The Impact of Female Golfers

By Thomas Haney

Along with the new century has come a noticeable surge in the popularity of womens golf. The number of both professional and amateur female golfers has risen sharply. This means the face of golf is changing in dramatic fashion, as golf is rapidly shedding its reputation as an “old boys’ game.”

Though it may surprise some, women have played professional golf for hundreds of years. But traditionally, golf has been an overwhelmingly male-dominated sport, with many golf establishments not even allowing women players to step on their greens. The path to playing golf has not been a painless road for the female contingent.

Usually, it takes some kind of spark to ignite an explosive increase in popularity for a particular sport. For men's golf, that spark was Tiger Woods, whose dominating achievements over the last decade or so spurred the popularity of golf to unprecedented levels. It is quite interesting to note that, as a child, Woods was denied entrance to a golfing club because of the color of his skin, a club which now welcomes the golf superstar with open arms.

In the world of women's golf, sensational teenager Michelle Wie has certainly been a catalyst in bringing great attention to the sport of women's golf in general, as she has endeavored to use her remarkable golf abilities to challenge male golfers head to head. Similarly to Woods, perhaps her efforts will help remove the last barriers standing in the way of female golfers, including those few remaining clubs that still discriminate based on gender.

Regardless of Wie’s actual level of success in her quest to play with the men, in the past five years, women's golf has witnessed a huge rise in popularity thanks in part to her efforts as well as the brilliant play of many other great female golfers such as Annika Sorenstam. And that popularity is predicted to increase. Women are now entering the game at an unprecedented pace, with the fastest rising segment taking up the sport being women younger than 30.

However, it is interesting to note that there is a subtle difference in the way women and men approach the game of golf. Women tend to view golf primarily as a social activity with competitive undertones, while men see golf primarily as a competitive activity with social undertones. So, while men are stressing over their handicap, women golfers just try to have a good time.

But despite the ultimate reasons, women have irrefutably embraced golf in the new millennium, and the result has been a great boon for the sport.

About the Author:

Thomas Haney is an online journalist who routinely writes about topics related to golf. Visit dealsunlimited.biz to get great deals on cheap, high quality golf equipment and learn more about helpful topics such as ladies golf clubs. You may use this article for your own website as long as you leave all links active.