Although there is a certain definitiveness missing and a different etymology proposed for a certain major golf term, many have speculated that Mary Queen of Scots, an avid golf fan and a player of the sport herself, brought the term "caddy" into the golf lexicon. In France, the nation in which Mary grew up, military cadets carried golf clubs for royalty, and some see it as possible that Mary brought the custom to Scotland, where the English speakers came up with the nickname word "caddy".

 

Nevertheless, despite Mary's royal involvement in and affection for golf, significant women's history in the sport does not come into play until many, many years after her lifetime.

 

In the beginning, women wore the most cumbersome clothing, played with clubs explicitly designed for men, were often anonymous (not by choice), and faced restrictions on their allotted course time--when they were permitted any at all. Yet they persevered for the love of golf. Following up on the creation of the USGA in 1894, in 1895 that body sanctioned competitive golf for women by starting their own tournament, called the USGA Women's Amateur Championship.

 

The first one of these championships was played at Meadow Brook Club in Hempstead, New York on November 9th, 1895. It was arranged on very short notice. Thirteen women entered the 18-hole event. The women came from five clubs: Morris County Golf Club, Shinnecock Hills, Essex County Golf Club, Meadow Brooks, and New Port Golf Club. Meadow Brook had only one entry.

 

It was just a matter of time before women's golf would split between amateur and professional. Women's golf improved dramatically by the decade of the 1930s as more and more competition was offered on the local and state levels. Nationally, the women's associations benefited from the growth of women's golf across the U.S.

 

However, women were not permitted to earn a living in golf in any way, shape, or form without having to give up their amateur status. Giving up amateur status meant not being able to play competitive golf. In the 1930s and early 1940s there were very few tournaments for professional women golfers and almost none offered prize money.

 

Male golfers in America have had the option of being a professional or amateur golfer from the beginning of the PGA. Helen Hicks, who turned professional to work for Wilson Sporting Goods in 1935, was given the title "business woman golfer" instead of "golfing professional" because of the stigma attached to the matter of a female being a professional. In fact, women who desired to become professional golfers in those days were accused by their counterparts, male and female alike, of somehow betraying the "purity" of the sport and were subjected to being laughed at, ignored, and ridiculed for their choice.

 

Nevertheless, the LPGA was officially chartered in 1950 and its founders and chartered members included Hicks and the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Now, with the inclusion of such exciting players as Michelle Wie, professional women's golf is thriving.

 

Related Resources about Women in Golf

Read more about the Founders of the LPGA

Golf Instruction | Golf Improvement Articles

Golf History | Golf Etiquette | Golf Terms

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