‘Constitutionally and physically women are unfitted for golf’: Some thoughts on the development of women’s golf the United Kingdom, 1880-1945

This paper is presented as a work in progress which has developed from a larger project on golf in Scotland. Surprisingly the development of women’s golf has been relatively over looked by sports historians, especially in comparison to the men’s game. This paper will look at the early development of women’s golf and trace its growth up to the end of the interwar period. In contrast to the ways in which the game has been written about previously, where an emphasis has been placed on formal participation and organisational history, this paper will discuss the opportunities which looking at informal participation and its associated social functions could offer historians of both sport and gender.