Whitchurch Golf Club in Cardiff has won Wales Golf’s inaugural Women and Girls Project Award — but the blueprint they’ve built works anywhere.
Whitchurch Golf Club in Cardiff has claimed the inaugural Wales Golf Women and Girls Project of the Year Award, in recognition of a seven-week programme that introduced almost 50 Year 8 girls from North Cardiff secondary schools to golf, leadership and life skills.
How the programme works
The Leadership in Sport Girls to Golf programme was founded at Whitchurch in 2024, developed in partnership with Wales Golf and aligned with the Curriculum for Wales. It draws inspiration from the work of international golf legend Sally Little, who established Girls to Golf programmes in the USA and South Africa.
Each week, participants split their time between the golf course and the clubhouse. On the course, they receive coaching from Assistant Professional Ryan Thomas — working through putting, chipping and driving — supported by Community Golf Instructors. Inside, the programme covers leadership skills, communication, teamwork, healthy bones and the importance of friendship and trust. Team competitions reinforce both sets of lessons.
Project founder Kim Ann Williamson MBE, who came to golf through the club’s own New2Golf programme, describes how it came together: “It was clear there were not enough ladies at the golf club, particularly not enough girls. We got together with the team at the club and planned the women and girls project — getting pupils from schools into Whitchurch to learn golf, but also leadership skills and life skills that hopefully they will use for the rest of their lives.”
The project team behind it is broad: Wales Golf, Head Professional Will Urwin, club management, the Whitchurch Ladies Team, Cardiff Council’s Curriculum Team, and Soroptimist International Wales South all contributed. The programme has additional backing from Pam Chugg, a founder member of the Ladies European Tour and a Whitchurch member.
Building a pathway
Critically, the programme doesn’t end at week seven. Whitchurch has developed a route for participants to continue — joining girls’ training nights, progressing towards membership, or exploring careers in golf they might not previously have considered.
“Since then the junior section has grown to the extent we can offer the girls a chance to come up to the club on girls’ training nights,” says Williamson. “We have a pathway for them to come through as members or have a career in golf which they might not have considered.”
General Manager Paul Crowe said the club is committed to expanding the initiative: “The idea came from within the Ladies section and has been fully embraced by the professional staff here. The plan is to extend the programme to new places.”
What clubs can learn
The Whitchurch model is straightforward enough to replicate. It requires a motivated champion within the women’s section, buy-in from the professional staff, and a willingness to work with local schools. Aligning the programme with the national curriculum — in this case, the Curriculum for Wales — opened doors that a standalone golf initiative might not have.
The blend of on-course coaching and off-course life skills is also significant. It positions golf not as an end in itself, but as a vehicle for development — which tends to resonate more strongly with schools, parents and the girls themselves.
Women & Golf says: What Whitchurch has done here is get the fundamentals right. They identified a gap, built a credible structure around it, brought the right people in, and — crucially — created a route for girls to stay in the game beyond the programme itself. That last part is where too many participation initiatives fall short. The prize is well-deserved, and the blueprint is there for any club willing to put in the work.
This new approach is already making an impact for girls’ golf in Wales.
To find out more, visit www.whitchurchgolfclub.com
