Ryston Park’s Tiffany Mills was selected as one of just five UK greenkeepers — and the only English woman — to join the volunteer agronomy team at The Players Championship. It’s another significant moment for women’s representation in an area of the sport where they remain vastly outnumbered.
When Tiffany Mills touched down at TPC Sawgrass last week, she was the only English female greenkeeper in a team of more than 100 drawn from around the globe. It was another quiet first for women in golf — and one that matters.
Greenkeeping has long been one of the most male-dominated corners of the sport. Women working on course maintenance teams are still a rare sight at most clubs, let alone at the very top level of tournament preparation. That Tiffany was there at all speaks to both her ability and her determination. That she was there representing a club like Ryston Park in Norfolk, rather than one of the big-name championship venues, makes it all the more impressive.
“This was my third year of applying,” she says. “At first, I was nervous about applying as I thought, ‘I’m not from a well-known course,’ but in the end I decided there was no harm in trying.”
That persistence paid off. Tiffany was selected through a rigorous two-stage process run by The British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) in partnership with John Deere. She submitted a four-minute video setting out her case, then attended a regional interview at John Deere’s headquarters in Nottinghamshire. One candidate was chosen per region. She was it.
No stranger to the big stage
This isn’t Tiffany’s first taste of major tournament preparation. Her CV already includes The Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in 2019, The Open at St Andrews in 2022, and The Women’s Open at Walton Heath in 2023. Each time, she’s volunteered her time and expertise to help present courses at the highest possible standard.
“There’s nothing more exhilarating than preparing a golf course for the best golfers in the world,” she says. “The attention to detail at these events is incredible and something you only truly experience when working at the biggest tournaments.”
At Sawgrass, she was one of more than 100 greenkeepers on site for the week.
Why this matters for women in golf
We talk a lot about representation in women’s golf — and rightly so. But the conversation tends to focus on players, coaches, and occasionally the boardroom. Women working behind the scenes in greenkeeping, course management and agronomy rarely get the recognition they deserve, despite being fundamental to every round of golf played anywhere in the world.
Tiffany’s selection is a reminder that women are making inroads across every part of this sport, not just the parts that get the television coverage. Every time a woman steps into a role that has traditionally been occupied exclusively by men, it makes it a little easier for the next one to follow.
And Tiffany isn’t slowing down. Away from the course maintenance shed, she was appointed Norfolk Ladies’ County Captain in November and will lead her team in defence of their East Region title at St Ives in Cambridgeshire this June.
On the course and off it, in every sense — one to watch.
