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I’ve never played a game of golf.

This is odd, because Penrhys Golf Club (now Rhondda Golf Club) was a big part of my life growing up.

My grandmother who had been widowed aged just 39 was a keen golfer and “the Golf,” as it was only ever referred to, was not only where she played three or four times a week, it was also the focal point of her social life.

For us her grandchildren, the Golf’s Christmas Party was an annual highlight with cheese and pineapple on sticks and Cadbury’s selection packs and a present from Father Christmas, who would, after much jingling of sleigh bells, eventually make an appearance from the men’s only bar.

Even though I don’t play golf, I’ve been following the dispute between Cardiff resident Lowri Roberts and her golf club Cottrell Park.

It’s sparking a lively debate about the Equality Act 2010 and its application to golf clubs and sports associations in general.

So what exactly does the law provide?

Providers of services, goods or facilities to the public or a section of the public, whether or not for payment, are subject to the Equality Act 2010.

A service provider can be an individual, a business or a public body. Examples of service providers include private landlords, health and fitness clubs, hairdressers, shops and hotels.

Service providers are prohibited from discriminating against a person with a protected characteristic (of which there are eight, including sex, race, religion and belief and disability), including not providing a person with the service in question.

However, it is legal under the Equality Act for private clubs and associations to restrict membership to people sharing a protected characteristic provided they have 25 or more members and rules that include a genuine selection process to become a member.

Some sports clubs meet this definition of association but others do not.

So, for example, if they meet the definition of an association, a rugby club for women could lawfully exclude men as members and a Christian group could exclude other faiths.

Both the County Club here in Cardiff and Muirfield Golf Club in Scotland were associations and therefore entirely within their rights to be men only clubs until, in 2014 and 2017 respectively, they voted to allow female members.

Interestingly, a year after its vote Muirfield Golf Club still has no female members because its admissions procedure is “complex” but also requires being proposed and seconded by its existing members, who are currently all male.

The only exception to this is if membership of the association is solely on the basis of colour. An association cannot only be for white people or for black people.

Once a member is accepted into an association, the association cannot offer membership terms, benefits and services that are directly discriminatory or indirectly discriminator.

Whilst it was legal for the County Club to exclude women altogether, now that it has opened its membership to women it cannot for example have a men only bar.

It is possible to be both an association and a service provider. The Equality and Human Rights Commission gives the example on its website of a private golf club with rules regulating membership which is therefore an association when dealing with its members.

However, if the golf club opens its golf course, café and shop to members of the public on certain days it is also a service provider of those services.

The law can therefore be complicated and it gets even more complicated when it comes to sporting competitions. It is possible under the Equality Act to have separate competitions for men and women where:

Physical strength, stamina or physique are major factors in determining success or failure, and

Nne sex is generally at a disadvantage in comparison with the other.

Is golf a game that meets the criteria for separate sporting competitions?

In its online guide, The Equality Act 2010 and Golf, dated August 2013, England Golf says that golf “clearly falls within this category of sport.”

However, Wales Golf whose vision is “everyone’s golf, anywhere” announced in November 2017 that a number of its junior golf competitions would be gender neutral and girls and boys allowed to compete together.

In its guide to the Equality Act 2010, Wales Golf states:“Although equality legislation does not dictate that clubs must admit women to a men’s competition or men to a women’s competition simply because they wish, we would encourage all clubs to run a variety of open competitions throughout the month (where everyone can play together).”

Golf club membership is declining. The number of golf club members fell by a quarter between 2004 and 2016. In Wales, there were 70,728 members of golf clubs in 2004, down to 45,338 by 2016.

In response to the falling numbers, The R&A which organises the Open, commissioned some research and published a report in February 2018.

The report identified family golf participation, including women and girls’ involvement in particular, as an opportunity for significant growth and highlighted the need for greater gender equality in the golf industry to increase family golf participation.

However they may interpret the equality legislation, it seems that golf clubs need to change their ways if they are to survive.

Bethan Darwin is a partner with law firm Thompson Darwin.