June Cullen and fellow golf women fight Federal Golf Club course reconfiguration

She is 79 years of age, with cancer, and she is currently very annoyed at the club which she is accusing of discriminating against women. "Enraged" is her word.

"I want to be treated like an adult," she says. "That's why I'm up on my hind legs fighting this."

The "this" she is talking about is the decision to reconfigure the 18 hole golf course by splitting it into 10 holes and eight holes.

This means that nine-hole competitions will be difficult to impossible - and she says the vast majority of people who play in nine-hole competitions are women.

The Federal Golf Club strongly denies any suggestion that it is discriminating against its older women members.

But two or three times a week, the ladies play the formal, organised nine-holer competitions which give a bit of edge to the golf, much more so than relaxed, barely competitive "hit and giggle" rounds.

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The angry golfer thinks the changes are part of a move to marginalise golf for older women.

"We are just being treated like dead wood," she says.

"It's not the way to treat your elders and your sick.

"People like me need that form of exercise but, more importantly, it's the social cohesion and it's a place to go."

So angry is she that she is talking about going to the Human Rights Commission which investigates cases of discrimination.

Her anger has been sparked by the reconfiguration of the course brought about by the club's redevelopment to build a "retirement village" on the grounds to get extra revenue.

Under the new shape, there will be eight holes before the club house and 10 holes after it.

Club president Richard Bialkowski said this meant that nine-hole competitions would not be safe because the ninth hole after the club house would be the final hole of the 18-hole course - nine-holers would face the oncoming balls of the 18-holers.

He accepted that the change would affect women far more than men but said this was "unfortunate" but not discriminatory.

"It's not an action against women," he said.

"It's deeply regrettable that the bulk of those members are women but all members are affected to varying degrees."

Construction of the retirement village is due to start at the beginning of 2024 and last for 12 months.

Mr Bialkowski said there would be a rethink after the construction was complete. It may be that eight-hole or 10-hole competitions could be held.

That doesn't wash with June Cullen.

Under the regulations of the game, she said, nine-hole competitions were officially recognised by the governing body - two nine-hole competitions counted towards a player's handicap rating. Eight holes or 10 holes didn't.

She thinks the board of eight men and one woman was quietly trying to push inconvenient nine-holers out.

"I feel that we are being booted out clandestinely," she said.

She and her friends - comrades in golf - were two old or frail to play 18 holes. She said that would take four hours but nine holes suited them.

"The current club board has seen fit to summarily and clandestinely remove this category without consulting the membership," she said, "attempting to disenfranchise them first to render them powerless".

"This has caused great distress within the group. The board has forgotten who it is supposed to be ministering to.

"It has become a distressing feature of modern times to use [and] abuse power in this way.

"It is so easy to break up and destroy a functioning community of people for short-term gain, virtually impossible to restore it when scattered. Shape up, Federal board. Communicate and find an innovative solution."

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