REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN SATURDAY MAY 1, 2004

FIVE angry women were teeing up for a major shot at their local golf club.

They said they were not getting a fair drive down the fairways.

The women lodged a complaint with the Anti Discrimination Board against the Arundel Hills Country Club.

Their stand-off with the club started after the women were banned from playing at the club on Wednesdays after 3.30pm.

They were later told that Wednesdays would be men’s championship days.

But as full-paying members, who paid the same membership fees as the men, the women said they were entitled to equal access to the golf course.

Men were also told they could not play on Thursdays before 11am but the women said that rule was rarely enforced.

They demanded a retraction of the ruling and an apology.

The women, Nola Nash, Kate McMahon, Geraldine Porteous, Jill Reynolds and Trish Isaac, say they wouldn’t back down.

“We’re furious,” Mrs Nash said. “We’re absolutely disgusted we’re still being treated like second-class citizens and that this is happening in 2004.”

A club spokesman issued a brief statement.

“The club has received a submission from the AntiDiscrimination Commission on behalf of the ladies, which it is currently looking into,” said the spokesman.

The women were just as angry at the way the club has handled the issue.

“We knew nothing about the changes until we heard by word of mouth that our names had been wiped off the sheet to play on Wednesday,” Mrs Nash said.