For Pleasure, They’re All Business Women’s Ranks Continue To Grow On Area Courses

Kelly Lane deflected her father’s pleas to play golf with him for years.

It’s just too difficult, thought Lane, a product manager for a Spokane Valley telecommunications manufacturer.

“But I finally went out with him last year, and I was hooked,” says Lane, 32. “I took to it right away. That very first game I shot a 61 (for nine holes).”

This spring, Lane joined the Ladies Golf League at MeadowWood Golf Course near Liberty Lake. Blessed with an already-enthusiastic personality, she can’t wait for her first tournament of the season.

But more than just competition, golf has given Lane - and a growing number of women - a place where they can relax and get a little exercise as they cultivate links-nurtured business relationships once the province of men.

“It’s something our company encourages, to get our best customers out on the golf course,” she says. “Plus, you’ve got their undivided attention for 2-1/2 hours (when you play nine holes).”

Business isn’t the only reason women are coming to golf. Frustrated golf widows may want to spend more time with their husbands, and many others are looking for a way to stay healthy.

Ten years ago, there were just 13,110 women members of the Washington State Golf Association, which tracks and handicaps the state’s competitive golfers. By 1996, the ladies’ scrolls had risen to over 22,000 - out of more than 90,000 total golfers.

While estimates vary on the size of the Spokane area’s female golfing community, both course pros and local players from around the region agree that the sport’s feminine side is healthy and growing.

“I’ve got some ladies taking lessons who are 60, young ladies who are 14 and everything in between,” says Mollie Thola, an assistant pro at MeadowWood Golf Course since 1988. “It’s a good outing, it’s competitive, and it’s something they can do for the rest of their lives.”

At Indian Canyon Golf Course, 15 to 20 percent of the golfers are women, but they account for roughly 25 percent of all people taking lessons at the west Spokane course.

Assistant pro Dave Christenson said that may be because women are more hesitant than men to simply go out on the course and hack away - slice or hook be damned.

“I think it has resulted in a higher percentage of better woman golfers,” says Christenson, explaining that while the golfers in the Indian Canyon Women’s Golf Club may not hit as far as their male counterparts, they are keen on developing their skills.

One outcome of that, Christenson said, is that women now often wait on male foursomes searching for their balls in the trees.

“I’d say, if anything, the men hold up the women,” he said. “The women may know their capabilities more than the men.”

Nona Rick took up golfing at the Coeur d’Alene Public Golf Club after she and her husband retired to North Idaho five years ago. Along with owning Par-Time Golf, a custom-club fitter and golf specialty shop in Coeur d’Alene, she is president of the women’s golf club at her home course.

“When we were raising a family in Reno, Nevada, there was never the opportunity to golf,” Rick says. “Now, I’m addicted. And I want to be better at it.”

She began playing in the 9-hole league four years ago, then graduated to the 18-hole group she swings with now. Like many of the other area courses, the Coeur d’Alene Public Golf Club also has a Working Women’s League, where business professionals who are tied up during the day can golf on balmy summer evenings. Four years ago, it began with just 12 players; last year, that number grew to 75.

Why has golf become so popular among women?

“You don’t have to be good at it to play,” Rick says. “You go at your own pace. You can be competitive, but it’s also social. You can choose.”

Ricks said sales to women have risen to 20 percent of the total business at Par-Time.

Brad Sherwood, owner of Wide World of Golf in Spokane, said there’s no question that women represent an ever-more important share in the marketing concerns of golf equipment companies.

“It’s still not near the percentage it is for men, but it is increasing,” Sherwood said. “Especially when you see these companies offering really nice, top-grade equipment for the ladies.”

Cebe Moore, a Spokane Realtor, began playing at Manito Golf and Country Club when she was 5, some 57 years ago. She played at North Central High School when tennis and golf were the only sports offered to girls.

Since then, the links have been her place of choice for socializing, wooing clients, or networking with others in the trade.

“I’ve been doing it for years,” says Moore, who was president of the Spokane Area Women’s Golf Association back in 1969. This year, she’s president of the MeadowWood Women’s Golf Club.

There are 40 women in the MeadowWood club, which was started in 1988, the same year the course opened. At other more established courses like Indian Canyon or in Coeur d’Alene, women’s club membership is nearing 100 golfers. Judging simply from the number of new players she’s seen in recent years, Moore says, it won’t stop there.

“I’d say we’re growing,” Moore says. “Maybe not by leaps and bounds, but it’s holding its own.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ON THE RISE One sign of the sport’s strength among female players is the amount of gender-specific equipment now being sold in golf pro shops. This includes shoes, low-compression balls, and clubs with more flexible shafts.