Playing From The Ladies’ Tees

The following story recently appeared in an Australian Newspaper… Transgendered Golfer Makes History… A transgendered woman will make golfing history next month when she tees up for the Australian Women's Open. Never before has a transgendered woman played in a professional women's tournament.

"It's a dream for me -- I've been playing golf since I was eight, but I turned professional only in August last year. So, it's been a long time coming," said 37-year-old Mianne Bagger.

Bagger admitted that while most women on the golf course accepted her sex-change operation, some still found it hard to come to terms with.

"I have made a lot of great girlfriends through golf, but there are some women who find me hard to accept," Bagger said.

"To most people, I am just another one of the girls out there playing."

She said she went through two years of hormone replacement therapy before surgery in 1995.

"There seems to be a misconception in society that one day we (transsexuals) just wake up and think, 'I'm going to have a sex-change today'," she said. "I have always known there was something different about me since I was young -- we are born this way."
A Women's Golf Australia spokesperson said the WGA welcomes Bagger in the tournament and has been following her progress since the 1990s when it formed a policy to allow her to play in, and win, the South Australia amateur championship.
"Mianne has been playing for years in our amateur tournaments where we have no rules against trans-gender players," the spokeswoman said. "There is no reason why she should not continue her golfing career in the professional tournament."

Bagger said she one day hoped to move on from being seen as "the transsexual" golfer.

"My sexuality is just one of the obstacles I am going to have to face," she said. "What people have to realize is that plenty of men and women out there are transsexuals.”

Which begs the question, how many is “plenty”? As a semi-old, white, southern guy I’m not sure what to think of Mianne Bagger. I know so little about the subject that I don’t even know the right questions to ask. I assume that Mianne is not simply trying to find a way to play from the front tees, but frankly anyone who would be crazy enough to have their privates cut off, is also crazy enough want to play from the front tees. Is that insensitive? Sure. Inaccurate? Who knows?

For Mianne sake, I can only hope that she did her homework because history has proven that transgender athletes haven’t done all that well in competition. At least that’s the case for the most famous transgender athlete that I can remember, Renée Richards. In 1975, at the age of forty, Richard Raskind, a renowned eye surgeon and highly ranked amateur tennis player, "died," (so to speak) and Renée Richards was "born," (more or less) in what became the most public and highly scrutinized sex reassignment to date.

Granted, Dr. Renee’ Richards was already forty years old when she/he its began his/her its tennis career, and to most people’s surprise, the six-foot tall, 170 pounds good Doctor wasn’t able to dominate the real ladies. It seems the hormone replacement therapy that is required for changing a person’s sex actually does make you a bit of a wussie… not that there is anything wrong with that.

That started me thinking, which PGA star would make the best female golfer? Would it be the Tigress, or Phillis, or perhaps even K.J. Choi for those who prefer something more exotic? Certainly, Tigress would be the one with the best body and Phillis would be the one with the biggest boobs. One things for sure, it could never be Bubba Watson, or Jason Gore or John Daly because no one wants to look at any one of those guys in those little shorts.

For now, let agree that everyone should keep their own bodies parts and play from the appropriate tees. But, like Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) of Wayne’s World might have said, “Did you ever look at Adam Scott or Trevor Immelman and wonder what they would look like in a dress? Neither did I.”