More international fixtures were added to the Ladies’ golf calendar in the 1930s, starting with the Vagliano Trophy match in 1931. This inaugural match was played between the UK and France, but the modern day equivalent is now played between the UK and the rest of Europe. A year later another prestigious Ladies’ golf fixture, a match between Great Britain & Ireland and USA amateurs, officially known as The Women’s International Cup, was added to the list. The silver bowl trophy was donated by two successful U.S. women amateur players Harriot and Margaret Curtis and as a result, ever since the tournament has been known as the ‘Curtis Cup’.

Over the next three decades more tournaments were added specifically for girls, with the first-ever national Championship and the first international for the juniors both added in 1949.

However, it wasn’t until 1969 that the ladies’ introduced the first British Ladies’ stroke play championship, played in the north of England at the Northumberland Golf Club. Seven years later the Women’s British Open was added to the ever-expanding calendar, and in 1981 senior ladies got their own Championship, first played in the north-west at Formby Golf Club.

The most recent addition to the ladies’ amateur calendar in 2003 was the first-ever Senior International match played at Staffordshire’s most historic course, Whittington Heath Golf Club. The history of Ladies’ golf continues to impress with its prestigious events, with the most recent addition indicating that there is perhaps more still to come in future.

Paul McIndoe writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.