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.”
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.”