The LPGA and USGA changed their policies after 300 female pro golfers signed a petition. But they didn’t go far enough, the women tell NR.
In April 2020, college golfer Lauren Miller was paired with a 6-foot-1 player named Hailey Davidson at the U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier, a women’s championship hosted by the United States Golf Association.
“The U.S. Women’s Open is the most prestigious event we have in women’s professional golf,” Miller told National Review. “If you earn your way to play in that event, it’s a huge deal.”
Neither Miller nor Davidson advanced. After the round, Miller received a follow request from Davidson on social media. That’s when Miller learned Davidson was a transgender-identifying man.
“I looked up from the dinner table and was absolutely in shock that organizations like the USGA and LPGA had policies that allowed male-bodied men to play in women’s sports,” she said. “I felt incredibly helpless.”
At the time, the USGA and LPGA, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, permitted male golfers in the female division if they underwent so-called gender reassignment surgery and satisfied testosterone requirements. Last month, in response to a petition signed by more than 300 female professional golfers, the organizations finally changed their rules to prohibit from women’s golf transgender-identifying men who experienced any part of male puberty either beyond Tanner Stage 2, or who transitioned after age twelve.
Back when Miller was still at Mississippi State, “the whole conversation around transgender athletes competing in women’s sports seemed relatively unknown.” Female University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines had not yet been forced to share her NCAA Women’s Championship title and trophy with male Lia Thomas.
But as more males entered the female arena, grievances grew, including in golf. Aspiring professional golfers can earn their spot on the LPGA by competing in its Qualifying Series, or Q-School. The women must pay for and advance through three stages of Q-School before qualifying for either the LPGA or Epson, a developmental tour for professional golfers who hope to later earn their LPGA tour cards.
Only some of the women who start at Q-School advance to stage two, where they play four rounds of golf in order to move on to the final stage. From there, the top number of women earn LPGA status. Davidson, the male player, made it to stage two this year.
“Essentially he took a spot from an actual female golfer,” female pro golfer and Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) ambassador Dana Fall told National Review.
Davidson is now barred from competing against females in LPGA and USGA events given that he transitioned after the new cutoff.
The physical advantages that men bring into women’s golf are less obvious than in boxing or powerlifting, but they make a difference.
“With stronger muscles, bigger build, broader shoulders, you can create more club-head speed, which allows the ball to spin more,” female pro golfer and IWF ambassador Hannah Arnold told National Review.
On average, males can drive the ball roughly 30 percent farther than females, according to an analysis done by IWF, a nonprofit that works to protect the integrity of female sports and employs Arnold, Fall, and Miller as ambassadors. The IWF shared that finding with the USGA, LPGA, and the International Golf Federation in a November letter.
Arnold hopes the organizations’ decisions could lead to larger concessions down the road. The petition signed by 300 female current and former pro golfers definitely contributed to the recent move, she noted.
The group was from “all walks of life from the tour,” she said. “It could be retired players, it could be mini tour players, it could be anyone who’s touched a golf club from the professional side of golf.”
Some of the women on the LPGA who signed it had a lot of sponsors, she said.
“Everyone showed courage signing it because there were some who had more to lose than others,” Arnold added.
All three women agree the new regulation isn’t perfect. It still pretends that an equal playing field is possible with both men and women participating together.
“If men and women were the same, we would just have no categories,” Miller said. “If it came down to how hard you worked and innate athletic ability, we would all play together. But we know that wouldn’t work and that men would continue to dominate women. And that’s why we had these policies come forward like Title IX 50 years ago.”
Women’s sports will only truly have its integrity restored if eligibility is based on XX chromosomes, though Miller understands that sports organizations are trying to keep stakeholders and sponsors happy, too.
“My career, my peers, this next generation,” Miller said. “I want to see them all thrive and have these opportunities to achieve their dreams. To play college, to play professionally, and I know that those opportunities won’t be there unless we protect women’s sports.”
The LPGA and USGA did not respond to requests for comment.