I opened the new member packet of the golf club we were lucky enough to join and read through the policies about guests and how to reserve tee times and tennis court hours. As I flipped through, I came to the Dress Code section. “This is great!” I called out to my husband. “Women can wear hats in the clubhouse!” While he was happy to share in my joy over this win, it was clear that he didn’t fully understand the gravity of that line in the dress code. I realized pretty much all men wouldn’t.
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 can stop in, pop their hat off, grab a drink, and go back outside without thinking about it.
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, my hair has been squished into shapes unknown. I say this as a pretty low-maintenance person who never learned much about hair and makeup: 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 then I can make my way into the clubhouse. When I’m at the course, I’d rather not have to think about this choreography. I’d rather have the option to simply wear my hat in the clubhouse.
A pro at a club in the South, who asked for her name not be mentioned, told me about her club’s “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 her day. Her solution is to not wear a hat at all. Which comes with its own problems. “Am I increasing my risk of skin cancer because of a dress code?” she pondered when we chatted.
Clubhouses have the rule in place because taking your hat off when you enter a space is a sign of respect. It goes all the way back to medieval times, when knights would take their helmets off when they entered structures like churches or castles. This custom of respect carried into public society. The first golf clubs in the 1700’s in the U.K. took the rules of high society, and applied them to their golf clubs. And it’s still honored today. 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 out in the locker room so 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. The hat situation isn’t an issue for men the way it is for women, so they’re probably not going to know about it. If a club allows women to wear hats in the clubhouse, it means women have asked for that policy. And when those women brought the issue up, they were heard. Clubs that allow women to wear hats in the clubhouse immediately signal to me 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 male-dominated history. When you see signals that women have a voice at the course you’re playing, you feel more at ease. More welcome. More interested in playing again.
As golf continues to experience incredible growth in the number of women playing the game, it’s the little things that are going to keep them coming back.
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