Golf popularity rises, percentage of women playing remains stagnant

LISTEN: Golf NZ CEO Jeff Latch on their She Loves Golf programme

Golf is the most played sport in New Zealand, yet only one in five adult club members are women.

There are more than 200,000 casual golfers in New Zealand, up 12 per cent from last year.

Despite this increase, the percentage of women playing the game has remained about the same.

To change this, New Zealand Golf has made increasing diversity as one of its five key priorities, through a new programme, She Loves Golf.

Golf NZ Chief Executive Officer Jeff Latch says they are aware of the barriers that prevent more women in Aotearoa New Zealand from playing golf.

These barriers include clubs not always being beginner-friendly environments, unsuccessful marketing strategies, and women, on average, having less leisure time than men.

“One barrier is the golf clubs themselves. This is a generalisation, but there's still room for improvement in terms of making women and girls welcome,” says Latch.

“There's been massive progress made in the last ten years to take away a lot of the men-only tee times, because historically a lot of golf clubs in New Zealand used to have men-only Saturdays and Sundays.”

Golfing novice Samantha Thornton-Jones took part in a beginner friendly woman's evening at Ellerslie Driving Range and regularly goes to the driving range but has been put-off playing full rounds.

“Mainly because I feel like the golf course still isn't very friendly to beginners. The driving range is much easier to go to when you're learning.”

Latch says another barrier is past marketing for golf events being unsuccessful in reaching women and girls.

“We did quite a lot of research when I was at Spark Sport into the consumption habits for women versus men, and they're completely different. I think a lot of the communication that's tried to reach women has treated them like men, and that's doomed for failure.”

Latch says that another barrier is women on average being more time-poor than men.

Women in developed and developing nations on average spend at least double the time doing unpaid labour like cooking, cleaning, and caring for children than men do.

“The shorter form of the game, nine-hole golf, is another opportunity in terms of making golf more accessible and inclusive,” says Latch.

Another way She Loves Golf aims to be more inclusive is inviting women to bring their children along.

“Rightly or wrongly, women still, in general, spend more time having to run around after their families and children than men do.

“If we can make it more of a family thing, then that makes it easier for women to come along, participate and play.”

The next She Loves Golf event will take place at Foxton Golf Club on Sunday 19 May, no experience or equipment is needed.