WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, IW Features, the storytelling platform of Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), announced the release of Hannah Arnold’s female athlete story, highlighting her journey as a professional golfer competing for a highly coveted spot on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour and her work as an IWF ambassador speaking up for women and girls in sports. Arnold’s story is the latest in IW Features’ documentary series: “Tee Time: Keep Women’s Golf Female,” which features stories from female golfers who have been forced to share the course with and compete against male golfers in the women’s division.
In 2010, the LPGA changed its participation policy to allow trans-identified male golfers to participate in the women’s division — an effort the LPGA states will “assure fair competition for all members and participants.” According to the policy, men who self-identify as women and have undergone at least one year of hormone therapy and a gonadectomy — a surgical procedure to remove the male testes — are cleared by the LPGA in tournaments and eligible for membership open only to female athletes. For males who have surgery to remove the physical appearance and function of the penis and testes before puberty are not subject to the requirements.
The 2010 policy allows men to seek membership in LPGA Tour; Epson Tour, the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour; Ladies European Tour (LET); LET Access Series (LETAS), a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour; and LPGA Professionals.
Female athletes today face the consequences of the LPGA’s unfair and discriminatory policy. Hannah Arnold and hundreds of other female professional golfers were forced this year to compete against Hailey Davidson, a male golfer who identifies as a woman. Davidson advanced to the LPGA’s Qualifying Series this summer, earned Epson Tour status for 2025, and is now in the running for a spot on the LPGA Tour.
Arnold is one of many women driving an internal movement of professional golfers advocating to keep women’s golf female. “When the LPGA changed their policy about ten years ago, I don’t think they realized the social contagion it would be[come],” said Arnold. “[With] the 50 year anniversary of Title IX, I think it’s our duty to keep carrying the torch, and I would really enjoy inspiring other people to do the same.”
The LPGA is not the only organization undermining women’s right to fair competition on the golf course. The United States Golf Association (USGA) and International Golf Federation (IGF) also allow male golfers to compete in women’s events, despite the fact that male golfers have an estimated 30% performance advantage in driving distance compared to female golfers.
Allowing men to compete against women reverses years of progress enjoyed by female athletes since the passage of Title IX, and it also takes away from the safety and sisterhood that sex-based categories provide for female athletes. As Arnold put it, being a female athlete is “more than just the sport,” she said. “It’s also about the camaraderie between the athletes…bonds that last a lifetime.”
WATCH HANNAH ARNOLD’S “TEE TIME” STORY HERE.
Earlier this week, IW Features released the first two stories in its “Tee Time” series:
- Lauren Miller, who gained national attention after losing a first-place title at the 2024 NXXT Women’s Championship to Davidson, shares her story HERE.
- Dana Fall, a professional golfer who has competed on the LPGA and Epson Tour, is hoping to inspire other female golfers to join her in the fight to protect fair competition, sharing what being a golfer and living out her passion means to her HERE.
IW is leading the fight to keep women’s sports female, highlighting the harmful impacts of policies that allow men into women’s spaces, where they take away opportunities, privacy, and safety from female athletes.
Along with the “Tee Time” series, IW launched a global letter campaign that equips the public with a form to send personalized letters to the leadership of LPGA, USGA, and IGF to demand the establishment of policies that would guarantee women’s golf is for female athletes only.
VISIT: IWF.ORG/KEEPWOMENSGOLFFEMALE
This campaign follows a series of letters to the LPGA, USGA, and IGF, signed by hundreds of female professional golfers, including Hannah Arnold, Lauren Miller, and Dana Fall, that outline numerous golf-specific findings of male athletic advantage that cannot be mitigated with testosterone suppression. Supporters can join IW’s ambassadors and take action HERE to ask the LPGA, USGA and IGF to reinstate sex-based eligibility requirements.
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