A club with this line in its dress code values women golfers.
Never is a pile of papers of mostly mundane information read with more excitement than when it’s the new-member welcome packet of a golf club you’ve been lucky enough to join. My husband and I had this experience recently. As I tore into the heavy-stock envelope and absorbed the policies about guests, bar levies, range balls, how to reserve tee-times and so forth, I came to the part on “Dress Code”.
“This is great!” I called to my husband. “Women can wear hats in the clubhouse!” While he was happy to share my joy, it was clear that he didn’t understand the gravity of that line. I’ve realised pretty much no men do.
Many private clubs require both men and women to take their hats off in the clubhouse. It’s one of those things that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is. The male golfers in my life walk into the clubhouse, take their hats off, run their hands through their hair a couple of times and look presentable, normal, like themselves. They stop in, hold their hat, grab a drink and go back outside without thinking about it. If anything, they can feel self-satisfied at having been so mannerly.
I, like many women, have to think about it.
I have long hair that I wear in a ponytail or bun under a hat when I play golf. When I take that hat off, what lies beneath is not for public consumption. Sweat has plastered hair to my forehead and squished it into shapes unknown. I say this as a pretty low-maintenance person who never learned much about hair and make-up, yet even I know it’s a brutal look. The fix requires a stop in the locker room, a hurried attempt to create some sort of palatable visual, and only then can I make my way into the clubhouse. When I’m playing golf, I’d rather not have to think about this choreography.
A pro at a club in a warm climate, who asked for her name not to be mentioned, works at a club with a “no-hats-in-the-clubhouse” policy. On tournament days, when she’s going back and forth from the pro shop to the leaderboard to the clubhouse, it’s impossible for her to wear a hat. The number of times she’d have to take it off, fix her hair and put it back on would take up too much of the day. Her solution is to simply not wear one, which comes with its own problems. “Am I increasing my risk of skin cancer because of a dress code?” she wonders.
Taking your hat off when you enter a space is a sign of respect. It dates to medieval times when knights would take off their helmets when entering churches and castles. This custom of respect carried into public society, eventually to the first golf clubs in the UK in the 1700s, and is still honoured today inside most spaces more formal than an airport or post office. I appreciate tradition, and current society would benefit from any excuse to show each other more respect. If I’m going into the clubhouse for a meal after a round, I’ll take the time to sort myself in the locker room so that I can sit at a table with my hat off.
It’s the moments that require a quick stop into the clubhouse for a drink or the bathroom where the option to keep a hat on becomes incredibly convenient. I’m not saying all golf courses should get rid of the “no-hats-in-the-clubhouse” rule. I’m saying tradition can evolve.
More important than the function of being able to keep my hat on in the clubhouse, though, I like what the hat policy at my club says about my club. It means that the club thinks about women golfers and has women partaking in decision-making. If a club allows women to wear hats in the clubhouse, it means women have asked for that policy and were heard. Clubs that allow women to wear hats in the clubhouse immediately signal that they value women golfers.
One line in a dress code policy doesn’t make or break a golf experience, but when you’re a woman playing golf, you’re a minority entering a space that has an intimidating and male-dominated history. When you see signals that women have a voice at the course you’re playing, you feel more at ease and more welcome. Maybe even more interested in playing again. As golf continues to experience incredible growth in the number of women playing the game, it’s these little things that are going to keep us coming back.
