I can’t ever recall being labelled a feminist, but I am a pragmatist, so I’m nailing my colours firmly to the ladies’ golfing mast. I do realise, in certain circles, it’s de rigueur to show oneself as a supporter of women’s golf, but this is not virtue signalling; as I say, I’m a pragmatist, so there’s a commercial consideration for the golf industry.

I’m lucky that my wife wishes to learn to play so we can spend time together on the fairways in our dotage. She began a few years ago on the back of the love.golf programme, and her club, like mine, has a dedicated nine-hole course. Yet, while there are many well-intentioned initiatives to encourage more women to play, the lack of dedicated nine-hole courses – particularly in mainland Europe – risks wasting any impetus these programmes generate.

I do realise that many women play 18-holes, but from what I’ve seen and heard myself, there are many in the formative stage of their game who would prefer to hone their skills on a shorter set-up. I can hear some of you now, saying ‘many 18-hole courses are built in two loops of nine’, which is true. But you don’t think I just write this off the cuff, do you?

I have prepared an argument against that – and it’s a perfectly valid one: if either loop is designed with long carries over water, or 575-yard par fives, then you may as well throw your marketing money down the drain, as many ladies simply won’t play at your course. And if that’s the case, even well-intentioned programmes will, ultimately, be seen, however harshly, as mere lip service.

What’s more, it can hit the club in the corporate pocket, as data indicates women spend more off-course than men.

Syngenta’s 2006 report, The Global Economic Value of Increased Female Participation in Golf suggested as much. The data showed women were 38 per cent more likely than men to bring their children to golf, which, when applied in financial terms, means the value of a woman with one child is worth more annually that that of a male golfer. Women spend more on golf lessons per capita, too.

And, when it comes to recruiting beginners, 36 per cent of non-golfing females reported the option to play nine holes, rather than the traditional 18, would encourage them to play. Of women who had tried the sport on two or three occasions, 26 per cent cited the time the game takes as the reason for not continuing.

And time pressures aren’t limited only to females: work pressures and family demands affect both genders in the modern world. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? That report is from 2006! But what’s changed?

I appreciate not every club is lucky enough to have sufficient land – or spare capital – to build a specific nine-hole course (though if you do it’s surely worth undertaking …), but merely putting in an extra set of forward tee boxes on an existing course will make a difference; not just to female golfers but to your own number-crunchers.

Plus, it might stop my wife blaming me for the fact she can’t find nine-hole courses to play when we’re abroad.