Golf arrived in America via Europe. Scots who came here in the mid 1800's brought golf with them and played on any available open space. Golf, the pastime as it is played on private and public courses today, can be traced to Mr. and Mrs. John Reid. (We include Mrs. Reid as she's indicative of how the ladies of the era became involved in the great game of golf!) In the early 1880's Robert Lockhart brought some clubs and balls back from Scotland for his friend John Reid, who was himself a transplanted Scot. Reid was so enthusiastic about the game that he quickly introduced other friends to it, and in a short time helped found St. Andrews Golf Club at Yonkers, New York, originally a six-hole course. Early accounts of women playing golf seem to be in "couples format". The story told has Mrs. Lizzie Reid teamed with John B. Upham against Carrie Law and John Reid on the course of St. Andrews in 1889 on a cold, cloudy and windy day. Playing with clubs called brassies, spoons, cleeks and putters the foursome whacked away at gutta-percha balls. At the end of the contest Lizzie and Upham had bested Reid and Carrie Law by 1. Not content to have his wife and friend beat him, Reid offered a rematch, which was quickly agreed upon. It just wasn't John Reid's day! His wife and her partner won again this time by 1 ½ points. Mr. Reid, to his credit, put the account of the match in the club minutes .

From Links Lore by Peter F. Stevens:
"Mrs. John Reid played with J. B Upham against Miss Carrie Law and John Reid
and defeated them by one hole in the first round and in the second round beat them
by 1 ½ holes."
John Reid's great-great grandson, Archie Reid, commented that John Reid NEVER
played against or with Lizzie Reid again! A winning and memorable beginning for women's golf in America.

Florence Boit visited her Bostonian uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hunnewell in 1890 (91?). She brought her golf clubs with her and spread the game of golf to Boston. Florence demonstrated the game to her uncle, who caught 'golf fever' and laid out a 7 hole course on his property. Hunnewell's friend, Lawrence Curtis suggested a golf course be laid out at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts after being introduced to the game at Hunnewell's.

In 1891 a new golf course was built at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York. By 1893 women had added their own 9 hole course. Shinnecock Hills is important to the history of women's golf as they were the 1st club to give women their own membership and 1st to have a golf clubhouse.

In 1894 The United States Golf Association was formed, the 5 founding clubs were:

The Country Club of Brookline, Massachusetts
St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, New York
Shinnecok Hills of Southampton, New York
New Port Rhode Island Golf Club of New Port, Rhode Island
Chicago Golf Club of Chicago, Illinois

The fledging organization worked closely with the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews in establishing rules.

In 1894 the women of Morristown, New Jersey built their own 7 hole golf course. By October of the year the women organized their own 7 hole tournament. The champion was Annie Howland Ford as she shot a 48 and 46 for 94 strokes and won by 14 strokes.

Quote from the New York Sun, 1894
"As soon as the game was over all hands adjourned to the clubhouse for tea and gossip and to discuss the popular new creation-the golfing cloak. The next day the men were permitted to hold a tournament, and they bettered substantially the remarkable low scores made by the women golfers.

An unfortunate (but much more unfair) event for the women of New Jersey occurred in 1895. The men who had subsidized the course took it back and voted in all male officers. Annie Howland Ford was offered an "honorary presidency" which she flatly refused.

Women golfers faired better in Philadelphia. In 1897 the Women's Golf Association of Philadelphia was born. They've been holding inter-club matches from then on.

In 1895 the USGA inaugurated the Women's Amateur Championship, which has been held every year since with exceptions of World Wars I and II.

Golf in America gained in popularity and men dominated course time, giving women limited access in these early days. A club joke at the time defined G O L F as "Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden". By the turn of the century there were over 1000 courses world wide.

From The Story of American Golf by Herbert Warren Wind
"The early golfers like to find pretty women lounging on the verandahs of their clubhouses, but they were not in favor of women playing the game."

In those early years men enforced strict rules against women playing golf. Men warned women that playing golf would develop manly muscles. Men went so far as to try to frighten women off the courses by telling tall tales about the terrible dangers lurking at the more distant holes!
But women would not be deterred.

From The Ladies Home Journal 1894
"With golf links in every neighborhood there is no reason why the middle-aged woman should fasten herself in a rocking chair and consent to be regarded by the youngsters around her as antiquated at 45. Instead of that, she can, with golfing club, follow her ball from link to link, renewing her beauty and her youth by exercise in the open air."

Thankfully for the generations that have followed those trailblazing women, they took that very excellent advice to heart and fought their way onto the courses and into the history of American golf.

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