WOMAN GOLFERS SAY SEXISTS BRING
SHAME TO THEIR GAME

Woman golfers who enjoy fair play at a premier south west golf course have set themselves apart from those clubs which discriminate against female players.

Carol Cornish, women’s captain at the par 78 eighteen hole China Fleet Golf Club near Plymouth, has responded strongly to recent news about clubs across the country which treat women differently to men.

Certain private golf clubs were featured on the BBC’s Weekend Watchdog programme after it was discovered they stop female members playing at weekends, ban them from voting at Annual General Meetings, and exclude them from drinking in clubhouse bars.

Golf courses run as private members’ clubs do not have to fall in line with sex equality laws, unlike commercial clubs.  Commercial clubs have to comply with the law regarding sex discrimination; but because private clubs are not profit making, the law does not apply to them.

Carol, who juggles a job as a nurse at Derriford hospital with captaining the China Fleet ladies’ team, said, ‘We have had full equality at China Fleet Golf Club since it was set up in 1991.  We’ll soon be celebrating our tenth anniversary and all our members, both male and female, are proud of the fact that we can enjoy a good game of golf together.

‘Golf is one of the fasted growing sports in the UK and has a growing reputation for bringing people together from all walks of life.  Clubs which actively discriminate against women are doing a lot of damage to the reputation of the game.’

China Fleet Club manager David O’sullivan, said, ‘Women can use any and all of the club facilities on the same basis as men.  We do have a ladies’ day each week which is traditional but women can play whenever they want to, including weekend mornings – unlike women mentioned in the BBC Watchdog programme.’