For nearly two decades, the golf industry has been trying to attract a 'new breed' of female golfer. Editor Emma Ballard looks back at a survey commissioned in 2005 to see how far women's golf has come.

I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to work things, lanyards from golf shows over a decade ago, magazines from when I first started writing and my hoarding even extends back to interesting articles I read for university coursework. It was whilst sorting through this “stuff” last week that I came across an article by esteemed golf writer Lewine Mair from the Daily Telegraph in January 2006.

Entitled ‘Girls to the fore as LGU search for ‘new breed’’ it struck me straight away that, nearly 19 years later, I could almost be reading that headline today. Switch out LGU (Ladies Golf Union) with The R&A, as the LGU merged with The R&A back in 2017, and I definitely think we were on to something.

Back in 2005, the LGU, who were the governing body for women's and girls' amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland, commissioned a survey to help them as the governing body and the national governing bodies to respond more effectively to the needs of the women’s game. This was in response to a downward trend in women playing the game, which stood at 215,437 in 2005.

2005 LGU online survey

Within the article, Mair points out some of the main findings of the survey:

  • Age demographics and recruitment needs: the average age of female golfers was between 55 and 64. “There’s nothing wrong,” said Andy Salmon, chief executive of the Ladies’ Golf Union, “with mature ladies playing the game. That’s great. But we are definitely after a new breed.”
  • Retention challenges for women ages 18-44: Mair surmises that women across these ages leave the sport due to time constraints related to education, work, and family responsibilities. This was exacerbated by the limited availability of convenient playing times for working women, 56% surveyed said this.
  • More than just an 18 hole game:  Lack of time (53.9%) was also perceived as a stumbling block to take up the game, “he [Salmon] concedes that 18 holes does not marry with today’s lifestyles”, which then goes on to say that gaining handicaps over nine holes and more nine hole competitions should be considered.
  • Men-only not allowed: Two thirds of those surveyed thought that male-only clubs damaged the image of the sport, whilst 46.7% viewed single-sex clubs as unacceptable.

This led me to delve a little further into the research itself. Looking specifically at barriers to more women playing golf, the top responses were: lack of time 53.9%, lack of TV coverage for ladies’ golf 42.2%, clubs too male dominated 41.6% and too expensive 40.5%. Clubs seen as unfriendly polled 28.9%, lack of family atmosphere 24.9% and dress code 16.1%.

What has changed since 2005?

Fast forward to 2024 and although a lot of the above concerns have been or continue to be addressed we are still striving to get more women and girls into the game. More people are playing golf than ever before but the number of registered female golfers in UK and Ireland is 157,816, according to the latest figures from The R&A.

The average age of a female club golfer is still around 63 years old, with the perception of the game, time, access to tee times and cost still proving significant barriers to getting more women and girls playing. Don’t even get me started on lack of TV and media coverage – you know I have strong feelings on that!

BUT, and I say it as a big BUT, there is no doubt that we continue to move in the right direction. The R&A Women in Golf Charter launch in 2018 has helped raise awareness and cause significant changes at a large number of golf clubs when it comes to equity. The advances in driving range technology have now opened up the sport to a wider audience and younger demographic. Social media (which barely existed in 2006) has helped to break down some of the perceptions of the sport. Whilst the knock-on effect of a global pandemic gave golf clubs an opportunity to showcase their facilities and the vast health benefits of playing. Plus, the introduction of the World Handicap System has allowed shorter formats to become more accepted and a more viable option for a lot of golfers and wannabe golfers alike.

I should also mention the raft of initiatives which started with a simple ‘Get into Golf’ in 2005, and have grown to help engage large numbers of girls into the game, Girls Golf Rocks being just one of them. I don’t know the figures but I would hope that the figure of 10.5% of golf clubs having no junior girls in 2005, is now as close to zero as possible.

Levelling the Fairways

With all of this in mind, it justifies why Women & Golf decided to launch our 'Levelling the Fairways' series. We know there is great work happening out there, we know perceptions are continuing to change and we know there is an appetite amongst women to take up and play golf. However, we still look at figures from 19 years ago and are yet to see real major shifts at all golf clubs. Why?

It brings up the same questions we keep having to try and answer, it’s all well and good attracting a ‘new breed’ of golfer but do the facilities, membership options and environment meet their needs and expectations? It’s a little mind-blowing to think that 19 years after a significant piece of research was conducted, there are still large parts of the golf industry that must still be none the wiser when it comes to attracting and retaining women and girls in golf.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Join the conversation here or email me directly [email protected]