TROON, SCOTLAND | In 2016, when Royal Troon opened its doors to women in accordance with the Equality Act of 2010, there were members who feared that the “whole ethos” of their club might change.
Yet when those doors opened, no women came a-knocking. Nor more was there a rush of telephone enquiries. And so it carried on until May of last year.
The reason for the women’s no-show was, in fact, obvious. They have a first-class club of their own – The Ladies Golf Club Troon – just along the road, one where the membership fees are well below those at Royal Troon and the relatively informal catering facilities suit them to perfection. In addition, they can enjoy the odd outing on the Open Championship links in amongst their regular games at Troon Portland Golf Club. (Last weekend, the 50th anniversary of the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship was hosted by both courses.)
When, by the start of ’22, the only woman to have expressed any interest in joining Royal Troon had switched to the professional arena, club officials became more than somewhat concerned.
In such circumstances, their first priority was to honour their stated aim of becoming a properly mixed club. And their second was to stay put on the Open rota. “We had a great championship in 2016 (the one in which Henrik Stenson defeated Phil Mickelson), and we wanted more of the same,” said John McGregor, the club’s captain.
It was in looking to the future that they hit the proverbial jackpot by offering the girls among their burgeoning corps of juniors the chance to flower into members as women. Today, a handful of these girls are on the brink of crossing the Rubicon.
With reference to the Open, Royal Troon had gone along with everything that the R&A had asked of the all-male clubs who wanted to stay on the said rota, and the R&A were well satisfied. “We never put any pressure on any of them,” said Clive Edginton, captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews for successive terms in 2019-20 and 2020-21. “All they had to do was to allow women to join, and Royal Troon had done precisely that. It was hardly their fault if women chose not to become members.”
However, since McGregor was uncomfortably aware that a continuing all-male scenario would make for trouble from the media, they hit on what was in many ways an innovative plan – and crossed their fingers.
Apart from a woman being allowed to join the club in the same time-honoured way as a man, and a member’s partner being able to join at a discounted rate, a series of partner-membership arrangements were made available. That combination alone did the trick, resulting as it did in 37 women ending up with the same playing and voting rights as the men.
However, it was in looking to the future that they hit the proverbial jackpot by offering the girls among their burgeoning corps of juniors the chance to flower into members as women.
Today, a handful of these girls are on the brink of crossing the Rubicon.
Let Kieran Stevenson, the head professional, tell the juniors’ story. “When I came here in 2007,” he said, “there were only two junior members. In those days, you learned your golf elsewhere, and it was only then – always assuming you were the son of a member – that you could think about joining.”
Alasdair Cameron, the club's captain in 2017-19, said that things had to change and, thanks to his intervention, a programme was set up for 12- to 17-year-old boys and girls. It allowed for the boys to switch to the senior arena without having to pay full membership fees until they were 30 and, as from 2016, that same pathway was extended to the girls.
What with Stevenson and assistants going into local primary schools with a kindred programme (and without calling for anything in the way of remuneration), golf was soon catching on among children with no prior knowledge of the sport. And today, thanks to the Children's Golf Trust, a charity set up by the club and backed by Scottish Golf and the Golf Foundation, PGA professionals are now coaching 14,000 Scottish school kids.
Meanwhile, Royal Troon started its own Royal Troon School of Golf for children ages 5-11. It is open to all-comers and currently boasts 80 mini-members with a 30-strong waiting list. (If these kids play their cards right, they could have 25 years before having to worry about those full membership fees.)
Honing in on the club’s older girls, McGregor said that the trick was not to lose them when they turn 18. While he did not cite any reason for their disappearance other than a university education, Global Golf Post wondered whether non-golfing boyfriends might prove as much of a distraction as anything else. Here, the head professional made a hurried intervention. He had that area covered.
Stephenson said that the girls and boys at Royal Troon stick together: “They play from the same tees and in the same competitions, and one way and another it’s a thoroughly social scene.”
Hard though this might be to picture, there was a Junior Welcome Evening in the clubhouse not so long ago where these youngsters were to be seen careering up and down the grand staircase.
Those Royal Troon members who, years before, had voiced alarm as to what a few members of the opposite sex might do to the club’s ethos, probably were not tearing up and down the stairs with them.
But, judging by how happily they had engaged with the female members at a Christmas lunch, you would like to think that they have been similarly won over by their junior editions.
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: The sun sets on the 2020 AIG Women's Open, but more inclusive days dawn at Royal Troon.
jan kruger, r&a via getty images