Golf can – and should – do more to make women feel welcome.
When it comes to golf, strength in numbers isn’t on the side of women. Not even close. Even if you don’t subscribe to that Venus and Mars stuff, it’s easy to see why some females are nervous about getting involved in the game or playing on a regular basis.
Jamie Engelkemier can relate. The instructor at Ben Brown’s Golf Course at The Ranch at Laguna Beach teaches women on a regular basis. The tucked-away nine-hole facility is a site where women feel comfortable because of a tee sheet that generally slants their way and a person they can relate to on the teaching staff.
“They feel they can open up more to a female instructor,” Engelkemier said about her students. “Usually when I talk to them, they say, ‘It’s nice to finally have a lady.’ They’re more comfortable, so we often talk about more than swing mechanics.”
Like men, most of the women want to know how to hit the ball farther, straighter and higher. But there’s also a sense of dread that goes beyond topped chips and sliced drives.
“They’re often nervous about what people think their swing looks like,” said Engelkemier, a three-year golfer at Northern Colorado and a graduate of the Golf Academy of America in Carlsbad. “It usually has little to do with swing mechanics; it’s everything else around them as far as perception is concerned.”
But good swings can lead to good feelings and the easing of tension.
“Once they get more confident they realize that men are no different and struggle just as much as women when it comes to good shots,” said Engelkemier, who demonstrates swing tips on page XX. “They then realize that everyone isn’t focused on what they’re wearing or what their swing looks like. They start focusing on learning the basics, how to play better and enjoying the game more.”
And that’s the bottom line – both for getting an untapped part of society involved in golf and for courses seeking to increase revenue. We have stories inside related to that topic as part of our Women in Golf issue. We choose March each year because of the LPGA Tour’s Kia Classic in Carlsbad this month and the women’s first major of the year the week after: the newly named ANA Inspiration (formerly the Kraft Nabisco) in Rancho Mirage. If you want to see good golf and players who understand the importance of fan interaction, this is a good time to do that.
A Southland woman with aspirations of joining those elite players is Stephanie Ellingwood, who gave up a possible career in mechanical engineering to pursue the dream of professional golf. She now teaches at the Jay Lim Academy in Fullerton while seeking a feasible way to get to the top.
Ellingwood, 27, who also provides swing tips in this edition, is a lot like fans of the Chicago Cubs by saying “one more year” as a timeline for ending her quest. But dreams die hard, no matter the gender or profession. So on it goes.
“I’m always thinking that if I work a little harder, practice a little more, work out more or sleep less, I can do it,” she said. “I’m behind right now. I have my work cut out, but I’m determined as well.”
