Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

Why female golfers need to start “stepping up to the tee” online

posted by ...Because I Played Sports
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 11:37am CST

Found out two interesting pieces of news about the female golf community. Apparently, not only has Golf for Women Magazine gone out of business, but golf (in general) is also unfair to women (shocking).

I’m completely aware that I’m slightly late to announce both of these pieces of news, but I’m going to discuss them anyway.

Why? Because the best part about both of these problems is that female golfers have complete and total control over turning them around. With social media resources out there, all you have to do is start talking.

I found out Golf for Women Magazine is going out of business by checking out conversations on Twitter between @sherrytabb, @SweetSpotGolf and @golfgirl. Golf for Women Magazine has been around for 20 years, so this is a huge hit that the community took last summer.

Interestingly, ALL of that traffic is now being redirected to Golf Digest for Woman. Notice “woman” - shouldn’t it be “women”? Last time I checked more than one woman plays golf. Probably should correct that.

Here’s what Nancy Berkley, (an expert on women’s golf) had to say about it on Cybergolf:

“Women golfers serious enough to buy and read about the game are still too much of a niche market for a publishing empire that tries to reach broader market.”

Honestly, I’d like to disagree.

From what I know of female golf (which isn’t much), there is a huge market here - and this is exactly what makes the LPGA so incredibly successful. There’s a huge online presence of fans, and they should be (and are) responding to this through mediums such as Twitter, which is a giant leap toward a future that is promising. My question is - are the right people listening?

Ok, so print media outlets are struggling (they all are right now) - largely due to the fact that we’re in an economic recession and there is no measurable ROI in these outlets. But online, in the blogosphere… that’s a place where female sports can be discussed with opinion and authority, and by the athletes themselves. This is powerful, and it has the potential to take off.

It’s inexpensive and highly engaging. All you need to do is stop complaining, take some responsibility and start talking.

Now, for the other piece of news… golf is unfair to women. Again, shocking.

In response, golf community leader Sherry Tabb says, “let’s go with it.”

Love her attitude.

Instead of b*tching about how it’s unfair, she tells women to take responsibility, and gives them some exercises to improve upper body muscle strength.

Would be great to see some female golfers up on Women Talk Sports. If you’re interested in syndicating your blog’s content, please contact us. Coming together, our voices are wayyyy more powerful than when we’re separated.