Women & Girls Golf Week: Carving out my career in golf

Women & Girls Golf Week is back. The next seven days will be dedicated to celebrating success and sharing positive stories of females in golf; inspiring more women and girls to get involved too.

Every day of Women & Girls Golf Week has a different theme. Today’s theme is all about careers in golf; shining a light on all the possibilities available to women with a career in golf.

But what can you really do with a career in golf?

If you’re new to the game, you’d be forgiven for thinking that jobs in golf are limited to playing, teaching or working at your local golf club.

But I am living proof that this industry opens endless opportunities for work. As well as plenty of friends and laughter along the way.

I’ve been a keen golfer since around the age of 12. But it wasn’t until I was 18 and thinking about university that I actually started to consider a career in golf.

I knew that I didn’t want to play for a living, concerned that competing to pay my bills would take away what I loved so much about the game. And if I’m being honest, also concerned about the pitifully low earning potential.

And I also knew I didn’t want to teach. Even as a teenager I was self-aware enough to know I didn’t have the patience for that.

Hmm. So what’s left I thought? Maybe I’ll start to think about a new career path.

The door that opened the rest

That was until someone I played a lot of golf with introduced me to the Applied Golf Management Studies degree at the University of Birmingham – a full-time BA Hons degree that laddered up to getting your PGA Professional status too.

At the time, I remember thinking: “I’ll get to play a bit of golf and live away from home for a while. Then I’ll probably just find a job in something else.”

How wrong I was.

That degree opened my eyes to all the potential career paths golf could take me down, and I’ve never looked back since.

I won’t bore you with an overview of my CV, but after graduating (more years ago now than I’m happy to admit), I’ve worked for Marriott Hotels – the biggest hotel company in the world. I’ve organised multi-million-pound events at Ryder Cup venue, The Belfry. I’ve travelled the globe and worked at a world’s top 50 golf course in the Middle East. And now I run my own business doing what I love – writing every day.

Oh, and I met my husband along the way and we’re now expecting a little boy in November 🙂

My career started in sales and events and progressed into marketing a few years later. I look back at the work I’ve done, the experiences I’ve had, what I’ve learned and the people I’ve met along the way, and I’m really proud.

But most of all, I’m grateful.

Immensely grateful, in fact.

Because none of it would have been possible if I didn’t play golf.

So if you’re wondering whether you can carve out a career you love from golf, I can confidently say: Yes, you can – whatever level you play at.