Haverfordwest has become the first golf club in Wales to achieve Gold of the Women in Golf Charter, in recognition of the club’s dedication to fostering inclusivity.
The updated Charter was launched in line with the Women’s Golf Legacy Fund in January this year, helping Wales Golf create a more inclusive environment in golf in Wales.
The club will benefit from funding to improve women’s greenkeeper facilities, with a quarter of the greenkeeping staff being female. They are one of 49 clubs across Wales benefitting from the Welsh Government £1 million fund aimed at improving facilities for women, girls and people with disabilities around Welsh golf clubs. The fund and Charter will form part of the legacy of hosting the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl at the end of July, the biggest female sporting event ever hosted in Wales.
Haverfordwest has become the first club in Wales to earn the Women in Golf Charter since Wales Golf relaunched new bronze, silver and gold standards this year, to boost the Charter brought in by The R&A and other golf bodies in 2018.
“Wales Golf and The R&A are encouraging golf clubs to adopt the Charter, so congratulations to Haverfordwest on not only being the first club in Wales to achieve these new standards, but to go straight in at Gold level,” said Zoe Davies, ED&I Project Lead for Wales Golf.
“Attaining the Charter was a requirement of being able to qualify for legacy funding, with 49 clubs around Wales qualifying to have a share of the million pound boost for Welsh golf, so there will be more clubs following suit. We relaunched the Women in Golf Charter in January this year to include bronze, silver and gold categories. The aim of the Charter is to increase the number of women and girls playing and working in golf.
“It is also about developing a culture that values women’s involvement in every aspect of the sport. Haverfordwest have equal access to the course for all full, seven days a week members, regardless of gender. Along with half of the club management being female, they also have more than 20% female representation in membership.
“Other core commitments of the Charter include delivering beginner programmes such as New2Golf and having a membership pathway for women and girls. Haverfordwest’s commitment sets a powerful example for clubs across the country and we hope their success inspires many other clubs to follow in their footsteps. The club will also benefit from the Women’s Golf Legacy Fund with a project to improve greenkeeper facilities – a good example of how Haverfordwest is displaying golf is a profession for all genders.”
Haverfordwest Women’s Captain Nicky Reeves added, “We were delighted to get the confirmation, to be the first in Wales to receive the Gold Women in Golf Charter. Wales Golf talked to us about what we needed to do, we looked at the Charter and realised we already had a lot of it in place, which is a testament to members past. The women here championed playing golf with the men 40 years ago.
“We looked at our staff, we have one woman on our greens staff, two women on our management board, New2Golf started here 14 years ago and has gone really, really well, so we thought we have started on a good standing. We did a poll recently and discovered 23 percent of our current women members have come through New2Golf. We are starting that again in June, along with Junior New2Golf and Girls New2Golf as well.
“When clubs start to look at the Charter they might realise they have lots of it in place, they are not starting from scratch. If they need any help or encouragement, they know we are here and they can easily contact us.”
As a result of their achievement, Haverfordwest Golf Club has received 20 tickets to the upcoming AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl from 30 July – 3 August.
“We are delighted to have these tickets, ladies here are excited about going. A lot of women have not been to a professional tournament so to see the top players at a course near us is just a different buzz,” added Reeves.