We’re in the midst of an important time for women’s golf. According to a National Golf Foundation study, about 7 million women played golf on a golf course in 2023. That many women haven’t been on-course since before the economic collapse in 2007. Since 2019, the net number of female golfers has gone up 25 percent. This post-pandemic women’s golf boom is exciting. But it begs the question: Will all of these new female golfers keep playing golf in the long term? Of course, we hope that answer is “yes.”
And there’s a trend in state golf associations that could be key in keeping more women engaged with the game.
A role – it has different names by state but is generally director of women’s golf – is being implemented and expanded at golf associations throughout the country. The role’s purpose is to have one person solely focused on women’s tournaments and programs. And importantly, women are being hired into these roles.
Sidney Overman is the manager of women’s competitions and programs for the Chicago District Golf Association. She’s the first person to hold the role and started in September 2023. She was interviewing for a different job within the CDGA, but when her interviewer heard her passion for women’s golf, the role was created for her.
“I think the biggest thing is trying to figure out what women golfers are really looking for,” Overman said.
There’s only one way to accomplish that: Overman is talking to women who play golf.
“I came to this job wanting to do focus groups and really hear from women golfers,” Overman said. “I think my role is filling the gap of just having that point person to spearhead these initiatives.”
This idea of having a point person for women’s golf at the state level is something others in roles similar to Overman’s talked about.
“Having a direct line to the players is huge, especially in the women’s game,” said Ryanne Haddow, the director of women’s golf for the Florida State Golf Association. (Florida has had a director of women’s golf position for several years, though Haddow is new to the position.) “Having somebody that’s tailored to the women’s side specifically, you get to listen to the players. You get to hear what they like and what they don’t like.”
It can be anything from what they want as tee gifts, to what types of events they want to see. The line of communication is clear, and the players are appreciative of that.
“If you don’t really have those specialized roles, I think sometimes you kind of get ping-ponged around potentially to different people. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but it’s nice just having that singular point person to really just help them out and see what they need,” Haddow said.
One of the key questions the directors of women’s golf are looking to answer is: Everyone has competing priorities. How can we make it easy for them to choose golf?
It’s a complicated job, because the variety of female golfers is wide. You have junior golfers who are either learning the game through youth clinics or competing in the championships. You have women 21-49 who are juggling careers and families. And then there is the senior group, which includes women who are retired and others who are not.
The juniors are probably the easiest group to manage.
“The younger generation of women golfers or junior golfers are enthusiastic; they’re engaged; they want to play,” said Holly Noble, the women’s golf manager for the Minnesota Golf Association. “So, it’s finding those opportunities for them as well and recognizing that’s going to continue to trickle up into our mid-amateurs and then into the seniors.”
An interesting quandary appears in the senior group, with some of the women still following the hours of a workweek and others being retired. If events are during the week, women who are working might not be able to take the time off to play. If hosting on the weekend, courses might not have the time to give.
“How do we create championship-level golf that is accessible and available to the populations that are willing to play, and then how do we grow it in the state as well?” Noble said in framing the challenge.
Within that group, there also are less competitive players who aren’t interested in stroke-play championships. Haddow has found net events to be hugely popular, allowing more accessibility to a wider range of players.
More perplexing than how to serve the seniors, however, is the mid-am group.
“That one demographic has eluded us all,” the FSGA’s Haddow said.
“It seems that women don’t find the time to take time off, or they don’t feel they can,” the CDGA’s Overman said. “So, it’s really trying to figure out ‘what can I do’ and create events maybe after work or just for a couple of hours, not a whole day of playing 18 holes.”
It can be hard for mid-am women to find the time to get to the golf course themselves, let alone with other female players of a similar age. The challenge has been to create events that are a smaller time commitment than an 18-hole round, played at a convenient time of day, and fun for a range of abilities.
Haddow has run LinkUp events for 21-49-year-olds, with players paying a small fee to get a beverage, engage in either a clinic or play a nine-hole scramble, and earn prizes. It’s a relatively small time commitment in a casual environment, taking place after work. She has run six of them and saw enough success to do another six this fall.
“We’re trying to get them engaged and out and break that stigma around going to the golf course and just have a lot of fun and get to meet new people in their area the same age trying to have similar interests,” Haddow said.
The question of how to engage more women in golf won’t be answered overnight. But in this moment in golf, with well-funded director of women’s golf roles and motivated women inhabiting them, there is intention.
“Everyone’s been focusing on men’s golf since it started,” Overman said. “There’s so many more men that play golf, at least that we know about. And so, the focus always goes there, and then women’s golf is kind of an afterthought.”
Now, women’s golf is the priority for people in positions of power at the state level. And that is how real growth can happen.