The Rise of Women’s Golf: Breaking Barriers and Building Legacies
- Yolandi Botes
- 2 days ago
- 17 min read
Women’s golf in South Africa has humble, determined roots. In 1889, the Cape Golf Club (now Royal Cape) made history by admitting women members for the first time, largely to boost dwindling club numbers. Not long after, women were seen swinging clubs at courses around the country; the first known photograph of South African women golfers was taken in Graaff-Reinet in 1897.
Progress was slow but steady. By 1898 the Maritzburg Golf Club welcomed women, and in 1903 even the Durban Golf Club finally allowed “lady” members, though they were “merely tolerated, and were required to give way to male players if so requested”. Such anecdotes illustrate the steep uphill climb early female golfers faced just to share the fairways.
Organising themselves became essential for growth. In 1914, the South African Ladies Golf Union (SALGU) was formed as the first governing body for women’s golf in the country. This allowed women to run their own championships and handicap systems at a time when they weren’t fully accepted in male-dominated clubs. Throughout the early 20th century, passionate women golfers built a foundation by hosting amateur tournaments and establishing ladies’ sections at clubs.
They often had to fight for basic respect, like equal clubhouse access or convenient tee times, but their love of the game kept them going. These pioneering women planted the seeds for a sporting legacy, even as societal norms limited their play. Each early swing of the club was a quiet rebellion against expectations, and an invitation for more women to pick up a putter.
Fighting for a Place on the Course (Mid-20th Century Challenges)
By the mid-1900s, women’s golf in South Africa was growing, yet it remained on the fringes in a society where sports (and clubs) were largely the domain of men. The post-WWII era saw more local ladies’ tournaments and inter-provincial competitions, and women gradually proved they could draw crowds and competition of their own. However, cultural attitudes were slow to change.
Female golfers often still found themselves battling stereotypes that golf was “a gentleman’s game,” suitable for wives only as social diversion. Many clubs maintained restrictions, whether formal or informal, that kept women second-class participants on the course. It was not uncommon for women to be limited to playing on weekdays or early afternoons, so as not to “interfere” with the men’s weekend competitions. In short, women had to prove they belonged on the course, time and again.
Complicating matters further was the apartheid system that gripped South Africa from 1948 onwards. This regime not only segregated sport by race, but the resulting international boycott of South African sports from the 1960's to the early 1990's meant South African women golfers were cut off from many global competitions. Talented players could not test themselves on the world stage under the South African flag, and aspiring black female golfers had almost no access to golf facilities or development, a painful legacy that would only begin to be addressed decades later.
Despite these headwinds, women’s golf quietly persisted. In 1959, an international Commonwealth Tournament held at Royal Johannesburg Golf Club gave a boost to golf’s profile in the country, and women enthusiasts shared in that momentum. They kept organizing locally and nurturing new talent, laying groundwork for better days ahead. The mid-century decades, though challenging, forged a resilient spirit among South Africa’s women golfers, a determination to play on, no matter what barriers stood in the way.
Trailblazers Emerge: Sally Little and the First Generation of Champions
In the 1970's, South African women’s golf found its first true superstar, a player whose talent could not be constrained by geography or prejudice. Sally Little, a Cape Town-born golfer, burst onto the scene and blazed a trail that inspired a generation. As an amateur, Little offered a glimpse of world-class potential when she shot the best individual score at the 1970 World Amateur Team Championship in Madrid.
That same year, she swept the South African amateur Match Play and Stroke Play titles, signaling that a South African woman could rise to the top of the game. Before long, Little took the leap to professional golf, leaving South Africa in 1971 at age 19 to join the LPGA Tour in the United States. It was a bold move, but one that would change the face of women’s golf in her homeland.
Sally Little’s professional career is the stuff of legend. She notched 15 victories on the LPGA Tour, including two major championships, an astounding achievement that made her not only a national hero but one of the elite players in women’s golf globally. In 1980, she captured the LPGA Championship, becoming the first South African woman to win a major title.
Eight years later, she triumphed at the du Maurier Classic (by then representing the U.S.), securing her second major. For nearly a decade (the late 1970's through late ’80's), Little was a fixture near the top of leaderboards, consistently ranked in the world’s top five and earning a reputation as a tenacious competitor with a silky swing. Her success was all the more remarkable given the backdrop, she excelled during a period when South Africa was isolated in international sport.
Little essentially had to base herself overseas to compete, but back home her feats did not go unnoticed. To aspiring young girls with golf dreams, she was proof that a South African woman could conquer the world’s fairways. In 2016, in a fitting honor, Sally Little became the first female golfer inducted into the South African Hall of Fame, cementing her legacy as a true trailblazer.
Little’s influence wasn’t just in trophy counts; she actively gave back to grow the game. After three decades abroad, she returned to South Africa in the mid-2000's with a mission to “pay her success forward” and make golf accessible to more young South Africans. She started the Little Golf Trust focused on junior golf development, especially for girls and underprivileged youth. “Through the game of golf, the Little Golf Trust hopes to educate and empower the previously disadvantaged, with emphasis on young women,”
Little said, noting that too many talented young women had been left behind without opportunities that golf can provide. Sally Little’s crusade to nurture the next generation showed the same passion off the course that she once displayed in competition. Her efforts even helped bring about new events, notably the Women’s World Cup of Golf, a professional team event that South Africa hosted at Sun City for several years starting in 2005.
At the inaugural tournament, the country’s Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka praised Little’s role in bringing the event to South African soil, noting the “growing number of women golf players” and how such a tournament “contributes towards an awareness and love of the game” among women. In a sport long dominated by men, Sally Little and her contemporaries began to tilt the spotlight toward the ladies’ game.
By the late 1980's, the groundwork was laid for women’s professional golf in South Africa itself. In 1988 the Women’s PGA of South Africa (WPGA) launched the first South African Women’s Open, giving local female pros a flagship tournament of their own. At last, South African women didn’t have to travel overseas for high-level competition, the battle for prestige and purses could happen on home turf.
The late 1980's thus marked a turning point: the era of pioneers had brought the women’s game from the periphery to a place where female golfers had earned their own national championship. With a home Open and a national hero in Sally Little, young girls in South Africa could finally see a pathway in golf that led to the highest heights.
Building the Game at Home: 1990's to 2000's
The 1990's ushered in a new chapter for South African women’s golf, one of integration, rebuilding, and emerging talent. With the end of apartheid and South Africa’s return to the international sporting fold in the early 1990's, female golfers of all backgrounds could finally participate freely and represent their nation abroad.
The women’s amateur golf union (rebranded as Women’s Golf South Africa in 2005) and the men’s body eventually unified under Golf RSA, ensuring that golf’s development would be inclusive and nationally coordinated. Opportunities that were scarce during isolation began to blossom: South African women’s teams could once again compete in events like the World Amateur Team Championships, and individuals started testing their skills on overseas pro tours without the stigma of sanctions.
It was a period of catching up with the rest of the world, and the country’s golf community knew it had ground to make up. As Sally Little bluntly observed upon her return, “our coaching is 40 years behind” the world’s best, but the 1990's and 2000's were all about closing that gap. On the home front, a small band of professional women golfers kept the competitive flame burning.
Tournaments like the South African Women’s Open (revived intermittently) and the South African Ladies Masters (launched in 1996) offered platforms for local pros to shine. The inaugural Women’s Masters in ’96 was symbolically won by none other than Sally Little, coming full circle to inspire on home soil. In the late 90's and early 2000's, names like Barbara Pestana, Laurette Maritz, and Mandy Adamson became familiar to golf fans as they dominated the local circuit.
These talented women collected multiple national titles and even ventured onto the Ladies European Tour, proudly waving the South African flag. They were the bridge between the pioneer era and the next generation, showing that a professional career in golf was possible for South African women, even if the purses were small and sponsorships sparse. Their passion kept the sport alive and visible at a time when corporate support for women’s golf was still hard to come by (a lingering effect of the prior decade’s financial turmoil in the sport).
Perhaps the clearest sign of progress came in the form of youthful prodigies grabbing headlines. A shining example was Ashleigh Simon (now Ashleigh Buhai). In 2004, at just 14 years old, Ashleigh stunned the golfing world by winning the South African Women’s Open, as an amateur, and the youngest champion in the event’s history. Suddenly, a schoolgirl from Johannesburg was a national sporting sensation, proving that the investment in girls’ golf was paying off.
Simon went on to win four professional titles in South Africa as an amateur, and by 18 she turned pro to pursue an international career. Her early success served as inspiration and evidence that if talented girls were nurtured, they could achieve great things even in their teens. Around the same time, Lee-Anne Pace was quietly rising through the ranks.
Turning pro in the mid-2000's, Pace would soon blossom into the country’s most successful female golfer since Sally Little’s heyday, winning tournament after tournament on the Ladies European Tour. By 2010, Lee-Anne Pace topped the LET Order of Merit and eventually amassed nine LET titles and even a victory on the U.S. LPGA Tour. She became a flag-bearer for South African women’s golf, her consistency and longevity showing that South African players could not only compete but excel on the world stage once given the chance.
The 2000's also saw South Africa hosting high-profile women’s events beyond its Open. The Women’s World Cup of Golf at Sun City drew top international players (including Annika Sörenstam and Se Ri Pak) to compete alongside South Africa’s best, giving local fans a taste of global competition. Although the event was short-lived, it generated excitement and media coverage for women’s golf and further validated the country’s ability to stage world-class women’s tournaments.
Each of these developments, rising young stars, local champions, and international showcases, contributed to a sense that women’s golf in South Africa was finally on an upward trajectory. By the end of the 2000's, the question was no longer “Can South African women golfers make it?” but rather “How far will they go?” The stage was set for a new era of ambition.
A New Era: Champions on the Global Stage and a Tour of Their Own
The 2010's heralded a true renaissance for South African women’s golf, a time where the breakthroughs of prior decades coalesced into sustained progress. One of the cornerstone achievements was the establishment of the Sunshine Ladies Tour in 2014, a dedicated professional tour for women in South Africa.
For the first time, female pros had a structured season of multiple events in the country, rather than a scattered few tournaments. This proved transformative. The Sunshine Ladies Tour gave emerging players regular high-level competition at home, and its steady growth attracted more sponsors and even international co-sanctioned events.
Within a few years, foreign players were traveling to South Africa to tee it up, lured by better prize money and world-ranking points on offer. What started as a small local circuit had evolved into a “springboard to international opportunities” for South African women, a pathway to the Ladies European Tour and majors for those who performed well.
Every success story from the tour further validated the model. By 2020, the Sunshine Ladies Tour celebrated its 7th season with record prize money (nearly R6 million) and bonuses to reward the Order of Merit winner. The support of companies like Investec (which boosted the South African Women’s Open to new heights) signaled that sponsors were finally seeing value in the women’s game.
As multiple players noted, bigger prizes and more TV coverage create a virtuous cycle: they attract stronger fields and give local pros exposure, which in turn sparks more interest and investment. On the course, South African women continued to reach new milestones. Lee-Anne Pace remained a dominant force at home, racking up win after win on the Sunshine Tour, a record 12 titles in the tour’s first six years, and adding to her legacy with multiple South African Women’s Open crowns.
The national Open itself grew in prestige, becoming co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and drawing top talents from Europe, Asia, and beyond. Fittingly, Ashleigh Buhai (née Simon) won the revamped Open in 2018, having also won it twice as a teen amateur, to mark a new chapter for the event.
Buhai’s career blossomed on the world stage as well. After years of honing her craft, she achieved a lifelong dream in 2022 by winning the AIG Women’s British Open, becoming just the second South African woman ever to win a major championship. In doing so, she ended a 42-year drought since Sally Little’s major triumph in 1980, a momentous occasion that sent waves of joy through the South African golf community.
Ashleigh Buhai’s major win was more than just personal glory; it was a symbolic passing of the torch. At Muirfield, a storied Scottish club that had infamously excluded women members until 2017, a South African woman stood victorious in 2022, truly a full-circle moment for a sport that had once “merely tolerated” women.
Meanwhile, other South African women were making their mark internationally. Paula Reto, for example, broke through with a win on the LPGA Tour in 2022, and several others like Stacy Bregman, Nobuhle Dlamini, and Nicole Garcia have become regular contenders in global events.
At the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games, South Africa proudly fielded female golfers (Buhai and Reto among them), something that would have been unthinkable in the boycott era. Each success on the world stage feeds back into the growth of the game at home by inspiring juniors and attracting media attention.
South African fans now cheer just as passionately for “our ladies” in the majors or the Solheim Cup as they long have for the Gary Players and Ernie Els of the men’s game. The narrative has shifted from novelty to expectation: South African women can be champions, and they are building legacies that generations to come will celebrate.
Breaking Barriers and Broadening Access
While trophies and tours tell one side of the story, equally important is how women’s golf in South Africa has evolved culturally and socially. It truly has been about breaking barriers – not just for elite players but for everyday girls and women who love the game. One of the most significant shifts has been the focus on gender equity.
For decades, female golfers operated in the shadow of the men, in pay, in coverage, and in perceived prestige. The performance gap, however, was practically non existent. (In fact, in 2019 the leading male pro golfer’s average score was 69.05 and the leading female pro’s was 69.06, virtually identical.) Yet prize funds and sponsorship for women lagged far behind. This inequity spurred a global groundswell for change, and South Africa has joined the movement.
There is a concerted push to raise pay and exposure for female golfers, driven by both players and forward-thinking sponsors. As one local pro, Lejan Lewthwaite, highlighted, the big challenges for women pursuing golf are “insufficient opportunities to play at an international level and financial constraints” , especially the high cost of travel from South Africa.
Initiatives like the Investec South African Women’s Open, which now offers an LET winner’s exemption and two major championship entries to the champion, directly tackle those challenges. Slowly but surely, purses have grown and the gap is narrowing. There’s a recognition that if women are given equal stage, they deliver equal excitement.
And with each successful tournament and TV broadcast, it becomes harder to argue otherwise. Media representation has also improved, though it remains a work in progress. In earlier years, it was rare to see women’s golf results in the sports pages, and TV coverage was minimal.
That’s changing: local sports networks now routinely cover Sunshine Ladies Tour events, and news outlets celebrate the wins of Buhai, Pace, and others. Social media has played a role too, allowing female golfers to build their own followings and tell their stories directly to fans. Still, as Sally Little observed, “in a sport dominated by men, women’s golf has a long history of determined women battling it out… whilst also fighting to gain acceptance and respect”.
Old attitudes don’t vanish overnight. But today’s female golfers are far more visible and respected in South Africa than those of generations past. When Ashleigh Buhai won her major, the country’s President and Sports Minister publicly congratulated her, a sign that the achievements of women athletes are finally being placed on equal footing with men’s, at least in the national conversation.
Young South African women golfers celebrate a victory on the international stage, embodying the legacy of those who paved the way. Perhaps the most heartening development is the explosion of grassroots programs and efforts to make golf accessible to all girls and women. Where once golf was seen as an elite pastime (and largely a white, male preserve), today numerous initiatives are actively inviting girls from every community to pick up clubs.
Over the last decade or so, Golf RSA (the unified body for amateur golf) together with the provincial unions and the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) have run a hugely successful girls’ development programme. There is now a country-wide network of coaching clinics and junior academies where any young girl interested in golf can receive free coaching and use equipment at no cost.
These coaching hubs are set up at schools, driving ranges, and local clubs across urban and rural areas, lowering the barrier to entry that cost used to represent. Through this program, a girl with talent and dedication can start from zero, even with no family golf background, and progress to obtaining an official handicap and playing in junior tournaments.
Importantly, the program is funded by a nominal development levy that every affiliated golfer in South Africa contributes, meaning the entire golf community is collectively investing in the next generation. It truly “takes a village,” and in South Africa that village has mobilized to nurture female golfers from the ground up.
We see the impact of these efforts in the diversity of young players coming up. At junior tournaments now, one encounters girls of all races, some from affluent golf families and others from townships, all brought together by a shared love of the game. Take Rebone “Bella” Modisha, for example: in 2017 she became the first black woman in Southern Africa to earn her PGA professional certification.
Bella didn’t stop there; she founded her own golf academy and runs a development programme for girls in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, one of the country’s historically disadvantaged communities. Her story is a beacon for inclusivity: she is opening doors for girls who never dreamed of strolling a golf course, much less making a career in the sport.
Likewise, the Duma sisters, Siviwe and Yolanda, made history as South Africa’s first Black women touring professionals. Hailing from Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, they only turned pro in their late 20s after starting golf as adults, a testament to perseverance. With no fancy golf lineage or big sponsors, they have crowdfunded their journeys and steadily improved on the Sunshine Tour. “They are the role models for future black women pro golfers. 'They exist for black girls in golf to know they also can one day be pro,” noted one sportswriter about the Duma sisters’ pioneering significance. The sisters themselves acknowledge the hardships, “our parents were oppressed by apartheid; we have no generational inheritance to rely on”, yet their passion keeps them striving.
By simply competing as professionals, they have already shattered a glass ceiling and ensured that those coming after will have an easier path. All these strides in access and equity paint a picture of a sport slowly shedding its old barriers. Challenges remain, of course. Women golfers still hustle for sponsorships; many promising players have had to pause or abandon pro ambitions for lack of funding, a point veteran pros frequently lament.
Culturally, golf must continue to shake off the perception of being exclusive, it needs to feel welcoming to women of all backgrounds, skill levels, and ages. But with each new program that introduces schoolgirls to golf, each corporate sponsor that chooses to back a women’s event, and each media story that celebrates a female champion, the scales tip further towards equality.
The conversation has fundamentally changed: it’s no longer “should we invest in women’s golf?” but “how far can we take women’s golf?”. And the answer appears to be: as far as South Africa’s talented, determined women want to take it.
A Legacy of Champions and a Bright Future
From the first tentative swings by hardy women on Cape courses in the 1880's to major championship glory on storied links in Scotland, the journey of South African women’s golf has been extraordinary. It is a story of resilience, passion, and progress, written by generations of women who dared to dream and to defy convention. Each era built upon the last. The early club pioneers gave women a toe-hold in a male arena.
The mid-century competitors kept the flame alive under trying circumstances. The Sally Little era showed that a South African woman could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s best. The post-apartheid generation worked to democratize the game and produced home-grown champions. And the current wave has stormed onto the global stage, winning majors and inspiring a nation.
Today, when a girl in South Africa picks up a golf club for the first time, she does so in a far more encouraging environment than her predecessors. She can idolize hometown heroines like Ashleigh Buhai or Lee-Anne Pace who have proved that “legacy” in golf isn’t just the domain of men. She might attend a coaching clinic funded by fellow South African women golfers who preceded her.
She’ll find that many golf clubs now actively welcome women and girls, eager to grow the game as a family sport. If she shows talent, there are development squads, junior tours, and college scholarships that can propel her forward. And most importantly, she’ll know that the barriers are meant to be broken. The narrative around women’s golf in South Africa is now one of celebration and possibility: celebrating the legends who brought us here, and embracing the possibilities for those still to come.
The legacy being built is about more than trophies. It’s in the way golf is increasingly seen as a sport for everyone, girls and boys, rich and poor, all races and regions. It’s in the confidence and leadership skills that so many girls are gaining through golf, whether or not they become pros. It’s in the smiles on the faces of the first all-female foursome at a once “men-only” club, or the cheers for a women’s event drawing a big gallery. Each of these is a brick in the foundation that the trailblazers have laid.
Looking ahead, the trajectory is undeniably upward. South Africa’s pipeline of female talent is strong, and the support structures are improving every year. We will likely see more South African women contending in majors, more home events with world-class fields, and more girls from all walks of life falling in love with this beautiful game. The challenges that remain, be it achieving full parity in pay, or ensuring long-term sponsorship stability, are real, but the collective will to overcome them has never been stronger.
In the end, the rise of women’s golf in South Africa is a triumph of perseverance. It’s about women who refused to be relegated to the clubhouse lounge and instead built their own legacy on the fairways. It’s about generations lifting each other up: each new success stands on the shoulders of prior struggles.
As we celebrate how far things have come, from breaking down old barriers to building new legacies, we are reminded that sport can be a powerful catalyst for change. South African women’s golf is still rising, and its story is far from finished. With every drive and every putt holed by a woman golfer, another crack forms in the glass ceiling, and the view of what’s possible gets a little wider. The future, much like a sunny morning on the first tee, looks incredibly bright.
Tee Off in Tranquility at Potchefstroom’s Landbou Golf Club
Nestled in the heart of Potchefstroom, Landbou Golf Club has been a cherished destination for golf enthusiasts and social gatherings since its establishment in 1988. This scenic 18-hole course caters to both casual players and seasoned pros, offering a well-maintained layout that is both challenging and enjoyable.
Open daily, the club hosts regular tournaments and events, fostering a strong sense of community among its members. Beyond the greens, the welcoming clubhouse features a bar, restaurant, and braai facilities, making it an ideal spot to relax and socialise after a round.
Whether you're looking to improve your game, enjoy good food, or connect with fellow golfers, Landbou Golf Club offers a comprehensive and inviting experience for all.
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