Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association: an Amazing Journey from 1935 to 2025
By Janina Jacobs
Still today’s largest growing segment in the golf industry, women’s golf wasn’t always so embraced.
During the past couple hundred years, a common myth was ‘GOLF’ stood for ‘Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden’. Jokes aside, women were regularly discouraged and even banned from playing via club rules and restrictions, unwelcoming behavior at golf courses, or admonished as ‘un-ladylike’.
In 1935, despite the negativity, along came a supporter, Sylvan Glen GC professional Bob Sutherland, who was impressed with several women competing there in a Michigan Golf Association team tournament. He recommended this spunky group form a traveling Medal Play association. Next came a meeting at the Tuller Hotel in Detroit where several women attended, along with sportswriter John Walter. A Board was appointed, mission statement developed, ‘to promote competitive golf and good sportsmanship among women who play public and semi-public golf courses in southeast Michigan’...and thus was born the Women’s Michigan Golf Association (WMGA)
There was one glitch: the group’s original name was registered in Lansing, but a similar group of women who played at private clubs, Women’s District, had already been using the name. Both organizations retained the same acronym, but the new Board’s benevolent decision to change the name of the organization to Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association paid off: in 1937, an invitation by the private WMGA was extended to the President and their five lowest handicap members to annually play in the Women’s Michigan GA’s State Championship – now, the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship – which then, was open only to private club members. This invitation continued until the 1990’s when the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) began running the tournament, and it became public.
On May 6, 1936, 61 women players competed in the inaugural event at Sylvan Glen, in Troy. Weekly Wednesday tournaments were scheduled at various courses from May through September. Bypassing weekly greens fees, each member paid a yearly association fee in advance which covered golf, prizes, and administrative expenses. Walking was common, but in the 90’s courses required ‘shotgun start’ formats and mandatory carts for larger groups. Other special events were added at additional cost: Match Play, Stroke Play, Doe Day, and charity tournaments. Obviously, prices have risen: in 1957 the 16-18 week season cost $40. In 2007 it was $360, and last year, $830 included cart fees and Doe Day.
USGA Rules were always paramount, and members were expected to learn them, but there were also traditional societal rules and social mores. In record books and meeting minutes women were known by their married names: Mrs. Charles Fox, Mrs. William Trombly, or Mrs. Vasile Cova; given names weren’t used until the early 1990’s.
Dress codes of long skirts and binding blouses were far different than today’s exhibition of mini-skorts and form-fitting performance tops. One newspaper article from 1953 reads: “WMGA forbids shorts and slacks in favor of skirts for tournament play. On cold days it was shown players in skirts shot higher scores.” Or this, from Board Minutes in 1988: ‘Members to be reminded that husbands are not to be caddies….as they could cause discomfort with other players.’
On July 26, 2025, over 100 past and present members celebrated WMGA’s 90th anniversary at Greystone GC in Washington. PGA professional Stephanie Jennings, making history as the first woman MI PGA President, spoke of her barrier-breaking experiences, but also a bright future for golf.
Observing this, WMGA President Belinda Friis said, “Women’s golf is in full bloom. More women than ever are playing, and professional golf is thriving as never before. It’s my belief our organization, and others like WMGA, helped lay the foundation for this. We’re looking forward to reaching 100!”
For more information go to: http://www.womensmetgolf.org
