The Wall Street Journal - Getting Women Into the Game
Accent on Tampa Bay - Women on Course Luncheon at Flemings

Getting Women Into the Game
With Participation Stalled, Groups Try New Initiatives; Finding ‘Mommy Time’

By John Paul Newport

Heidi Tobias, a spunky 37-year-old online consultant to small businesses and nonprofits, has had a longstanding interest in golf, primarily because so many people she knows play the game and love to talk about it. She had played field hockey and figured, “I can do this. I can bust into this old boys’ club.” So three years ago she signed up with a girlfriend (who unfortunately later had to bail) for a one-day, soup-to-nuts golf clinic, which included a set of clubs for her to keep.

She wasn’t daunted by being the only female in the clinic. “I’m used to hanging out with guys,” she said. “But I walked away saying, ‘Whoa! What did you say?’” Too much information, too quickly. Moreover, she didn’t know any other beginners, in particular female beginners, with whom to pursue the game further. Her only subsequent golf activity was a round with her fiancé during which, as a joke, she played a few holes with a sign pinned to her back that read, “Play through. She’s new.”

Steve Hebert for The Wall Street Journal Jay Kennedy teaches Pam Lueders in a bunker at Wednesday’s Women’s Golf Month event in Kansas City, Mo.

Last Friday, however, she and another girlfriend attended a more laid-back golf clinic for women, topped off by a wine tasting, that has rekindled her excitement about the game. “We had a great time. There wasn’t any big agenda except just to have fun and hit some balls and do a little networking.” She and several other women from the event have already arranged to take a series of follow-up lessons together.

The event was sponsored by Women On Course, a three-year-old organization that takes a subtly different approach to connecting women with golf than do more traditional programs. The emphasis is on what founder Donna Hoffman calls the “golf lifestyle” rather than on instruction or the benefits of using golf as a business tool. This orientation coincides with a growing recognition that the golf industry’s efforts to attract and retain women players have not been very successful. The number of female golfers has remained flat in recent years, around 23% of all golfers, while the percentage of rounds played by women over 18 has actually fallen, to 15% from 18% a few years ago, according to National Golf Foundation figures. (Rounds for girls have risen slightly.)

Nancy Berkley, a leading consultant and writer on women’s golf issues, believes the game has been pitching itself to women in the wrong way. “It’s a 99% male-dominated industry, to start with,” she said. “And the emphasis has always been on selling products, mostly to men, more than on marketing the game itself. You can’t scold the companies. It’s worked for their bottom lines, because most golfers are men. But if you want to attract more women players, golf has to deliver a message that resonates better with women.”

That message, in her view, would focus on golf’s health benefits and the sense of physical well-being it engenders, as well as on its social and emotional satisfactions. “Golf is such a great game for women. Nothing beats being outdoors with good friends on beautiful day. But women aren’t hearing that,” she said.

Ms. Berkley, a longtime devotee of the game and chairman of the golf committee at her club in Florida, recognizes that many women are competitive about golf in the way men more typically are. “But most women in my experience aren’t looking for intense competition in the two to four hours they may have free. They’re looking for something else, something that has more personal meaning.”

Ms. Hoffman, a 50-year-old former TV producer who lives near Washington, arrived at roughly the same place through personal experience. A self-described “single mom” golf widow in her first marriage, she got hooked on the game after taking a golf trip with her second husband, a three-handicapper. “A lot of women never consider golf because they don’t understand its benefits,” she said. They schedule lunch dates, join book clubs and go to yoga classes and job-related networking events because they enjoy the contact with other women and believe they are getting something substantive from the experiences. “But golf offers the same things, if they only knew it. The most important thing at our events is being with other women, not the golf itself. The golf is something for them to bond around and have fun together with and use to de-stress.”

Of the 55 women at last week’s Women on Course event, 14 were “never-ever” beginners who first received some basic information about the rules and etiquette of golf (importantly including advice on what to wear) and then a bit of instruction. “It’s way harder than it looks,” said Allison Queensborough, a 29-year-old working mother of two who was in the beginner’s group. “But the teachers were great. They took their time and when we went out to hit balls, I felt very comfortable. It was really fun.” So was the extended wine-and-cheese portion of the festivities afterward. Ms. Queensborough and some friends from the event plan on following up with lessons, probably twice a month. A year from now, she said, she hopes they will have improved enough to play occasional nine-hole rounds. “This is going to be something for me, Mommy time, away from the kids and my husband,” she said.

Steve Hebert for The Wall Street Journal Julie Scriven and her daughter and playing partner, Chelsea, 17.

The oldest women’s-golf group, the 18,000-member Executive Women’s Golf Association, is evolving in the same direction. As part of a rebranding this year, it changed its vision statement from “The premier force promoting women’s golf” to the more touchy-feely “Enriching the lives of women through the game of golf.” In 1991, when the EWGA got started, “the hot-button issue was, how can golf help women break through the glass ceiling? Now it’s more about, what are women getting from golf?” said Pam Swensen, the group’s chief executive.

Some EWGA chapters are huge (the largest has 900 members) and provide opportunities to compete all the way to an annual national tournament. But the bread-and-butter mission of the organization, Ms. Swensen said, is to “cultivate a warm, nurturing atmosphere for women to become engaged with golf” and to connect them with other women.

June, in case you missed the memo, is American Express Women’s Golf Month, an initiative co-sponsored by the EWGA, the PGA of America and other organizations. An online listing of golf facilities offering special, often-free introductory programs for women is available through playgolfamerica.com. Some sound terrific. The kickoff extravaganza Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo., drew 274 women; the lineup at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., includes cocktail receptions and pro-shop discounts. But other listings are so sparse as to be laughable, such as free 10-minute lessons between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., on Thursdays only, at a course in Denver. As if that’s really going to bring women into the game.

For all the golf industry’s good intentions, the biggest barrier now to women’s involvement is probably the same as it’s always been: the general sense of intimidation and outsider-ness that women experience at many, but by no means all, golf facilities. But that’s a topic for another column.

Women on Course Luncheon at Fleming's

Story and photos by Melissa Wolcott Martino
Accent on Tampa Bay

Women On Course held a fashion luncheon event recently at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Tampa, hosted by MassMutual Financial Group, and sponsored by Callaway Golf, Mirassou Wines, and Cabot Cheese. The WOC organization was created for women to engage in the golf lifestyle by highlighting the social, business and fitness benefits of the game. Through creative event formats and resources, WOC provides a welcoming environment for women entering and active in the game. This luncheon was just one of the many events WOC holds. As members, women enjoy networking and social gatherings, special rates to WOC events, discounts on golf apparel, member gifts, and much more.

The women at this luncheon were not all powerhouse golfers, there were a lot of “newbies”. The WOC’s idea is for golf to be engaging and fun — not intimidating. Indeed, the ladies present were an energetic and friendly group. The hosts made sure everyone felt comfortable and knew how to make strangers into friends. Fleming’s is a national sponsor for the WOC, and holds these events across the county for the organization. Callaway’s fashion show proved that golf clothes can be “sexy”, and introduced some clothing that certainly updates the image. Their new golf shoes are quite slim and attractive, and they even added some new jewelry to the line.