It only takes a few seconds of speaking with Hannah Arnold to realize she brings good vibes wherever she goes. 

Arnold is a professional golfer with a big dream: to someday compete on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. She’s been playing since she was five-years-old, and said she was inspired by her parents, who first introduced her to the golf course.

“I basically just became a country club kid and never left,” she told IW Features.

Because of her passion for the sport, Arnold knows how much time and sacrifice goes into competing in women’s professional golf. And now she feels a sense of duty to make sure other female golfers feel supported. 

“Being a female athlete to me is more than just the sport we play. It’s about the camaraderie between the athletes,” Arnold said. “I have a lot of – I call them my sisters – on the tours, no matter where I’m at.”

Arnold encourages young female athletes to be their authentic selves and to give back and grow their sport in their own ways – and she leads by example. After the 2023 season, the Epson Tour honored Arnold with the Heather Wilbur Spirit Award for best exemplifying dedication, courage, perseverance, and love of the game. 

In the award announcement, the tour wrote of Arnold: 

The support Arnold shows for the people around her is unmatched. The willingness to go out of her way to help her peers has no limits, even if it is driving halfway across the country to caddy for her friends … The spirit Arnold shows week in and week out on the Epson Tour is unrivaled, making the tour and the game of golf better when she is around.

Each year, players are selected to “graduate” from the Epson Tour to the LPGA Tour. Unfortunately, Arnold anticipates an increasingly uphill climb for herself and her “sisters” in the coming years, given the LPGA’s standing policies allowing trans-identifying male golfers to compete in women’s events if they have undergone hormone therapy and “gender-reassignment” surgery.

“I don’t think they realized the social contagion it would be,” Arnold said of the policy. “And I think they just might’ve made a decision there and didn’t really think anything of it. But now I think it’s a huge decision and it definitely weighs bigger now than it did then.”

In August, more than 275 female golfers, including Arnold, sent a letter to the LPGA urging the organization to end its policies allowing biological males to compete against women. Arnold said that golfers make as much as a four to five thousand dollar investment just to participate in the LPGA’s Qualifying School alone –– so withdrawing in protest of the gender policies would not only impact each golfer financially, but could also forfeit their chance to get a tour card for the next season.

“Why should women walk away and not compete because of a male competitor? Why should we limit our own opportunities to make a statement that has been falling on deaf ears so far?” Arnold said.

But the tides may turn, as the LPGA is set to release new guidance on transgender athletes next month.

Arnold has also partnered with Independent Women’s Forum as an ambassador to shine a light on this issue and keep women’s golf female.

“For me personally, I just want to do everything that I can to make sure that women have the right to compete against women,” Arnold said. “Title IX was 50 years ago, and I think it is our duty to keep carrying the torch for them. And I would really enjoy being the person or inspiring other people to do the same.”