Golf Fore Her is an initiative created by England Golf with the aim of inspiring the next generation of golfers, and supporting female participation in the sport. ConnectSport's Beth McCowen spoke to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Lead Michelle McGill, and Women's Development Manager Lauren Spray about the important initiative.

Golf Fore Her provides guidance on the many life stages of a female, all the way from the beginning of the menstrual cycle to playing golf during the menopause. It highlights the significance of Respect in Golf, and declares that the sport belongs to everyone.

RESEARCH

Michelle and Lauren opened up about the inspiration behind the project, and discussed female participation within golf club membership. 

Michelle highlighted: "Women in Sport have done some wonderful research that shows us that teenage girls disengage from sport and physical activity through this pivotal time. They have started secondary school, they are going through puberty, it just becomes an added extra thing that they don't need in their life."

Michelle spoke passionately about the creation of the growing initiative, adding: "We've got quite an extensive EDI framework, and some of those commitments are aligned to promoting health and wellbeing benefits of golf, and inspiring more women and girls to play golf. 

"When we aligned that to sign the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration, which was our commitment to supporting women and girls who already play golf, but also trying to get more people involved, we decided that actually we could do that in a slightly different way as a national governing body - by raising awareness of how golf clubs can support their membership body and also create small changes that make environments feel more inclusive.”

AWARENESS

She continued: "The vision then came about to create this webpage that raises awareness of the female life stages, and because we're also aware that not everybody has these conversations at home. We know that schools are doing a really good job now with the changing curriculum, but we know there are girls out there who won't know anything, and it gives them the power to do some reading themselves. It enables coaches to understand the people who they're coaching and what they might be going through." 

An important aspect of Golf Fore Her is not only promoting women's participation and enjoyment of golf at all ages and all levels, but also bringing attention to and providing information about female health.

Michelle explained: "We know that women who have pelvic floor issues are less likely to engage in sport and physical activity, and we also know that the menopause influences participation negatively. So, with the statistics, and then taking into account the average age of a female golf club member being 64, we knew we needed to support the women who are already participating the current golf club membership body, because we know they're there, but there's not many of them still in comparison to male members."

Highlighting the necessity of Golf Fore Her, Lauren added: "We know that 12% of club members are female, but that’s still over 87,000 women and girls, so we know that there's lots of people and lots of women and girls consuming golf, and we just need to make sure that they feel welcome."

OPPORTUNITY

On the realities of the golfing workforce, Lauren went on to explain: "We have the Professional Golfers’ Association, who are a separate body to us, and they are solely there to train up professionals, and they are delivering coaching. When you look at it from a female perspective, across the membership body, it's 6% women in that workforce.

"When you look at the opportunity for women to be role models as well, this is part of our education - that those PGA members feel comfortable with this content, because they're being the prominent ones that are delivering and engaging and creating those new goals for us." 

"We'd like to see more clubs using our research toolkit," said Michelle. "Just for a bit of context, every club that's affiliated to us now has an EDI policy in place. So, the next steps are to help them work through what we're calling an EDI audit toolkit. We would love our women and girls' toolkit to become part of that."

She summarised: "You need to understand the people you're working with. We don't all play and consume sport in the same way, and so we can't coach people in the same way."

NORMALISING

Lauren then detailed: "We've only released a couple so far, but we've interviewed some real-life stories as well, from the women that have gone through that, either reflecting back on their situation - whether they've returned to golf after having a baby, or are female coaches.

"So hopefully it's not just the education pieces, but we're bringing that real-life context to it as well, that it's really important. We'd love to hear more people share those stories with us, and just normalising the conversation really. It shouldn't be taboo to talk about periods, menopause and things like that."

Michelle expanded: "We've heard some wonderful stories from women who have had babies and their child grows up in an environment with all these extra aunties. There's a kind of perception that 'I've had a child, so I can't play golf any more because it takes too long'. The stories that we're sharing, these women, they just bring baby in, and all of a sudden it's surrounded by extra people, and Mum goes up and plays! It's just trying to share that actually, if you embrace the environment, it can be really supportive, and so you don't have to stop while you raise your child, the little golf club community will help you do it." 

Lauren reiterated: "We're not just looking at those competitive women. We want to be open for everybody. You don't have to have a handicap, you don't have to be competitive. There is this amazing social opportunity, and that you can get through it as well. There is a space for everybody. With the diverse types of golf clubs and facilities that we have, there is something generally out there for everybody. It's just about finding that opportunity." 

RESEARCH

Expressing the importance of the groundbreaking project, Lauren emphasised: "We cater for all ages, and it's an opportunity that you can probably start to learn the sport at a young age and then come back to it, or you might keep going through all of your life. In terms of having that support, that education about understanding how your body responds with golf, there's just more of a need for education and research in the space."

You can find out more about Golf Fore Her here.

Pic credit: Unsplash / Mike Cox

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