Women on the Tee, launched in February 2021, is the culmination of a 6 year journey, for Julie Walker, the catalyst behind Women on the Tee.
Julie returned to golf in 2014, having played golf for a couple of years in her teens, in the south west of Scotland, 30 years before. With a love of the outdoors, a passion for sport, an enthusiasm for meeting new people and feeling at home on a fairway, the idea for Women on the Tee was formed.
Throughout her career, Julie has been responsible for listening to and learning from customers, employees and club members to identify new opportunities and create new products, services and experiences for organisations, this includes sports clubs, a number of companies from small to large multi-national organisations as well as her own projects, including the creation of The Gertie Brolly, a golf umbrella designed by and for women golfers, to find out more click on the brolly picture below:
In 2018, following a few conversations about the lack of opportunity for women to play in Pro-Am’s, Julie approached BURHILL GOLF CLUB, about launching a new all female Pro-Am. Working with Burhill and the PGA, a new all female Pro-Am was launched, attracting 27 all female teams. The day was a tremendous success, you can learn more about this first Pro-Am by clciking on the image below to watch the video:
In 2019, the Pro-Am moved to CUDDINGTON and the shotgun start was limited to 22 teams.
The 2020, has been postponed until we can safely bring players from across the UK, to the IRVINE GOLF CLUB
Full details of past Pro-Am’s can be found on the LADIES PRO-AM website HERE.
The 2021, Women on the Tee Pro-Am in partnership with the WPGA and the PGA will be held at Bowood PGA Golf Club, on Thursday the 19th August. To find out more go to the Pro-Am competition page HERE.
Through the Gertie Brolly and the Pro-Am and Julie’s own golfing experiences, Julie believed there was a gap in womens golf and decided to investigate further.
Like everyone across the globe, 2020, resulted in Julie being in unfamiliar territory, stuck at home and between projects. A good friend introduced Julie to the team running the BRENDA KING FOURSOMES, a national foursomes competition for Senior, 50 and over, women, previously run by England Golf, who had decided to remove it from their annual competition schedule. The tournament was taken over by a team of past entrants, who believed that the competition should continue, and came together to organise and run the competition. The team needed a website and asked Julie to help out.
The introduction to and playing in the Brenda King Foursomes whetted Julie’s appetite for new golfing experiences and competitions with like minded women and she quickly found out there while the national, county and club structures offer a lot of good golfing opportunities, outside of this network, club opens and regional women’s veteran golf associations, there is little opportunity to play with women in other regions of the UK or internationally.
Encouraged through conversations with the Brenda King organiser’s, other players in the event, Julie carried out further research, into different initiatives in womens golf, including the WOMEN IN GOLF CHARTER by the RANDA and its implementation by the national governing bodies. The current main focus is on the health and social contact benefits of golf, and is aimed at attracting new women golfers and their families, as well as creating new employment opportunities for women in golf.
Julies’ research, showed that there was a potential gap in the current opportunities for women who had played golf for a number of years, often to a high level. In addition there is a desire by women returning to golf or starting afresh, who are interested in participating in a broader range of competitive and fun events with like minded women, not only in their club, local area, but further afield both nationally and internationally.
To confirm this belief, Julie put together a comprehensive survey, which she ran in November 2020, to learn more about women’s view of the golfing opportunities currently available to them. The survey went out to Julies golfing contacts, the Brenda King 2020 entrants and the members of the MIDLAND LADIES VETERANS GOLF ASSOCIATION. Within 48 hours of the survey landing in women’s inboxes, over 530 had responded and the findings proved there is an appetite for more women’s regional and national competitions.
Specifically women are interested in
playing more competitive golf
being part of a national league
playing golf with like-minded women
A summary of the results can be found below:
No initiative comes to be without the help and support of a team of advisors and collaborators and Women on the Tee is no exception, while Julie has been the catalyst, there has been a small team of close advisors, including but not limited to
David Wingfield, Debbie Richards, Janet Davies, Katrina Davis, Laura Scanga, Mandy Ambert, Nick Stocking, Sally Parrish, Sharon Eales, Stuart Melville, Vincent Boon.
Women on the Tee’s aim is to create a pathway for women golfers who enjoy competing in regional, national and international events.
Women on the Tee have developed an initial events schedule which compliments the main regional and national senior women’s competitions across the UK.
Our competition formats for 2021 will be:
Individual WHS Qualifying Strokeplay
4BBB
All female, both amateur and pros, Pro-Am, in partnership with the WPGA and the PGA
Below is our 2021, competition and events schedule which we hope is the first year of a growing annual schedule of competitions and events for women golfers to participate in and enjoy.
If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please email me at:
