A new exhibition at the British Golf Museum in St Andrews will put the spotlight on women’s golf through the ages.
Mary, Queen of Scots, is the first women golfer on record, but by the end of the 18th century the fishwives of Musselburgh were playing competitively for the cherished prize of a silk scarf.
By 1893 the Irish Ladies’ Golf Union and the Ladies’ Golf Union had been established.
It was the Ladies’ Golf Union, rather than the gentlemen’s clubs, that established the universal handicapping system which remains the basis of the game today.
In fairly recent times more women have made golf their profession, including Catriona Matthew, the first Scottish woman to win a major the Ricoh Women’s British Open.
The exhibition is being organised by postgraduate students from the museum and gallery studies course at St Andrews University.
Golf museum senior curator Laurie Rae said: “Working with the students has been a great experience for the museum, watching a dynamic new interpretation of our collections taking shape, particularly in the year in which the Ricoh Women’s British Open returns to St Andrews.”
Louisa Grossi, one of the students, said: “The exhibition has been a fantastic opportunity to highlight the importance of women’s golf history.”
Ladies First: Pioneering Moments in Women’s Golf opens on Friday.