The Game Changers

For too long overlooked and undervalued, women’s golf is now growing at an unprecedented speed. Here, four stars discuss how it builds from here

- Kevin Brown

It wasn’t all that long ago that a sign stood outside the clubhouse of a very notable club that read ‘No dogs or women allowed. Thankfully, times and attitudes have changed since women were banned from clubhouses, or told they could only play at certain times on weekends. Yet golf still has a long way to go.

Women make up 50 per cent of the UK population, yet just 16 per cent of the nation’s golfers. Just a fifth of the members of the Golf Club Managers Association are female, and there are even fewer female greenkeepers. On tour, there’s a five-fold difference in prize money between the PGA and LPGA Tours.

Things are improving, though. The R&A launched its Women in Golf Charter, part of its drive to increase the number of women and girls playing golf and working within the industry. It also hiked the prize money for the Women’s Open by 40 per cent, with R&A chief Martin Slumbers saying: “This is an important first step and we know it will take time to move closer to achieving parity with the men’s game.”

Figures claim that tapping into a “significant latent demand among non-golfing women” could persuade as many as 37 million prospective new female players to take up the game, bringing an extra £28 billion into the global golf industry.

To gauge the current status of the women’s game – on tour and at club level – we spoke to four key players who really know what’s happening – arguably the greatest female golfer of all time, Annika Sorenstam, Solheim Cup Captain Catriona Matthew, Major winner Georgia Hall and LET star Amy Boulden. Their views on what women’s golf has achieved – and what else can still be done – makes for fascinating reading...