The Ladies of Lundin
“I was invited to the Lundin Ladies Golf Club Open Day, the one day of the year when men were permitted inside the clubhouse, and I’ve never felt so welcomed. ”
Open Day at Lundin Ladies Golf Club
Open Day came complete with lashings of tea, home-baked cakes, and the sort of genial conversation that makes you forget you’re technically an interloper. This is a great turn-up for the books when you consider the noise made about men-only clubs such as Muirfield not so long ago!
No men allowed!
The club, established in 1890, is one of the oldest ladies’ golf clubs in the UK, pipped marginally by The St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club, in St Andrews.
The club started out as a dedicated Ladies Club on the coastal links of where men could only play if accompanying a lady. At the time, Lundin Golf Club and Leven Golf Club played collectively close to the ocean’s edge but eventually, those two clubs separated into the two courses we see today.
No dogs, no men! Men can play the course - just don’t step into the clubhouse.
As congestion grew at the gentlemen’s course, the ladies decided to relocate to the Standing Stones Park. I think the Ladies did very well with this. The course was less affected from coastal winds and weather and was altogether more suited to the Ladies’ game and most importantly, helped the kids of the area to take up the game.
Where else would you find Standing Stones in the middle of a golf fairway?
The present layout, designed by five-time Open Champion James Braid, who lived nearby in Earlsferry, emerged in 1908–1909. The clubhouse moved to its current site shortly thereafter. Funds for improvements were raised by the ladies themselves through concerts and coffee mornings. In the winter, the fairways were trimmed by a local farmer’s sheep.
The course is overlooked by Largo Law, the remains of an ancient volcano.
After tea and chatter on Open Day, I wandered out onto this historic course. On the fairway stand the ancient Standing Stones, a Bronze Age ritual site dating from around 2000–1500 BC. Three sandstone pillars remain, once part of a larger circle, their missing fourth stone the subject of much local mystery.
Where else would you find Standing Stones in the middle of a fairway?Quirks like these, combined with the warmth of its members, make Lundin Ladies Golf Club a place where history and community gently intertwine.
