The Metropolitan Golf Club in the world-renowned Melbourne sandbelt has appointed its first-ever woman as President, as the shift toward gender equity in the sport continues.

Kim Hastie, a 38-year club member and past board member and Women’s Captain, took up the role following the recent annual general meeting.

It is an appointed role, meaning that she was asked by the board via Club Captain Campbell MacKintosh, and she was delighted to accept.

One of her first tasks was to attend the annual men’s dinner at Metro as the President, becoming the first to do so. She also takes the presidency at a time of change at the club: ongoing talks with neighbouring Huntingdale about collaboration, and a ‘course enhancement plan’ being undertaken by the Crafter and Mogford course design group.

“I sort of had an inkling that maybe it was going to happen,” said Hastie. “Funnily enough, years ago a woman at the club who I was very good friends with, she’s no longer at the club, she said ‘you’ll be the club’s first women’s president’. I just parked that, laughed it off.

“Look, it’s a great honour to be asked. It’s largely a thank you type role for years of service. You’re not on the board; you’re working alongside the board. Metro is a different model to other clubs. You’re appointed by the board and appointed annually. If they want you, they just keep appointing you.

“I think my family are very proud. My Mum (Susie) was a 62-year member. She would have been very proud. It’s a great honour and a privilege. You get to see the workings of a big club, it’s amazing.”

Hastie has been playing golf since her 20s at Metropolitan and is deeply embedded in the sport both through her commitment to the club and her involvement in the Golf Society of Australia. A previous Secretary of the GSA, she has been President for the past three years.

She is also a strong advocate for women in golf and a member of the Golf Leaders Network, and she feels change coming for the sport.

“There’s a definite shift,” she said. “It’s for the good, and it’s for the right reasons. They’re not just being picked just because they feel that they have to pick women. Maybe it’s a slight correction that needed to happen. We needed to get some more women into these leadership roles. I think that’s how it should be seen.”