By Jack McDonald, National Golf Programs Manager at Belgravia Leisure.
Growth of diverse golf participation is crucially important to the future of golf, and we are currently witness to women’s sport taking great strides forward both on a domestic and international front.
With a strong belief that golf is a game for everyone, regardless of their physical ability, financial capacity, gender, cultural background, or stage of life, Belgravia Leisure offers a range of beginner’s programs in partnership with Golf Australia and local government areas to encourage participation.
And as a part of our commitment in doing our part to ensure golf is a game for everyone, in January 2025 Belgravia Leisure became just the second golf management company in the country to sign the R&A Women in Golf Charter. This single signing has the potential to make a widespread impact on the Australian golf landscape by improving participation and leadership opportunities for women and girls, as well as maximising their potential at all levels of the sport.
Across our nine publicly accessible golf facilities nationally, we are also regularly implementing programs and initiatives that are directly shifting the culture of golf by enhancing diversity, removing barriers and providing opportunities for more people to participate in the sport we love.
A recent example of an innovative initiative introduced to encourage a new cohort of the community to try golf is the Coreswing Program at Yarrambat Park Golf Course. By integrating mat Pilates—a popular and accessible form of exercise for women—with golf instruction, Yarrambat was able to communicate to a group of women, many of which hadn’t considered trying golf before. The program was a hit, with the first term of the program selling out in three days.
Additionally, Belgravia Leisure golf courses regularly hold a range of community events to raise funds for local causes via our charity partner, Belgravia Foundation, to assist residents who experience disadvantage to golf participation. This fundraising allows for programs such as the All-Abilities initiative – driven by Golf Australia and supported by Belgravia Foundation – to thrive across several of our courses.
Our organisation’s mission is to bring leisure to life, and Belgravia Leisure is motivated to achieve this for golf in all its forms. We are a firm believer in the long lasting physical and mental health benefits golf provides to communities around the world, and we want more females to benefit from this incredible sport.
Belgravia Leisure is dedicated to enabling golf to flourish in the years ahead, with a demonstrated commitment to the sport with no less than $5 million dollars invested over the past five years.
We are proud to have already achieved a wide range of outcomes that have directly influenced the growth of women’s golf in Australia including:
- A national commitment to offer the Get into Golf Women’s program.
- The creation of our nature play themed mini golf ‘Goanna Golf’ which is providing girls access to golf in a fun inclusive environment.
- Implementation of Women’s state open events at our Victorian Golf facilities.
- Greater gender diversity within our executive leadership team.
Moving forward, we have committed to the following as part of our Belgravia Leisure golf strategic plan:
- Fostering and developing female leadership opportunities at our golf courses.
- Commitment to supporting the Golf Australia/PGA Women & Girls month.
- Investment in the community facilities we manage to create spaces that are appealing to women.
- Continued commitment to innovative programming to grow female participation.
Belgravia Leisure look forward to continuing to implement programs and initiatives at our golf courses that will directly influence the growth of women’s golf and deliver a positive change within the golf industry.
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