Established golfing markets, emerging countries and small island nations have united this week to celebrate women and girls playing golf by hosting some of the best attended events in the nine-year history of Women’s Golf Day (WGD).
Much has changed since WGD launched in 2016, but anyone casting an eye over the world of golf this past week (May 28-June 4) will have seen the famous red and white of WGD brightening the lives of women and girls everywhere.
The week got off to a fantastic start with a new social media activation for WGD Palooza. The digital activation with people online consisted of videos and giveaways from WGD Partners and special messages from famous faces, including Callaway LPGA Tour star Morgan Pressel. As has become the norm, the social and digital footprint of WGD exceeded all expectations, with an increase in all metrics. Impressions were in excess of 241 million and engagements hit 733,000 – almost double last year’s figure.
‘Get Social’ was the theme of the week, even for in-person events, with WGD Founder Elisa Gaudet leading the march. Elisa hosted an event at The Palm Beach Par 3 in Palm Beach, Florida and attended first time events at Augusta Ranch Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona and Omni PGA Frisco Resort, Frisco, Texas, steps away from the PGA of America’s new headquarters.
Elisa was also amongst the 320 women who took over Dobson Ranch Golf Course in Mesa. The team, led by Natalie Farahani, have thoroughly embraced the WGD ethos and invited 20 women owned vendors to participate in this high energy, fun event.
“What an incredible week! It is always so thrilling to see the locations around the world using WGD to connect and engage with women and girls, but to witness it first-hand is incredibly inspiring,” said Gaudet. “Many of the women I met this week are at the beginning or relatively new in their golf journey and I am confident that many will go on to have a passion that will last a lifetime.
“The shared joy that you experience at these events is unique and very bonding. We often hear it is not what they expected and that they felt comfortable and wanted to continue either casually playing or getting more serious about their game. I am delighted that I have been able to attend so many events this year.”
WGD went island hopping around the world with events taking place from Japan to Mauritius, Madeira, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Greece, Turks and Caicos, French Polynesia, and Hawaii. Japan hosted a staggering 125 events this year at a variety of locations all thanks to the relationship WGD has established with The Japan Golf Association.
Despite WGD having taken place in 84 countries already, there are always new ones on the scene. This year saw Rwanda, in East Africa, join the community through WGD Ambassador Marlon Weir. The Kigali Golf Resort and Villas hosted 70 golfers and 30 beginners at its first event.
The WGD Ambassador network was also busy hosting at various locations in Africa, The Dominican Republic, Italy, France, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Poland, Spain, the UK, and the USA, and the number of women taking part was bigger than ever before.