The first female captain of R&A at St Andrews is focused on bringing the sport to more people

They don’t call it the Home of Golf for nothing. St Andrews exudes tradition, some of which may seem a little entrenched. The Scottish club – arguably the most famous in the world and home of the Royal and Ancient (R&A) – has not always been quick to move with the times.

As recently as 2014, the R&A – the governing body for the sport outside of the US – had no women members. It is only in the last 10 years that women’s changing facilities were included inside the main clubhouse at St Andrews.

For these reasons and more, the appointment of Claire Dowling as the first woman to captain the club in its 272-year history is a landmark one.

The Dubliner is one of the most decorated golfers in Irish amateur history. Her drive-in off the first at the Old Course last month kicked off a busy year as captain that includes the Open Championship at St Andrews next July.

The R&A body broke with the R&A Club of St Andrews in 2004, but the two remain closely connected. Dowling’s role is a prestigious one that is ambassadorial at its core. Her job is to promote the game at home and abroad. She is the fourth Irish person to be captain of the club after Joe Carr, Harry McCaw and Gavin Caldwell, but it is her appointment that has gained the most attention.

“When I started to play golf, women were not committed to be full members of golf clubs. They were associate members,” says Dowling, who is now 68. “You weren’t allowed at the bar. Things have changed dramatically.

“It has evolved slowly over a period of time, I think it’s been a very good and natural evolution. This appointment is just another step in that journey. Other people seem to see it as being a really big thing. And if that’s the case, and if it encourages people to either get involved in playing or in the administration side, well that’s absolutely brilliant.

“Walking into that clubhouse [at St Andrews], the history and tradition, I feel so privileged when I walk in. And to be such a part of it in a totally equal way, it’s fantastic, having started golf back in the days when that just wasn’t possible.”

Dowling (née Hourihane) grew up in Monkstown and now lives with her husband in Devon, from where she travels to St Andrews regularly. As part of her busy schedule, she will be away for the next six weeks engaging with the membership of the R&A.

She will play golf, attend dinners and make speeches while representing the club and its new global strategy – “Opening Golf to the World” – which encourages people to play golf who might not have considered it before. Starting out in the sport can take various forms, from simulators to other, shorter forms of the game.

“It’s about engaging with different forms, not necessarily traditional golf as we know it, [but] anything that comes under the umbrella of golf,” says Dowling. “It’s about trying to encourage people to get involved and appreciate health benefits, the mental benefits – the fact you can play golf all your life from a very young age to old age.”

Dowling had her captain’s drive-in last month, which she describes as the “most scary thing I had done in my life”. The drive-in is a tradition going back hundreds of years. Hundreds of people gathered around the first tee to watch her drive to start her captaincy. It was accompanied by cannon fire. As per convention, the caddies of St Andrews chased after her drive and as captain, she bought the ball back with a gold sovereign.

Over the year, she will represent the club at the R&A’s various championships including presenting the Claret Jug to the Champion Golfer of the Year as St Andrews hosts The Open.

“The Old Course is just so special and it’s got so much tradition and history about it,” Dowling says. “Somebody was saying to me, even for a casual game, with nobody around, they were nervous. So there’s something terribly special about it, regardless of distance discussion and all the rest of it. It will always be a special venue for the Open.”

A member of Woodbrook Golf Club, Dowling’s father was a keen golfer and ran the John Jacobs Golf Centre, now Leopardstown Golf Centre, where she got roped into helping out.

“A few very good-looking lads used to come to the driving range regularly,” she recalls, adding that one of these lads helped foster her interest in the sport. ”We became great friends. He really sparked my interest and encouraged me to play. His name was Brian Carroll."

As she improved, her life revolved around playing golf and it was clear she had a big talent. She claimed five Irish championships in the 1980s, as well as premier titles in Britain and Spain.

Dowling trained in hotel and catering management and worked various jobs, from a role in RTÉ to a construction company. She was most at home, though, when she got a golf administration role at Wentworth. This was her “favourite job”, during a time in her life when she met her husband.

The outstanding moment of her golf career came in 1986 when she was a member of the first Curtis Cup GB&I team to beat the USA away from home at Prairie Dunes.

“The team dynamic was fantastic. It was 35-degree heat and the team and the captain, Diane Bailey, had done a huge amount of preparation to get ready. She had weighing scales in the locker room, weighed before and after every game and if we lost a certain amount of weight, we had to drink a supplement. We had a scientific approach that was probably a first.

“That has got to be an absolute standout week of my life, really.”

Dowling later had the honour of being Curtis Cup captain in 2000. Her team lost by a point and she says it was a “great experience, but not as good as winning”.

She subsequently enjoyed a notable career as a referee, officiating at several Open Championships. This included at Royal Portrush in 2019, where on the final day she says she had six rulings in 18 holes with Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.

Dowling says the most misunderstood rule in golf is how to take free relief using the nearest point of relief.

“Ninety-nine per cent of golfers choose to take relief at the nicest point of relief, not the nearest. Because the nearest is not always nice.”

In 2021 at Royal St George’s, herself and Peter became the first husband and wife to referee at The Open.

“Any Open I refereed, I managed to make sure I was never seen on television. At St George’s I’m putting my shoes on, ready to go out [when] somebody comes over and says ‘Peter’s on TV’. I think, ‘oh Christ, what’s he done?’.

“I go in and look at the television and he’s on the back of the first green with Rory McIlroy, whose ball has ended up behind a TV tower. First Open, first hole, first ruling and he’s giving TIO relief to McIlroy in front of a huge audience.”

Dowling says from the moment she joined the club, it has been enormously inclusive. She wants to encourage that around the world, to make golf as visible as possible and promoting inclusivity.

“From the day I joined, women are just equal members, can play in all of the competitions and matches. There are no women’s competitions, men’s competitions, women’s committees, men’s committees. It is a truly equal golf club, which is a fantastic thing to be able to showcase to the world, that it works, it works really well. It’s brilliant. I love it,” she says.

“I hope to do as good a job as I can possibly do. Both for the club and for the [R&A] companies. To make golf as visible as possible.

“I prefer being part of a team than being out there, full-on in the glare of attention. But this is an amazing opportunity and such an honour to be asked to do it. And I will just do it to the best of my ability, whatever happens.”