Readers react quickly to "Woman Undercover" report
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Golf Digest's March report by Peter Finch with Kim Hall on the treatment of women in golf, both on the course and in the golf shop, has quickly generated reader response. These two early letters suggest that discrimination in the game may not be limited to women.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Peter Finch's article "Woman Undercover" in the March 2012 issue. While it doesn't relate to me from the gender-bias standpoint, I can relate to many rounds I've had as a junior golfer, and even to rounds today. My friends and I are all sub-20 handicaps (some sub-10), all under 25 years old, and we get treated like punks who would rather destroy the course than play golf. In reality, we fix our divots, repair out pitch marks (as well as others), let people play through, but we're still sometimes looked at as a sort of threat to the course. I often receive the same treatment when shopping for/trying out clubs. I'm under constant surveillance when hitting into a simulator because I might "hit a bad shot into it an break it." I know they don't realize I've been around the game for 20 of my almost-23 years, but after seeing others hit into the screens, I'd be more concerned about them breaking themselves instead of the screen.
Thank you for writing this article, and exposing how closed-minded and ignorant some courses/shops can be! I sincerely hope this will make going to the simulator/range/course a less intimidating experience for everyone who isn't a 30-to-50-something male country club golfer.
Josh Bernhofer
Hinckley, OH
Very interesting and timely article. To be fair about it, anytime you are joined on the course in the middle of a round it's a little awkward whether it's male or female. Sometimes you would simply prefer to continue with the "mojo"" you have going. I've played golf for 50 years and gone out hundreds of times as a single and, yes, I've on occasion avoided some golfers I saw at the starter's booth. I've also been less than warmly received by the players I was paired up with. It's generally fun to hook up with a very good player but I've also been paired with tight-lipped "snobs" on the course. In other words, not all of the boorish and unfair treatment that women experience is necessarily because of their gender. Lastly, over the past 12 months I was paired with a female twosome who hit their tee shots from the forward tees...and then hopped in the cart and drove off, clearly hoping to avoid playing with my partner and I! We also played with a nice young woman who came out as a single. We didn't mention it to her but we both agreed it took some juevos for a woman to walk out on a public course dominated statistically by men. She played well and we enjoyed the day.
To be brutally honest, in the bar later, we discussed her fortitude, her short game and her breasts, in that order.
Peter Marquard
Northridge, CA
Bob Carney
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