History made as golf club appoints woman as captain for the first time
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HAZEL Clark hopes becoming the first woman to be captain at Nairn Dunbar Golf Club will encourage more women to take up the sport in the region.
Clark has become the first female captain of the golf club as it celebrates its 125th anniversary and is also hosting the Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship which begins on Friday.
The 65-year-old chief executive officer at Cantraybridge College, becomes the 33rd captain of Nairn Dunbar Golf Club since it was established in 1899.
She says it is a huge honour to become the first woman to be named captain at the club and hopes it will inspire more women to take up golf.
Speaking about her appointment as club captain, she said: “It was a bit daunting at first to be named captain. But I feel so privileged and honoured to be asked to do this. It is a great opportunity to encourage more women into golf.
“If women can look and see there is a female captain, then maybe that will break some barriers.
“I was approached as I was playing with the lady captain Alex Fraser and I was asked if I would be interested.
“Alex knew my background of where I was working. A lot about running a golf club is about running a business. Golf is a primary reason, but you need to know about finances and managing people.
“I hope that women can see not just about getting into the game, but there are opportunities to become involved in the committee and taking over a bigger role. Golf for a long time was seen as a male orientated organisation.
“The more women see there are more clubs taking on female captains, it will encourage more women into golf and also encourage women to take a more active role in running golf club.”
Clark didn’t take up golf until she turned 50 but soon got the swing of it and it has played a big part of her life ever since.
She has a handicap of 22 and also plays in competitions.
As captain, she hopes that she helps increase the membership overall at the club.
“I would like to increase the membership at the golf club, as like most golf clubs, we are losing members due to cost of living crisis and people’s changing habits.
“I want to promote the club as much as I can and make as many improvements to the club as I can.
“But I definitely want to encourage more women to take up the game of golf.”
