LPGA and USGA update gender policies, impacting some transgender golfers

Two golf governing bodies – the LPGA and the USGA – announced new guidelines Wednesday requiring golfers to be female at birth or to have transitioned pre-puberty to be eligible to compete in women’s events. Both policies will take effect in 2025.

Two golf governing bodies – the LPGA and the USGA – announced new guidelines Wednesday requiring golfers to be female at birth or to have transitioned pre-puberty to be eligible to compete in women’s events. Both policies will take effect in 2025. Athletes assigned female at birth are eligible to compete on the LPGA Tour, Epson Tour, Ladies European Tour and USGA championships and team events. Meanwhile, players assigned male at birth and who have gone through male puberty are not eligible. “Our policy is reflective of an extensive, science-based and inclusive approach,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan in a press release. “The policy represents our continued commitment to ensuring that all feel welcome within our organization, while preserving the fairness and competitive equity of our elite competitions.” In order to compete in LPGA events, transgender women must be able to prove that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond stage two on the Tanner scale, which the Cleveland Clinic says is a classification system healthcare providers use to track the development of secondary sex characteristics in children during puberty, or before the age 12, among other criteria – such as continuously maintaining the “concentration of testosterone in their serum below 2.5 nmol/L,” the LPGA stated in its policy. The USGA, the governing body of golf in the United States, also announced Wednesday that it would be implementing similar guidelines next year, namely that players can compete at women’s events only if they were assigned female at birth or have transitioned prior to going through male puberty. The USGA defines male puberty in the same terms as the LPGA.