Which club to join? Ladies competitions

onimpulse · 03-10-2021 10:38am #1

Hi all,

Looking for some advice. I played a lot of golf growing up and right up to a few years ago when I let my membership lapse because the club I was in had Ladies competitions on Thursdays and only a few hours on a Sunday. I work full time Mon-Fri 9-5:30 so that effectively meant I was limited to a two hour slot on a Sunday for competitions with Mens competitions having the rest of the weekend to themselves. It felt really unfair and very bad value so I eventually left.

I'm thinking now of rejoining a club as I've heard from others that most clubs now don't limit women's competitions to a few hours on a Sunday. Just wondering if anyone can recommend a club around North Dublin - I'm really close to St Annes, that would be the most convenient but wondering if anyone can give me some advice on the various clubs around and how they cater for women.

Thanks in advance!

Golfhead65 · 03-10-2021 4:16pm

Although on the southside, Leopardstown are Ladies only afaik, the only issue is that I'm not sure they are Golfireland registered

Skyfloater · 03-10-2021 7:04pm

Gh65, the OP is an experienced golfer not a beginner.

Ollieboy · 03-10-2021 8:25pm

I find a lot of ladies only have 5 day membership in most clubs.

in our club, Corrstown, 20% is ladies with about 15% are full members of that 20%. This is a issue for ladies committees because ladies stay in committee with very little new blood. It’s really hard to find lady captains etc.

most ladies have a network or are brought in my a friend and introduce into a network, otherwise I imagine it’s hard to get involved and maybe feel a little clicky.

we have comps all weekend for ladies and they mostly play on Saturday. They also gets block during majors to allow them play together and this is great for social interaction.

they are also very active and successful in inter club golf.

spacecoyote · 03-10-2021 9:53pm

Member in Castlewarden, which you'd have to cross the m50 for. There are no restrictions on ladies times and have a very active membership with a broad scope of levels including some very good low handicap players.

Slots are not restricted to men or ladies only, and generally you can join any slot that is free and play with male or female members.

RGS · 05-10-2021 5:24pm

Roganstown have a active ladies section. On the weekend during competition times ladies can book a slot in the same way a Male member can. Both captains day are played the same day which leads to a great social occasion.

And roganstown is only 20/25 mins from clontarf.

blue note · 05-10-2021 6:11pm

OP - I can't believe I don't see more people give out about this. I think it's outrageous that women tend not to have access to golf courses on a Sunday morning. It's unfathomable that a club would do that to men. And I've never heard a decent reason not either let the ladies run a comp alongside the mens or combine the comps and have mens winners, womens winners and overall winners.

I pay my membership and realistically I'm paying for access to the course at the weekend. I have weekday access obviously, but I work Monday to Friday so it's pretty useless to me. If I was female, you could rule out Sunday on top of that. I'm glad to read above that there are some clubs that give ladies access on a Sunday morning, but I'd say there would be members outraged in some clubs if they saw a woman out during a mens comp.

Golfhead65 · 06-10-2021 8:26am

There are also clubs where it's effectivenly a 6 day membership for men as men are not allowed play on designated ladies day, it works both ways

blue note · 06-10-2021 9:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117982283#Comment_117982283

Are any of those weekend days? If not, it's far from the same.

I know women can have slots on weekends, but never a large enough one that a full morning is ever off limits for men.

Ally McIntosh · 06-10-2021 3:10pm

I don’t think golf clubs should even have a Ladies and Men’s section. Now that WHI allows you to play from any tee, just have one club. One set of competitions, one captain.

True gender equality.

Ollieboy · 06-10-2021 3:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117984516#Comment_117984516

That is exactly the model golf Ireland want and I tend to agree but I think it’s a good thing to have a captain for both.

callaway92 · 06-10-2021 3:43pm

Ya - In fairness to Tramore, they are the only club I see mixed singles comps in

billy3sheets · 06-10-2021 5:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117984516#Comment_117984516

What about age based competitions, juniors, seniors etc? And divisions and categories for prizes? Should everyone just be lobbed into a single competition with prizes for the top N scores?

Seve OB · 07-10-2021 10:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117984516#Comment_117984516

Couldn’t agree more .

no reason with WHS why a lady can’t play off the blue tees and have her course handicap applied for the competition.

so clubs should run mixed comps. Can run come from different tees also. Some of the older guys might fancy an aul red comp.

but still can run comps for men and other comps for ladies.

I do think a ladies day is good though. If benefits the club. Ladies playing in larger groups together tend to have a get together in the bar/ restaurant after. When they are spread out with the gents, I’d say less then half of them socialise.

golf Ireland needs to up their game and clubs need to find a happy medium…….. some clubs already have and do quite a bit in this regard In fairness

RoadRunner · 07-10-2021 11:25am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058211473/which-club-to-join-ladies-competitions

St Margaret's now has a large and growing number of new lady members. The course was host to the ladies irish open in the past. Looking at this Sunday's timesheet there's time set by later in the day for lady members after 1pm with 25-30 ladies down on the timesheet at that time. However I've (male) played with at least one lady hours earlier who plays in the lady's competition but during the men's early times (the later times don't suit her, so she just plays early in the day).

I played mixed foursomes this year and had great craic doing so. The other lady members really got behind our team, is was good craic, and was some my favourite time on the course this summer. The ladies performed excellently reaching the finals in almost all interclub comps they entered this year and hoping to do the same again next year!

The only negative I noticed during the summer from playing in the mixed format was that the quality of some of the ladies tee box areas was poorer than the mens, but this seems to be improving now. If the location is handy for you well worth checking out!

prawnsambo · 09-10-2021 8:56am

I know some clubs don't differentiate and have one competition for both women and men and separate (or just one) prize for both depending on numbers. I've played a few opens this year where it was the same. Off the top of my head, Bunclody and Macreddin. I think in Macreddin, whoever has the most points wins the overall prize in their opens.

I'd advise looking at open competition entry as an indicator. If they're 'Gents and Ladies' combined, that would be a good indicator of how they set up comps.

There's no reason now to split them. It should all be the same.

blue note · 09-10-2021 10:03am

I know clubs have mixed opens. But the main thing in my view is access to the course. How many clubs have mixed Sunday comps, where the women have equal access to the club on a Sunday morning? Access after the men's comp is better than nothing, but still second best.

prawnsambo · 09-10-2021 11:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117996829#Comment_117996829

Yeah. But mixed opens is an indication that there may be better access for women. It's a starting point anyway.

blue note · 09-10-2021 7:32pm

It's not good enough. The prime times on the timesheet are Saturday and Sunday morning and I'm not aware of a club that doesn't restrict them to women on Sunday morning. And there's no good reason for it. I understand that some clubs will allow women out of they request it basically, but they should openly accept women and men, not make exceptions.

Or would anyone like to put forward a reason for it? And would you agree with the reason?