Race and Gender in Golf

According to an essay published online by Answers.com, historically the distinction between amateur and professional golfers had a lot to do with social class. In 18th and 19th century Britain, golf was played by the wealthy. Early golf professionals in England were often working class men who learned to play the game and made a living from the game in a variety of ways including work as a caddy, a greens keeper, or a club maker. When golf arrived in America at the end of the 19th century, it was also considered to be an elite sport - a sport that would be played only by the wealthy. Early American private golf clubs even hired teaching professionals from Britain to teach wealthy Americans how to play the game (Professional Golfer).

According to an essay published online by Wikipedia, in developed countries the class distinction in golf is now almost entirely irrelevant because golf is affordable to a large proportion of the population. Most golf professionals from developed countries are from middle class backgrounds, but leading professional tournament golfers tend to be wealthy and part of the upper class. In developing countries, there is still a class distinction associated with who does and does not play the game of golf. In developing nations, golf is often restricted to a much smaller and more elite section of society than is the case in countries including the United States and the United Kingdom (Professional Golfer).

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and the pace of play would improve because golfers would hit more greens in regulation. As an added benefit, women would not be seen as second-class players by their male counterparts simply because they use the tees reserved for ladies who require shorter drives to reach the greens (King). According to an article written by Michael Bamberger and published in the Golf Digest (1994), there is significant gender-based bias in professional golf. The article profiles Patty Sheehan, one of the best female professional golfers in the world. In 1993, Sheehan earned $540,000 as the most successful player on the ladies PGA Tour. This prize money was earned by playing and winning in tournaments all over the world. That $540,000 was approximately equal to the first prize for one event on the men's professional golf tour, the men's Tour Championship. In this interview, Sheehan stated that while she was certainly disappointed by the gender bias in terms of prize money being earned by professional women golfers, she acknowledged that part of the problem involved the lack of television viewership that women's professional golf has attracted. Sheehan also points out that whenever a woman professional athlete starts speaking up about gender b

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