Wales Golf has won a prestigious Welsh Sports Association award for its work encouraging more women and girls to give golf a go in the year Wales hosted the AIG Women’s Open.
The world’s best players challenging each other on Welsh soil in Royal Porthcawl last summer was the biggest female sporting event ever held in Wales, with a Women’s Golf Legacy Fund supporting getting women and girls into golf.
The 2026 Welsh Sports Association Awards were held at the Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff, recognising nine winning organisations and celebrating some of the brilliant work carried out in the last year, with the attendance of the newly appointed Minister for Culture and Sport Heledd Ffychan MS.
Wales Golf were the recipients of the award for the Best Initiative to Promote Women in Sport and Physical Activity, sponsored by Howden.
The legacy from the AIG Women’s Open increased interest and participation in golf, encouraged a stronger community engagement and enhanced visibility for women’s golf.
The Women’s Golf Legacy Fund of £1m opened up spending of three million pounds around Wales golf clubs, enhancing female facilities on more than three-quarters of Welsh golf courses, combined with the Give Golf a Go campaign, working with elite female athletes from five other sports.
“We are delighted to have received this recognition,” said Wales Golf Chief Executive, Hannah McAllister. “There was a lot of hard work last summer setting up the fund, allocating the grants and seeing the projects through, but it was certainly worth it to see the improved facilities at so many Welsh golf clubs.
“It was also great to see the world’s best female golfers in Porthcawl, and it also opened up plenty of opportunities for young golfers to meet them and watch the action. The Give Golf a Go campaign was also inspiring – from watching elite athletes from other sports to people turning up at our sessions around Wales. It was a remarkable year for female sport with a Women’s Rugby World Cup and football Women’s Euros, so it was great for golf to be a part of it.
“Then to have recognition of our peers through the Welsh Sports Association underlines how special all those opportunties to make a difference were.”
The £1m Welsh Government fund helped ensure a lasting legacy from hosting the world’s best female players in Royal Porthcawl, with Japan’s Miyu Yamashita winning the event. The Women’s Golf Legacy Fund created a long-lasting change, addressing barriers faced by women and girls in golf.
It provided grants to golf clubs for projects across Wales, creating faclilities focussed on developing inclusive, family-friendly and gender-equal facilities, reflecting the Welsh Government’s commitment to using major events to inspire change. It led to a massive improvement in facilities such as on-course toilets and changing rooms.
The Give Golf a Go campaign included free days across Wales with hundreds of women and girls taking part, following a launch which saw female athletes from the Welsh Rugby Union, Glamorgan Cricket, LexisNexis Dragons and Judo try golf for the first time.