Alison Chestnutt makes history becoming the North’s first female Club Captain

DUNGANNON Golf Club have made history by appointing the first ever female Club Captain of an all-gender club in Ireland.

At last night’s Annual General Meeting, Dungannon Golf Club appointed Alison Chestnutt as Captain.

Alison said, “I am absolutely delighted to become Captain of Dungannon Golf Club. Whilst it’s a club with an illustrious past, it’s also a progressive forward-thinking club.”

Until recently most clubs did not allow women to become full members, denying them a say in the running of the club, however Dungannon was one of the first clubs to restructure its membership categories, giving men and women equal standing.

Alison said, “When people think of golf clubs they conjure up images of stuffy gentlemen in clubs with lots of rules but I’m proud to say that Dungannon Golf Club is nothing like that!”

Changes have been incremental at the County Tyrone club since full membership was offered to women in 2006. They appointed Lorraine Wilson as President in 2019, becoming one of the first clubs in the Province to have a woman in this role.

Last year the club signed up to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and Golf Ireland’s “Women in Golf Charter” and ran a very popular ‘Get into Golf Programme’ for women of all ages during the summer. As a result  20 women joined the club. Last year the club took the bold step of offering girls-only classes and they were delighted with the response.

Alison explained how she is not from a golfing family. “I only took up the sport when I started teaching in the Royal School Dungannon and my colleagues lent me clubs and taught me how to play. I joined the club in 2000 and, yes, it was daunting at the beginning, playing with people I didn’t know, but I soon realised that the women were very friendly and encouraging and they made me feel part of the club very quickly. Since then I have made many life-long friends through golf.”

Dungannon Golf Club is a founder member of the Golfing Union of Ireland and has a proud history, from the first Irish Amateur Champion to the Open Champion, Darren Clarke in 2011, and it also won the Northern Ireland Hospitality Award for “Best Golf Club” in 2019.