Throughout the pandemic, the number of people playing golf has grown at an increasingly high rate, with 40% of new golfers being women, according to the National Golf Foundation. Over the last 17 years, golf has seen its largest net increase, with more than 24.8 million people playing the sport in 2020.Women golfers makeup roughly 8% of all golfers, according to Golf Digest.
“It’s had the opportunity for more exposure with the [Ladies Professional Golf Association] and girls being able to golf in school,” says Kristi Fowler, assistant merchandiser at Quintero Golf Club. “ And during the pandemic, they also had the chance to learn.”
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Golf wasn’t always such an open sport. For most of its history, women were not allowed to play because they weren’t believed to be strong enough nor were they able to watch tournaments. Golf had a very serious reputation, and it wasn’t until 1900 in the U.S. at the Morris County Golf Club, in New Jersey, that women had a championship held.
“The industry has done well in breaking down the barrier,” says Mike Poe, general manager of Operations at Quintero Golf Club. “Now we know that golf can be a fun, enjoyable game. It doesn’t have to be serious.”
Social media has played a big part in the increase of golf’s popularity over the last couple of years. On the women’s side, young girls have powerful women for them to look up to, whether it be pro golfers or business owners involved in the sport. Some of the most followed golf influencers include professional golfers Savannah Vilaubi with over 70,000 followers, Tania Tare with over 315k followers and Isabelle Shee, the co-founder of Inside Story Golf, with over 215k followers on Instagram respectively.
“You get a lot of Instagram posts,” Poe says. “It reaches other females that might not have played golf or known about it. They see their friends doing it and having a great time.”
Despite golf being thought of as a sport for older men, in 2020, 44% of people that played at least a round of golf were under the age of 40 and since 2000, junior female golfers have grown from 15% to 34%, but many of the young women playing golf struggle with imposter syndrome and feeling like the don’t fit in. As they grow in age, comfortability with the sport grows. On the college side, women’s golf scholarships is the fastest growing area of given scholarships. There are 249 D1, 154 D2 and 324 D3 programs that provide young women with plenty of opportunities to compete at the collegiate level. .
As for the future, women’s golf is continuing to grow steadily, but it could struggle to be as popular with the pandemic becoming less and less of a concern and more recreation options becoming available once again. “I would hope that it would continue the upward climb,” Poe says. “It’s a demographic that is definitely needed in the golf industry. It’s important that we embrace it.”
