Maybe I’m biased because I’ve been playing golf since I could walk, but I genuinely think golf is a fantastic sport. A lot of people knock golf without ever having tried it. It’s not the hardest sport in the world, but it does take more than one visit to a driving range to get the game figured out. Golf has a lot of rules, but if you’re playing for fun you don’t necessarily need to follow all of them.
I was a member at a country club near my hometown for almost a decade. During my family’s first few years as members, I was one of two female members under the age of 25. I was constantly the only girl in clinics and the only girl on the interclub junior team. Finally, when I was 13 years old, Meadow Brook created “Girls on the Tee”, which was a program designed to encourage young girls to play golf. I was one of nine founding members, and after only two years the group grew to include over 60 girls ranging from ages 11-18. It even had a waitlist.
My freshman year of high school I tried out for the boy’s varsity golf team, made it, and quickly climbed the ranks to become one of the top players. It took a lot of hard work, but a majority of it was done alone, or with my family or coaches. I made friends with my teammates, but it’s not the same as playing with your actual best friends. I was only the second girl to play on the boys team (my high school didn’t have a girls team), and the program’s first female captain. Needless to say, there weren’t a lot of girls in my town who played golf. I competed in New England Junior PGA tournaments, which allowed me to make some female friends in the golf world, and I enjoyed when my high school’s team would play against teams with other girls, but I was never able to golf with them beyond those events.
I think golf is a fantastic sport for women to play and more should take it up. I’ve been trying to convince everyone I know for years, but learning to play can be so intimidating. I swear, all it takes is practice!
If you really think about it, it’s basically a hot girl walk! The outfits are so cute and stylish, and it consists of physical activity. Golf is also such a social sport too. You can play with your friends, colleagues, and significant others. It’s also an easy sport to play alone. I find that when I play alone, it’s actually kind of therapeutic because it’s just me, the ball, and my thoughts.
I know we have a club golf team, but I wish Holy Cross had some sort of women’s golf organization. That being said, in college, playing for fun is super time consuming, and none of us have a whole lot of time. If the golf simulators in the Jo were open to non-team members, you’d see me in there every day. I plan on bringing my clubs to Galway, Ireland when I study abroad there. I know golf is super popular in Europe and I plan on (hopefully) playing with any friends I make over there. If anyone here wants to get into golf, please reach out! I cannot say enough great things about the sport, and if you want a place to start in terms of how to even swing a club, I would be happy to help.