The ban on women at Tehran's lone golf course proved superfluous for two decades after the Islamic revolution, due to one simple fact: women found it virtually impossible to swing a club while enveloped in yards of billowing cloth.

But with the ban lifted and dress laws eased in recent years to allow minimalist head scarves and body-hugging tunics, Iranian women have begun venturing onto the fairways. Don't imagine, however, that golf here exactly matches the game elsewhere.