The Ladies' Golf Union (LGU) was the governing body for women's and girls' amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

in Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded in 1893 and was based in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland until merging with

The R&A The R&A (or more formally, the R&A Trust Company (No. 1) Limited) is the collective name of a group of companies that together play a significant role within the game of golf. Historically, "the R&A" was a colloquial name for the Royal and A ...

at the start of 2017. Issette Pearson was a founding member and the first Secretary of the LGU. The LGU was governed by an elected council with equal representation from England, Ireland, Scotland and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It was funded by a levy on women golfers' club membership fees, and indirectly represented over 200,000 golfers. It dealt with major policy issues, all-Britain and Ireland tournaments, and international competitions. It had affiliates in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, Ireland, Scotland and Wales which organise local tournaments, ran the

handicapping Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which t ...

system, liaised with clubs, and promoted the sport at a local level. The LGU administered the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a major championship in women's professional golf. It is recognised by both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tou ...

, one of the major championships in global women's golf, which is open to professionals and nowadays dominated by them. It also ran several of Britain and Ireland championships:

Amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, Mid Amateur, Girls', Stroke Play, and Seniors. Additionally there are several competitions for club golfers. The LGU ran three sets of international matches between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales: the Home International Matches (mainstream adult competition); the Girls International Matches; and the Senior International Matches. The LGU was also involved in running several competitions involving teams from beyond its home territory: Curtis Cup; Vagliano Trophy; Espirito Santo Trophy; and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

competitions.

References

{{Authority control Golf associations Golf in Scotland Golf in the United Kingdom Women's sports governing bodies in Scotland Women's sports governing bodies in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Fife St Andrews 1893 establishments in the United Kingdom Women's golf in the United Kingdom Women's golf in Ireland 2016 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Sports organizations disestablished in 2016 Sports organizations established in 1893

See also

References