One night over dinner, a friend of mine was stressing over a business trip. But it wasn’t her presentation or her power suits that had her worried, it was her golf game.
“Isn’t it just for fun?” I asked.
She responded that though there would be several women at the conference, she would probably be the only woman playing golf. And if you don’t play well, she said, the men don’t take you seriously.
Increasingly, women are taking their games seriously, whether they are playing for exercise, as a way to socialize or to nurture client relationships.
According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of women golfers grew 24 percent in the last decade to 5.7 million. Women spend about $6 billion a year on equipment, apparel and greens fees, accounting for about 20 percent of total golf expenditures. The high numbers, however, are slightly misleading. About as many people drop out of the game as enter it each year, and that puts pressure on the industry to retain newcomers.
“Golf needs to open its doors more and should be courting players,” says Jim Baugh, president of Wilson Sporting Goods Co. “It’s a traditional sport and it takes time for barriers to be broken down.”
Baugh believes there’s no question that golf can help a woman cultivate business relationships if she’s willing to make the effort. “It’s a good social sport, but it’s also difficult and takes time to learn to play well,” he says. “It’s one thing to decide to play, but women have to feel comfortable with the sport and in the sport.”
But it can be hard to feel comfortable if you don’t feel welcome at clubs and courses. In a recent lawsuit against a Massachusetts golf club, female players won nearly $2 million after being denied full memberships and being shut out of prime playing times. And stories abound of subtler forms of discrimination.
Still, the intimidation factor is often something that women put on themselves, says Judy Thompson, spokeswoman for the National Golf Foundation. “Society has changed,” she said, “and golf has followed social patterns but perhaps a little slower. Women are generally welcomed in places where perhaps they had not been before.”
Time constraints may be a more important factor in determining whether women keep on playing, Thompson says, especially for professional women in their 20s and 30s who have young children and are often short on spare time. Another problem, she says, is the lack of someone to play with.
Associations can help solve that problem, she says. The Executive Women’s Golf Association, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., with local chapters around the country, organizes clinics and events to help businesswomen who want to network on the golf course. The association (www.ewga.com) describes itself as “a not-for-profit organization formed to promote and foster a spirit of acceptance, dignity and respect for career-oriented women golfers nationwide.”
Susan Weitzman also aims to help career women get the most out of their game. The founder of Golf Matters, a Deerfield-based company that runs programs and clinics on developing business relationships via the green, says, “Success in business golf is not defined by the score you shoot. It’s more important to be on the course to develop personal relationships with business associates. We all want to do business with people we trust.”
Because many men have played the game for years, she says, they often are more confident. But even women who don’t have experience can catch up. Weitzman urges women not to fear the game and to remember that just as important as raw skill is being a good guest, knowing the etiquette, and pacing your game.
“You may not even talk business, but you are spending a considerable chunk of time with the person, developing a relationship, time that you wouldn’t spend in an office. You’re getting much more than a 10-minute visit to someone’s office.”
Once you master the skills and connect with some golfing pals, there are also things to look for on the courses you choose to play. Mary Porter, editor of Tee Time magazine, suggested in a recent issue that golf courses should include some kind of bathrooms on the fifth and 13th holes, benches after the walk from the seventh to the eighth hole, as well as ball washers and trash cans at the forward tees.
“The biggest factor in making a golf course friendly is the attitude of the employees,” she says.
For those who still may be wavering, bear in mind that women have actually been playing for centuries. In fact, it was Mary, Queen of Scots, who helped popularize golf and is known for introducing caddies to the game. As royalty, she couldn’t carry her own clubs so French court attendants, known as cadets, took on the task of lugging them around for her.
———-
e-mail: jfitzgerald@tribune.com
