October 11 — When Arthur Little and Jann Leeming bought Province Lake Golf Course in 1996, they could not foresee that the rundown track in the hinterlands of Parsonsfield, Maine, would become one of the women-friendliest layouts in the country.
“We bought the course out of bankruptcy and didn’t know what the hell we were doing,” says Little. “It had a terrible reputation, had only done 8,000 rounds the year before, and was in the middle of nowhere on the Maine-New Hampshire border, between two towns with a year-round population of 1,500 [poor] people.”
Top women-friendly track. Not exactly a course to which women golfers might flock. Yet, a few years, $100,000, and much toil and sweat later, Province Lake was 49th on Golf for Women’s 2001 top-100 U.S. women-friendly courses.
Now 25th on Golf Digest’s 2010 list of top-50 Courses for Women, Province Lake remains a model for clubs seeking to boost business by courting female golfers.
Women comprise some 22% of all golfers but about 66% of new players, according to the National Golf Foundation. Considering that Golf Datatech estimates New Englanders have played 2% fewer rounds in 2010 than last year, course owners ignore female golfers at their peril.
Indeed, an average EWGA member spends $4,300 annually on golf-related activities and goods, says Pam Swensen, CEO of
Executive Women’s Golf Association, a 17,000-member national organization in its 19th year of promoting women’s golf. Course owners could use the income from the 1,000 members in seven New England chapters.
As Gregory Nathan, NGF senior VP, sees it, women golfers spend as much as men and “represent one of the greatest growth opportunities for the game.”
Massachusetts golfer Weegie Dodd echoes others when she calls such terms, “sexist.
“Don’t call them‘ women’s or ‘girls’ tee; they’re the forward tees,” says Dodd. “Some women hit long balls and use the middle or back tees, and they shouldn’t be differentiated that way.”
Cyprian Keyes Golf Club (Boylston, Mass.), a favorite with EWGA golfers, has seven sets of tees, three of which supply slopes and ratings for women. Stow (Mass.) Acres Country Club provides six tee areas each on the North and South Course.
Women everywhere. Ledges GC in South Hadley and The Ranch GC in Southwick make Kathy Labrie’s list of favorite courses. Ledges’ head pro/GM Marissa Kulig and head pro Hope Kelly at The Ranch help create “very women-friendly” atmospheres, says Labrie, president of the Greater Springfield EWGA chapter.
New Hampshire golfer Karen McKeen looks for facilities with “lots of women golfers…in the parking lot, clubhouse, snack bar, and on the course.” Amherst’s Souhegan Woods CC, where 60 women play in six league divisions on Wednesday nights, is that kind of course, McKeen says.
Family-friendly. Women are more apt than their spouses to give up tee times to tend to the kids. At Province Lake, they don’t have to. With 48 hours notice and for $4 per hour, parents may leave children with the on-site childcare service.
Let’s play four. For women with no time for 18, pay-by-the-hole rates are
gaining popularity. “If you’re trying to survive,” says Swensen, “creative thinking and offering different types of playing options are critical.”
Pro shop merchandise. Hey, guys, how about updating your pro shops with women’s clubs and clothes?
“Most people in the golf industry believe women don’t buy anything,” says Little, who suggests simple ways to dispel that myth: give women something to buy, display it properly, and train your pro shop personnel to sell it.
On-course facilities. Um, about those port-a-potties. Place them conveniently in the middle of each nine-hole layout — and they better be clean, cautions Swensen.
“Playability at the tee and rest rooms,” says Swenson, “are the biggest pet peeves for women.” Good business. It’s not easy or cheap, and it may take up to three years to retrofit facilities to appeal to women, Little estimates. The bottom line? It’s good business.
Reaching out to women golfers helped Province Lake attain healthy returns on its investment of $80,000 in course changes and $20,000 for marketing. Within five years, the course:
Increased rounds from 8,000 to 18,000
Boosted women’s rounds from 15% to 35%
Improved speed of play by up to 30 minutes per round
Tripled tournament and outing business
Improved annual financial results by $200,000
Common sense. Course makeovers may seem daunting, but “little courtesies” that can boost the bottom line require no major renovation. “It’s just common sense to…make golf as enjoyable as possible,” says Swensen.
Women-friendly courses in New England
The following is a list of some of New England’s many women-friendly courses. New England Golf Monthly based the list (which is far from complete and does not include courses mentioned in the main story), on Executive Women’s Golf Association criteria.
Connecticut:
Blue Fox Run (Avon)
Lyman Orchards GC (Middlefield)
Maine:
The Links at Outlook (Berwick)
Massachusetts:
Ballymeade CC (North Falmouth)
Blackstone National GC (Sutton)
Brookmeadow CC (Canton)
Butter Brook GC (Westford)
Cranwell Resort, Spa, & GC (Lenox)
Crosswinds GC (Plymouth)
Foxborough CC
George Wright GC Hyde Park)
Granite Links GC (Quincy)
Highfields Golf & CC (Grafton)
Hillview CC (North Reading)
Ipswich CC
Juniper Hill GC (Northborough)
Lost Brook GC (Norwood)
Merrimack Valley GC (Methuen)
Millwood Farms GC (Framingham)
Mount Hood GC (Melrose)
Newton Commonwealth GC (Newton)
Norwood CC
Ocean Edge Resort & CC (Brewster)
Pinehills GC (Plymouth)
Pine Meadows GC (Lexington)
Pine Oaks GC (South Easton)
Red Tail GC (Devens)
Robert T. Lynch Municipal GC (Brookline)
Sagamore Spring GC (Lynnfield)
Shaker Hills GC (Harvard)
Shining Rock GC (Northbridge)
Southers Marsh GC (Plymouth)
Swansea CC
Tewksbury CC
The International (Bolton)
The Meadow at Peabody
Widow’s Walk GC (Scituate)
William J. Devine GC at Franklin Park (Dorchester)
New Hampshire:
Amherst CC
Atkinson Resort & CC
Campbell’s Scottish Highland GC (Salem)
Ponemah Green Family Golf Center (Amherst)
Rhode Island:
Crystal Lakes GC (Mapleville)
Newport National CC (Middletown)
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