Eighteen years have passed since the Stanley Golf Club on the north-west coast of Tasmania ran a women’s competition. But the good news is that it’s changing, and quickly.

It is not as though the hiatus happened by some misogynist decree; rather, it evolved that way. As current women’s coordinator Penny Long says: “There was a generation gap,” said Long. “All the older generation played golf, and then the next generation wasn’t really interested in golf.”

Even two years ago, Stanley’s 60 members did not include a woman or a girl.

The club has a nine-hole volunteer-run course with views of Bass Strait and a distinctive backdrop with The Nut (a dormant volcano that towers over the little town). Stanley GC has been around since 1909, but it had become effectively a men’s organisation.

Penny Long, who took a job working behind the bar in the clubhouse four years ago, has been at the forefront of a transformation in the past two years.

“I noticed it from working there, there were no women,” she said. “Then my husband (Isaac) started golf again and about six months ago I went with him, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I love this sport’! It’s really fun.”

Long, who thought the club was “stuck in the 50s”, decided to run a women’s day at the club and was encouraged to see that 15 turned up.

Then she ran another one. The barriers had come down.

“Now we’re on to the next generation, which is the women who are playing there now. They’re happy to get out there, their husbands are doing it so ‘why can’t we do it too’?”

Under Long’s stewardship Stanley has signed up five women as social members and eight as full members. The numbers are not big and the change is overdue, but in a club with 60 members, it is a strong injection of good faith and community spirit.

There is no women’s competition yet – although Long and others have played a few men’s competitions. But they anticipate that the women who have started up will be ready to play ‘comp’ by the end of the year.

Long can hardly wait. “A lot of the women feel like golf is male orientated, they didn’t feel like women could play golf until they got out and tried and they thought ‘women can do this, too’. It’s a stigma that has been around for a while. We want to change that.”

The club’s management is on board.

It a town with a population of just more than 500, they can’t afford to target only 50 percent of the population.

“We fully support it,” said club President Tom Glynn. “There wouldn’t be one person who didn’t support the idea of what Penny’s doing.

“It takes time. It’s incremental. Sell some land, smarten up the clubhouse, bring in a pro, get someone like Penny and break down that chauvinism or whatever it is.”

Stanley has broader plans, too. Glynn wants to refurbish the clubhouse to make it more welcoming, and to get the community involved in the golf club. Down the track he would like to build stay-and-play villas on-course.

“The future is youth, women in our particular situation, and the game itself, making it not quite as onerous as 18 holes and five hours,” he said. “I continually refer to the golf club as the community club. It’s mum and dad and all the kids. One of the things we can do is play golf, there’ll be other activities.

Golf Australia’s Participation Officer – Tasmania, Damon Burley, praised the work of the club.

“Stanley Golf Club have demonstrated that, no matter your starting position, positive change is possible when you combine the unbridled enthusiasm of members with unwavering support from management,” he said.

“Any club is a better place when it is a true representation of the community that it serves and although there is still work to be done, everyone involved needs to be congratulated on their incredible efforts so far. There is a renewed energy about the place, and we are really excited the journey the club is on.”

Information about Stanley Golf Club