The Time Is Now: Why I Believe We Need to “Keep Her Playing”

I’ve spent my whole life in golf—learning, teaching, coaching, competing, mentoring, and building pathways for players of all ages. And if there’s one thing I know to be true, it’s this: women and girls are not leaving golf because they don’t love the game. They leave because, too often, there is not a clear, differentiated, strategic vision to support women and girls across every stage of their golf journey.

Women and girls are driving much of golf’s recent growth. Yet we continue to see a troubling gap between women who try golf and women who stay in golf. Retention isn’t a marketing problem. It’s a call to action. It’s about whether we are willing to come together around a shared vision of what golf can be for women and girls—and whether we are willing to back that vision with real action, intentional design, and sustained progress.

This is not about creating more programs. This is about creating better pathways. Pathways that meet women where they are, honor their unique journeys, and give them a reason to stay.

The Real Barriers Women Face (Across Teens, Working Women, and Senior Women)

Across every stage of life, I hear the same themes from women and girls:

• They don’t always feel psychologically safe to learn in public spaces.

• They don’t always feel like they belong in golf culture.

• They face real access barriers—time, cost, equipment, transportation, childcare, and scheduling.

• They internalize inconsistency as failure, instead of understanding it as part of learning.

• They experience intimidating environments that make ranges and courses feel unwelcoming.

For teen girls, this is amplified by social pressure, comparison, body confidence, and performance anxiety. For working women, it’s time scarcity, mental load, and the fear of slowing others down. For senior women, it’s re-entry anxiety, pace concerns, and feeling invisible in male-dominated spaces.

When women do not feel Safe, Seen, Heard, and Valued, they don’t fail at golf—they quietly leave it.

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What I’ve Learned About Retention: Keep Her Playing

Over decades of coaching, I’ve learned that retention isn’t built through swing changes alone. It’s built through culture, language, and belonging.

Lead With What Matters Most: Safe • Seen • Heard • Valued

These four values are the pillars of “Keep Her Playing”. When women feel psychologically safe to learn, seen as individuals, heard in their goals and concerns, and valued simply for showing up, they stay. This is not a “nice-to-have.” It is the work.

Coach the Person (We Are All Unique and Fabulous)

Every woman who comes to golf brings a different body, background, confidence level, schedule, and reason for being there. I believe deeply that there is no one-size-fits-all pathway in golf. When we coach the person—not just the swing—we create ownership, dignity, and momentum. We are all unique and fabulous, and our coaching environments should reflect that truth.

Design for Social and Emotional Belonging

People stay where they feel connected. Community is not a byproduct—it is a design choice. When women experience welcoming rituals, peer support, shared reflection, and moments of encouragement, golf becomes a place they want to return to.

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Golf as a Lifelong Journey: Mastery Is Non-Linear

I believe golf is a lifelong journey. Mastery is not merely a commitment to a goal, but to a curved-line, constant pursuit—one filled with starts, stops, progress, plateaus, setbacks, and breakthroughs. When we teach golf as a process instead of a destination, women stop judging themselves for not “arriving” and start enjoying the journey of becoming. Engagement and Support is the key.

At its best, golf is about people and community. It’s about relationships, shared experiences, and growing together across generations. And it’s about giving back—especially to our teenage girls—by modeling what it looks like to stay in the game, to belong, and to keep moving forward even when improvement isn’t linear.

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Why Keep Her Playing Exists

I created “Keep Her Playing” because I believe the future of women’s golf depends on what we do between a woman’s first swing and her decision to stay. Participation is important—but retention is everything.

Keep Her Playing is a framework, a culture, and a commitment to designing environments where women and girls feel Safe, Seen, Heard, and Valued; where consistency replaces perfection; where the person is coached alongside the player; and where golf is embraced as a lifelong, community-driven journey.

If you believe golf can be more than a game—if you believe it can be a pathway for confidence, connection, leadership, and giving back—then I invite you to join me in this work.

Let’s stop losing women and girls quietly.

Let’s start building places where they stay.

Let’s Keep Her Playing.