When the management at Roseville Golf Club on Sydney’s North Shore sat down with staff from Golf Australia and Golf NSW to talk about signing the R&A Charter for Women, they received a pleasant surprise. Almost to a tee, they had already fulfilled most of the criteria that were laid out. “With the programs that we run, the numbers of women that we have and the governance and policies of the club, we ticked all the boxes”, said one of the Directors, Pat McVean. “The fact that we didn’t have too much trouble with the criteria for the R&A Charter tells us that we were doing the right things.” Hence, the Club became the second signatory in NSW to the Charter, which aims to enable more women and girls to maximise their potential at all levels of the sport. Roseville, which celebrated its centenary in 2023, is the gold star of gender equality in the sport.

It has 41 percent women’s membership, one of the highest figures in the country. A recent report from Golf Australia showed that the NSW average was 18%. Its Board of nine has four women including its President, Nerida Campbell, who is the first woman President in the Club’s history. The Club introduced the concept of “One Membership” a few years ago with one category of full playing membership for men and women. Members can play any day, although the Club retains set tee times for women’s competition on Tuesday and Friday, while men’s tee times are blocked on Monday and Thursday. Social golf is available for all members every day. This initiative has seen a huge increase in women playing at weekends, particularly on Saturdays.

The Club has recently introduced multi-day qualifying for its club championships and all championship matches have been moved to the weekend to allow all access for all members including those who work or study during the week. The Club is consistently looking to make improvements that work better for all its members.

Roseville’s success in attracting women dates back to the 1980’s when the club began running women’s clinics on a year-long basis. “We were one of the first clubs on the North Shore to start the clinics for women, and a lot of clubs have followed since although they all do it slightly differently”, said Pat McVean.

Roseville rosters women members to walk the course with new members to teach the intricacies of golf etiquette and have a ‘buddy’ system for the 10-20 women each year who graduate from the beginners’ clinic to full membership. ABOUT THE R&A CHARTER

The charter was launched by the R&A six years ago and since then, more than 1,300 clubs and organisations in the sport have become signatories. The charter aims to: • Strengthen the focus on gender balance and provide a united position for the golf industry • Commit national federations and organisations to support measures targeted at • increasing participation of women, girls and families in golf • Call on signatories to take positive action to support the recruitment, retention and • progression of women working at all levels of the sport • Set individual targets for national federations for participation and membership and • annual reporting of progress • Develop an inclusive environment for women and girls within golf R&A Martin Slumbers has described the charter as “a strong statement of intent from the golf industry that it has to change and a commitment on behalf of all of us to take measures designed to achieve positive change for women, girls and families”. Golf Australia encourages Australian clubs and facilities to sign and offers a service to help clubs reach the goals and targets that need to be met to become a signatory. More than 80 clubs and facilities have so far signed on. For information, click here For information about Roseville, click here