I generally agree with this take, but I also think there is value in both having people tell you to dream and everything you’ve said AND then seeing it “bear fruit” live on TV, for lack of a better term. I know that’s not quite the angle of the point you were making but, like anything, there are probably people who genuinely are inspired by it and people who don’t realize what they’re saying when they drop the “I have a daughter and__” line.
I don’t know. I’ve had some trouble wrapping thoughts around this event this week, which is sad, but maybe slightly good that I’m able to challenge hunches that I’ve been programmed to have. I also feel hypocritical for being a guy and dropping my thoughts in the NLU Ladies topic.
I have mixed feelings about the ANWA also. Three rounds instead of four, a “practice” round in the middle of the tournament, lauding ANGC for offering a tournament for the ladies when it took them, what, 50 years to admit a woman as a member.
That said, I’m looking forward to seeing how the women play the course.
And @hellofriends, don’t feel like you can’t comment because this is NLU Ladies. I started this thread because I was curious how many women were on the Refuge, not to limit topics and commenters.
I’m really glad you did start it. I more meant that I felt weird for commenting because of the fatigue that comes with guys needing to voice their opinion all the time. In some instances, maybe it shouldn’t matter what someone like me thinks, y’know?
That said, this event is clunky (and well overdue), but hopefully it improves and really does help chip away at some really stupid self-imposed barriers. It sucks that the women are being asked to absorb and then describe how this all feels while nobody will really question or bring up the men who’ve put things in place to make this event “groundbreaking” in 2019. I sincerely hope everyone doesn’t just pat themselves on the back and call it a day.
Going forward though, I’m very hopeful of this being a great event!
Hello fellow NLU ladies! @WhatdidDelaware, I’m in the Philly region as well and playing my first two WGAP matches this year (I’m in New Jersey).
I’ve played golf for a while, started really paying attention to the PGA, etc… a few years back. Love listening to the pod, have gone to a few tourneys (heading to Bethpage for th PGA next month), blah blah blah.
At my club, we have about 50 active 18-hole women golfers (more 9-holers), yet we have a hard time getting women to play in tournaments. And they don’t want their scores posted “in public,” as in on a scoreboard outside the golf shop. I asked some friends about their clubs and I hear the same story: Women are afraid of being embarrassed by posting a poor score, they aren’t “good enough” to play in a tournament, etc. Do other clubs have trouble fielding a women’s golf tournament (club championship, etc.)? If you don’t, how do you encourage women to play?
I appreciate the post. The more women the better, on the course, in the Refuge and in government.
I don’t completely agree with the “I have a daughter” take, however. There is nothing to say that the speakers didn’t already appreciate equal rights for women and wouldn’t have thought that ANWA was great regardless. My personal experience was that having a daughter woke me up so much in regards to the lives and experiences of girls and young women that it made me a different person in that regard. As such an important life factor, it just comes out sometimes, not necessarily as justification for anything as much as information on who I am.
Hey there. I too am a big NLU fan, although more of a lurker than a commenter (literally had to register an account to even post this - I felt compelled to chime in here though since there doesn’t seem to be too many of us).
I am kind of a new golf fan, relatively speaking to most people on this forum, but I was lucky enough to find the pod around the same time as I started getting interested in golf and it was a great companion as I learned about the game. I’m glad I found it when I did - not sure the first spark of interest in golf would have survived without NLU!
I even saw a couple of the guys at the BMW champ pro-am in 2017 but I didn’t know who they were at that time. I remember watching Rahm’s group come through on 16 because I recognized Brian Urlacher, so I was slightly bummed when I saw that YouTube video later and realized that the other dudes in the group had been the NLU guys. I mean, I probably (definitely) wouldn’t have said anything to them if I HAD known who they were but it would have made my day more exciting to awkwardly follow them around for awhile.
We have about 45-50 women members. Not sure how many are 18ers vs 9ers really. We just did our ladies club championship - only 3 of us played in it. I’m still a pretty high handicapper (26.8) and I play in all the tournaments because why not. I knew I would come in 3rd out of 3 but who cares. I played in the gap matches (and won my matches yay) and I play in as many of the “co-Ed” tournaments at my club as possible. Usually there are only a handful of women playing at those too.
I admit I am younger than most of the other women members and maybe that’s part of it. I just want to play. And I don’t care what score gets posted outside the pro shop lol.
Playing the event as a Stableford (or some kind of modified Stableford) might help. The “scores” would still be posted, but I feel like it’s different enough and there’s less of a stigma. Seeing someone had a bad day and only scored 12 Stableford points vs. shooting a 105 seems better. It also allows the worst players pick up after double (or triple depending how you want to set it up) instead of holing out for a 9 or whatever.
One thing that I have noticed that is truly limiting to getting women involved at our club is the timing of events. My wife has been keen on playing more and more golf, which I love, and always wants to get involved with the events at the club but they are always during the middle of the week and at strange times. Perhaps it is because she is younger than the average female golfer at the club and is still working, but she can’t take off every time there is an event at the club.
If we really want to get women involved, we need to dedicate a weekend to the ladies’ member-guest, member tournaments, and club championships and not Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I personally have no problem sitting out a weekend morning to watch my wife have a good time.
Perhaps the issue is that golf is often seen as a way to get away from the wife and kids? Pity on those people…
My friends and I have started to play our casual rounds as a stableford now. I took the points used by the Strapped boys (birdie-4, par-2, bogey-1, double or higher-0). It’s way more suited to our games because it rewards bogeys and neutralizes the blowout holes. We play by having a target to reach and it’s a lot of fun
We have a pretty active Women’s Golf League at my club. I know many women at the Club who won’t play with the WGL, however, as it seems infected with rules nazis (which seems silly to me, when we’re talking about the difference between shooting 110 or 108). My buddy’s wife, who is a pretty decent stick, when I recently asked her whether she was participating in the WGL’s member guest, said, “No way. I’d have way more fun if I could play with you guys in the men’s event. The women suck.” She’s far from an isolated example.
Is this a common issue at other clubs? Or have a few dominant personalities infected our WGL?
They moved our women’s member guest to a Saturday a few years ago because all the women who wanted to play in it worked during the week too. Happy for that decision.
The women’s “league” at a club I used to play at really sucked. When I showed up the my were way too excited that I might be able to beat the girl who won every week. They didn’t like that a high school girl who didn’t stick around after to eat with them and stay for the prizes would keep winning (also she was probably too Asian…). They were also such sticklers for the rules - like wouldn’t let their playing partner kick a ball out of the trees for her 7th shot on a par 4. The whole scene was way too negative and not fun
I like this idea, although we can’t do it for the club championship. But maybe for our member-guest next summer. We did a shamble this year and it was a great success – had 92 players! Definitely will try a Stableford. Thanks for the suggestion.
