"I Don't Wish This On Us At All, But The Fastest Way To Drive Change And Grow Female Participation Is A Recession"

The 9th Women's Golf Week, the global movement that engages, empowers and supports women and girls through golf, takes place from 28 May to 4 June. What started as one day (WGD), is now a week-long celebration, bringing women together to give golf a go and have fun. 

Since its inception in 2016, WGD events have taken place at more than 1,300 locations in over 84 countries. It's the fastest-growing female golf development initiative and has introduced thousands of new golfers to the sport.   

The numbers are impressive, yet there is still work to be done to encourage even greater engagement and participation. We caught up with WGD founder Elisa Gaudet to discuss this year's activities, the highs and lows of her journey so far, and what she believes will have the biggest impact to change attitudes and fast-forward participation in the women's game.

What do you believe is the secret to Women's Golf Day (WGD) success?

The initiatives from governing bodies are really good and well intended, but sometimes leadership changes within these bodies and a new scheme appears a few years later. What we are doing is on the ground, activating events and we’ve been doing that consistently for 9 years.

Each year I think is WGD getting better, is it improving? It's important for us to just stick our heels in because for women, we can't have any more roll back. This is giving women more opportunities and bringing them to the forefront of the conversation. Golf is the vehicle that sees a woman come out with confidence. Maybe it gives her confidence in other parts of her life, to go and do something, or make new friends, whatever it may be.

Those of us that are in the industry, we know it’s a big community, you can find it anywhere in the world. We've proven that, we don't specifically have the women's golf day to play golf. There's so many talented people out there, we don't want anybody ever stepping on their toes. Let's all get together. Once a year. For one cause.

What are the biggest changes you've seen in the last nine years, in terms of how women engage with golf and how the industry has received it?

I'm very grateful. The first big governing body to come on board, believe it or not, was The R&A. So that was surprising for us. But Martin Slumbers (CEO of The R&A), has a big star next to his name in my book. 

I don't want to digress, but as we get older you like to think, what's my mark I’m gonna leave? And this is a nice one. What I've seen is 46% new to golf. 

At the events we are seeing a lot more women, like 150-200. People know the date and consumers are asking when is our day? So that's kind of cool. It’s like Christmas. We're also seeing more women going into their pro shop and saying, “Hey, why aren't we having this?”

It's important to remember, this is a celebratory event. It's not a competition. It's not a day for the Lady Captain. You've got 364 other days to do that. This is just celebrating golf, getting new people. We're really leaning in this year to bring a friend with special digital assets. Because we all have a friend who we wish we could play golf with, somebody that you like to spend four hours talking to them.

Did you ever try and get your friends into golf a while back?

Yeah, and they’re like, it’s just too daunting. Whereas this, our format they take lessons with other people, so they don't feel self-conscious. The friend who plays golf is not compromised, where they're trying to teach their friends how to grip a club, which none of us probably should be doing, we should leave that to the professionals.

What's new for this year?

BRING A FRIEND - #WGDUnites - is a focus for us this year. Palooza is something that we started during COVID, an hour and a half digital interaction to bring people together with a giveaway at the end. Now we've realised people's attention span has gone back to very little, so it's a shorter version, but it's still gonna be super fun. The theme for this year is GET SOCIAL on and off the course. 

We’ve leaned into the whole social media element with cool emojis. That is one of the great things about golf. It’s not just about the game, it’s the socials after and through WGD women are getting their social fix.

Why do you think more women are open to the idea of participating or trying golf through WGD?

Like I said, this is a celebration and who doesn't want to go to a fun party? In life, if you hear that your friends are having a great birthday party, you don't want to miss it.

We’ve looked at the data. Women said that they were quick to try golf, but equally quick to leave. That wouldn't happen with Nike or Apple, they would figure that out. So we took everything that they said and put it on the table, making sure the format for new and existing golfers would be celebratory and fun. When a location registers they get a link to a digital marketing kit that has awards.

Instead of saying THE BEST it says, AMAZING DRIVE or AMAZING PUTT. Hopefully they print them out and there will be people there that surprise themselves and everybody else. Give that person an award, it's no different to the woman that ends up winning the longest drive or nearest to the pin

With so much divisiveness that's going on in the world too. These are like respites or breaths of happiness. Let's get together and all work towards one thing, we don't make money. WE as WGD individuals. It’s the clubs that benefit. It can be public or private. You can charge a fee or not. They only have to register with us for a very nominal fee. There's really no barrier to entry, we've really thought this through to make sure as many people as possible can participate.

WGD has grown considerably in the US, but how is it received in other territories? 

Here in the US we have the biggest golf market so it’s numbers right? We work with multi-course owners, so they take the programme on entirely. Trust me, the UK perplexes me. I don't know why in the UK because we reach out so much. I am “The American CAN DO” and I'm not giving up. The R&A is totally on board with the programme. It's golf clubs that need to take it on and roll with it. Even in Japan, which is obviously a very different language, very different culture - we worked with the Federation and they have taken it from 3 locations to 138. 

Do you think there is a mentality at some clubs that although you make it as easy as possible, unless they are genuinely behind it and want an event to be a success, if it's not their idea, they're not bothered?

It's gone back to golf courses being overwhelmed, or the pro that works there does not want to add one more thing. Even though we make it crazy easy, supplying a digital marketing kit that has everything from posters to awards. 

I don't wish this on us at all, but the fastest way to drive change and grow female participation is a recession. I've been in this business 24 years and if you have a dip, all of a sudden these clubs will be looking for women and juniors, like picking them off the shelf in a supermarket. But let’s not wait until a recession. 

It's about making sure those clubs have the bigger picture, the foresight to gauge that if a woman takes up golf, the family is likely to take up golf.  A woman books a family vacation, so she’ll book it at a golf resort. This woman is going to have influence in buying a house on a golf course. I always say, I don't know how many single guys are buying houses on golf courses.

How much do you think that social media has impacted WGD’s growth?

It’s massive. There were 192 million impressions last year during this WGD week. We thought that if we move it from one day to a week, is it gonna dilute? No, it did the opposite. I'm very proud of our social media because it is very much about golf, not selling sexuality or anything else because that's easy clickbait. It’s not hardcore golf either.

We are conscious to be the voice of the amateur, so we love amateur stories, even sometimes more than professional stories. Pro golfers are superhuman they are amazing, we celebrate. But when we see the amateur golfer doing anything in life, to us that's kind of superhero stuff.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

We're going to make sure we work with sponsors and golf courses that are genuinely interested in reaching the female demographic, and there's a lot of them out there. Our event is in June and almost everybody in the world plans for the calendar year from January to December. I will say to them... Women are a line item in your November budget, not an afterthought in March.

My anger stems from this. Yes, the club is one component but you have to have been living under a rock not to see this. How many more Barbie movies, Beyonce and Taylor Swift concerts do you need to see that women purchase. Women buy products. At the end of the day, when we're talking about sponsors, a lot of them are businesses. Their job is not to be involved. Their job is to sell a phone service or an automobile or whatever. We need to invest and we need these companies to invest in golf.

You must have had some amazing success stories and highlights along the way. Can you share some of these.

Callaway has been an incredible partner. They walk the walk, they don't just talk the talk. I mean, they have dug in multi-year, they get it. PGA Tour Superstore too, a very committed and dedicated partner. Like everything, we all have to explore, that’s what you learn. Not everything is going to be a winner.

I can have the crappiest day and then I'll receive an email from a club in Serbia saying that they're gonna host a day and offer it for free. But they want to know if registration is free, which on this occasion we allowed. This is really special and makes all this work so worthwhile. 

Here we are in the UK and US trying to convince a golf pro to take part. We are not marketing to Serbia - how do they find out? It's just amazing, the word is spreading across the world. We don't market to Zambia either, but every year a club registers, pays, and does it. That stuff keeps me going because it may not be the largest or wealthiest golf market, but they're doing it and becoming part of WGD's worldwide community and sisterhood.

What are the biggest things you've learned about women golfers over the last nine years?

Female golfers are definitely more influenced by their peers and social media rather than professional golfers. Men follow the PGA Tour, European Tour and if Tiger or Rory does something special, those men go out and buy the shirt or the club. There's a direct correlation.

I've heard this time and time again. You ask a guy “How was your round” and he says, "I shot a 72." Ask a woman and she'll say, “Oh my God. I had so many lefts!”  What I've noticed is that women lean a lot more into the experiential, rather than I’ve got to shoot a certain number. Of course, there's always people that are competitive and that's good for them too. In the general sense, realising that unless you're going for a university scholarship, or you really want to play on the LPGA or LET, what does it really matter? 

Yes women get stressed out for a certain score, but what really happens is that we have a bunch of laughs with friends and time is so fleeting, it's the one thing that we cannot get back.

The point is, we're all moving with technology. We don't have that much laughing in person. Everybody's going here, there and everywhere. Life gets complicated and so we really need to cherish those moments that you have for your 'in-person' with somebody, put your phone down, have a good laugh.

What more can be done to support women's golf and help drive participation through WGD?

The one thing I am 100% certain of, unless something goes horribly wrong, year on year every every event has had more wins, they're more excited and they lean into it more. Just get it going. And just listen, there's no reason why the club can't make money. Get your local winery, clothing companies involved. This is an opportunity to make it a community activity and that is what we've always envisioned and overseen creative stuff. Are they doing a cooking class for the social part or wine tasting? There's things that can be done and it does not take a lot of effort.

I want to keep seeking out ambassadors in the UK because I think those people can build WGD. If you think about it, if you just got a few clubs, people seeing others  having a good time, then everyone wants in. 

What is next for Women's Golf Day?   

More employees! (she says laughing). Scaling as a company. It's grown pretty quick. I would like to see more women in more countries. Growing our ambassador programme because they help disseminate the information. That has become a really nice group of people, men and women. 

I would like to find more sponsors and partners that will reach the female demographic because I think this is a really fun, great ride. We would love to work with like-minded people, companies that feel the same and we all know they're out there because you can feel it. Right? They’ve gotta be authentic and be interested in engagement and interestested in women.

2024 WGD is a week long celebration. If you’re running anything at your club be sure to tag #wgdunites and check out the website for any ideas and inspiration.