Westminster Country Club follows St. Andrews in discriminating against female golfers
The gender bias in golf has apparently infiltrated into the US Mainland from the far side of the Atlantic when one of the local golf courses, the Westminster Country Club, refused Amanda Fadden to participate in an event. Fadden, who has been playing golf
from an early age, was invited by her brother to play alongside him at the country club where they have tee-ed off for ages.
“Everything was good until my brother got a phone call saying ‘She can’t play! They came up with these lame excuses, they said ‘There could be swearing on the golf course.’ They didn’t want me to be around swearing. And they were afraid I might beat somebody
and that might have repercussions,” she said.
Fadden, for most part of her life, has tee-ed off from men’s tee and went over to win several of the tournaments in her career at St. Bernard’s in high school. The 27-year-old has played alongside her brother Matt Paradise since they were kids, often accompanied
by their father at the Westminster CC and nothing of the sort has ever happened before.
Fadden was particularly appalled by the incident as a similar incident caused the Dennis Club to pay for a hefty lawsuit over another discriminating incident last year.
Donald Leblanc, General Manager at the Westminster Country Club, who imposed the decision, came out to defend the club’s policy in regards to hybrid golf on the course. Leblanc said that Ladies and mixed events are already part of the schedule of the club
but they cannot allow the exclusive events to turn into hybrid ones which would deliver a severe blow to the popularity of the men’s golf.
Apparently, the club later decided to withdraw from its strong stance against the female participation in a men’s event fearing a difficult lawsuit approaching the club’s portfolio. Leblanc retracted from his previous comments on Monday, allowing female
participation in men’s events. For Fadden, however, its far too late as the duo had moved on to some other club for their tourney.
“It’s just unfortunate that what could’ve been a positive, turned into a negative. Here we are in 2011 and stuff like this is still going on,” said a disgruntled Fadden.
Many of the golf critics are of the view that men’s golf should not be turned into a hybrid affair and the status quo of the high profile events should be held at all cost. The argument has churned up heated debates especially with English Club’s strict
policy of “no women on course” that they have pursued for more than 100 years.
The coveted clubs at Royal & Ancient and St. Andrews have out rightly refused to allow ladies membership although they do allow guests and visitors to play at the course.
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