Amy Hamm: Biological males dominating in women’s golf in B.C and Alberta 

Biological males in Alberta and B.C. are winning winning women's golf tournaments, a result of policies that ignore basic biology, argues Amy Hamm. Photo by Stuart Franklin /Getty Images

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Thirty years ago, women’s golf was scandalized when CBS sports commentator Ben Wright allegedly claimed that women were “handicapped” by virtue of having breasts, which, he stupidly claimed, would “get in the way” of their golf swings.

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At the time, many offered a low-hanging retort to Wright: that male anatomy should, by his logic, prevent men from being effective runners. The world had a laugh, and women’s golf emerged unscathed. (While Wright ultimately lost his job over this, plus other offensive comments.)

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Considering what scandalizes women’s golf in 2026, one can fondly recall the Wright incident as a quaint scuffle that preceded the real battle of the sexes in sports: namely, the invasion of the female category by biological males.

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Addressing detractors after the recent golf wins, one of Ivy’s social media posts from last month reads: “To the bigots: stay mad, and get a better hobby. You’re deeply unwell and you’re obsessed with harassing a stranger. You’re not going to make me stop existing and succeeding. I feel really sorry for you. You have my pity.”

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Ivy and Esler are only partly to blame for their unfair wins. They were enabled by a 2025 Alberta Golf policy change that allows golfers to compete in the category corresponding with their professed gender, rather than their sex.

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The policy stipulates that adult males “who have undergone gender reassignment after puberty” can compete as women after one year of hormone therapy, with medical documentation. Females, by contrast, can begin to compete in the men’s category at any point after providing medical documentation. Finally, “(a)ny transgender Golfer who is not taking hormone treatment related to gender reassignment may participate in sex-separated events in accordance with their assigned birth gender,” the policy reads.

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By virtue of creating different rules for males and females who identify as trans, including those who’ve not taken hormones, Alberta Golf has conceded that there are biological differences in sport performance between the sexes. Despite the attempt at nuanced rules, their policy does not mitigate biology — and is still grossly unfair to women. There is a reason that not a single female-to-male transgender athlete has ever dominated in male sports. That reason is obvious to anyone who practices intellectual honesty.