As women and men around the world united on Tuesday, September 1st, to celebrate the 5th annual Women’s Golf Day (WGD), they set new heights for the ground-breaking movement. Despite the pandemic WGD experienced record-breaking growth. In 2020 alone, Women’s Golf Day has achieved over 60M impressions and reached 28M people worldwide.
Industry leaders, Tour players, locations, the media, governing bodies, federations and brands all came together to support the Women’s Golf Day movement this year, including new sponsor, Callaway Golf. This level of international support from across all areas of the industry exemplifies the important role Women’s Golf Day serves in the golf industry. This movement unites the industry and generates global interest in golf by engaging new and existing golfers thus paving the way for future growth in the coming years.
Antony Scanlon, Executive Director of the International Golf Federation, shared “The unprecedented international support for Women’s Golf Day in 2020 marks an exciting development for women’s golf. WGD has evolved into an industry leader and a driving force for the growth of the game for women. The WGD message to engage, empower and support women around the world has consistently brought more women into the sport in a comfortable environment. We are looking forward to seeing more growth around the world as more countries, federations, golf courses and women and men get involved.”
Although industry support and recognition are essential to the growth and future impact of WGD, it has always been about the people and locations who get involved. Over 900 venues in 56 countries registered their location and held WGD events over the past 5 years. A growing body of evidence shows that women who join the WGD celebration events expand their connection to golf, whether they are new golfers or active players. Giving women the opportunity to participate in the game in a relaxed, informal setting and using the WGD event template of combining participation with a social component has been pivotal. WGD has succeeded in reaching women who might never have considered golf by showing them an easy and fun way to experience the game.
Elisa Gaudet, Founder of Women’s Golf Day, is particularly proud of the achievements in 2020 as she explains: “Women’s Golf Day brings joy to women around the world and unites them regardless of their playing ability, race, religion, ancestry, national origin, or other potential exclusions. Women’s Golf Day welcomes all participants. This year that is needed more than ever. Despite the challenges we have all faced as a community, Women’s Golf Day has successfully united the industry by connecting brands, locations and federations to women who love the game or are just trying it for the first time. I am very proud of the WGD team that pivoted and created and executed a Digital Celebration on June 2nd and now helped hundreds of locations safely host events on September 1st. The future looks very bright for women and golf.”
