Diversity in the Game Today

[mantan]

BTW, the gender diversification is a whole other topic. I got an idea of how golf is different for women I learned how to play.

I didn't pick up the game until right after college when a driving range was built next to our office. The girl behind me was a couple of years older and we both had been interested in learning how to play. So we signed up for the same package of group lessons.

But our experiences were a lot different. She picked the game up a lot faster than me. She'd been a D1 basketball player and was a tremendous athlete. Sometimes we'd play together, when our schedule didn't match I would walk on and get paired up.

She quit after a year because she hated how she was treated on the course. A lot of guys assume that women aren't very good players and are going to 'slow things down'. A lot of guys were patronizing her. If she hit a good shot, they would act like it was a magic trick and overreact about it. Or even worse, some guys felt compelled to give tips/instruction that they would never give to a guy. She was 5'10 and blond so a lot of guys are age would want to hit on her, which made it uncomfortable. (as well as old guys who openly leered like they were invisible.) She said she loved to play, but it was hard to find a casual game with a fun group to play with. Most 'women's league's' were relegated to weekdays. She couldn't just walk on as a single and enjoy the day as easily as guys can. I''ve probably walked on and played 200 rounds with people over the years and most were very positive experiences.

 

[PuffChippy]

Noted, but why should anyone be forced to indulge another person's preferences if those things aren't hurting the other person.

There's that 2 way street. Just because it doesn't "hurt" you doesn't mean you get to decide what hurts others. If you're literally the only one who can ever hear that music then by all means do what you want, but that's almost never the case IRL. Does it hurt you to not play music on the course? Does it hurt you to wear a $9 collared shirt from Walmart? Everyone perceives things differently and just because you perceive something one way doesn't mean that has to be how everyone perceives it.

Diversity is difficult to achieve not just in golf but in places like corporate America.....The sad fact is our two daughters will have to be much better/smarter/harder working than our son to achieve the same success if they choose a career in corporate America

Not all of corporate America is racist or sexist. If 90% of plumbers are male, or 90% of kindergarten teachers are female, neither is actual evidence of discrimination. Discrimination is evidence of discrimination. Where I work, even 30 years ago if you were a female or a minority you were automatically fast tracked because I work in a white male dominated industry. Two years ago I was personally told by a manager that I should reconsider applying for a particular job because I was the wrong color and the wrong sex and I would never be hired because of that departments diversity goals. Note how they're goals but never quotas, and they don't even try hiding it or pretending that they think discrimination based on sex and race is unjust. How'd that work out? I had years of direct, prior experience doing that exact job and was a star performer but didn't even get an interview. Some noob with zero experience got the job because it helped them meet their D&I goals which are always backed with monetary incentives. As someone raised to believe all people should be judge on the content of their character, it's this, among many other things as well, that taught me how evil and insidious racism and sexism are even when the motivations behind that discrimination are honorable. As a father of daughters I feel they're very much advantaged in corporate America, and as they enter the job market they're slowly coming to understand that as well. On the contrary, it's the sons that I fear for, as they face a world where they will continue to find themselves last in line just because they had the misfortune of choosing the wrong color parents and being born with a penis.

 

[-CRW-]

Kids are kids. Some kids like golf, some kids like rugby, some kids like polo and some like basketball. Leave them alone. Don't try to engineer them because you have some view on how you think the world should look.

I've always believed that if you really want something, you'll find a way to make it happen. It just depends on the level of sacrifice(s) one is willing to make.

My dad had me try golf a few times when I was a teenager. I thought it was terrible and couldn't imagine why someone would put themselves through such misery. 15 or so years later I approached the game on my own and fell in love with it.

My point is, people will come to the game if/when they want to. Golf, The Golf Channel, the various tours, etc. should just find ways to be accessible without trying to force anything on anyone.

 

[Spinscan]

I wont say rich man's sport but still a mans sport. It is unfortunate seeing how others handle themselves when I play with my mom

Can you expand on that?

 

[JonMA1]

I don't care what color you are, what gender you are, whether you're a Boomer, GenXer, or Millennial, how religious you are, how religious you're not, right wing, left wing, gay or straight, filthy rich, dirt poor, talented, hack.. none of that matters.

As long as you're not too much of an a-hole or a cry baby, as long as most of our conversation revolves around The Game and as long as the golf course remains the one place in my world where none of this ******** matters - you're always welcome to play golf with me.

 

[Northerner]

A Transgender golfer (Hailey Davidson) just won a women's mini tour event and is going to seek to play on the LPGA. There's some diversity.

 

[5150]

Lack of diversity in golf (on the tour or at the local muni) from a racial perspective is a complex issue with no single cause or solution.

Golf does seem (to me) have financial barriers to entry that could correspond with socioeconomic challenges stemming from systemic discrimination.

It should not surprise us that sports with a higher cost of entry tend to thrive among more wealthy socioeconomic groups, while sports with lower costs thrive among less wealthy groups.

 

[5150]

The gender side of things is a whole separate topic.

Treatment of women on golf courses is, in my experience, often embarrassing and shameful.

 

[Lou W]

By the looks of tee sheets covid has grown the game. How long that lingers is another matter.

 

[Northerner]

Interesting that Good Morning America didn't mention their nation's Open champion yesterday. But I strongly suspect had it been Varner or Finau or Champ or Woods winning the US Open Sunday, they would have mentioned it and did a segment on it.

They are a disgrace for not doing a segment on the US Open.