What's Really New on the Newest Website for Women Golfers

By: Nancy Berkley

The newest and most comprehensive website for women and girls who play golf or want to play golf has arrived. And, as one of the members of the task force that helped design and implement www.GolfForHer.com, it is with great pride that I write about and explain its unique features.

The site delivers exactly what its mission statement promises: "The Ultimate Resource for Women and Girls Who Play Golf or Aspire to Play Golf." It's the result of a two-year collaborative team of women representing the major U.S. associations, organizations and media resources that promote women's and junior-girls golf.

The site was officially launched on January 21 at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla., by Steve Mona, the CEO of the World Golf Foundation. The WGF coordinates and oversees many initiatives within the golf industry. And fortunately, the development of a website for women golfers was one of the initiatives.

As we stood on the Forum Stage at the PGA Show for the official launch of GolfForHer.com, we shared a great sense of accomplishment. Mona led us through some tough decision making. But our teamwork paid off and brought those happy, proud smiles to our faces.

In the accompanying photo (from left to right) are: Pam Swensen, Executive Director, EWGA; Debbie Waitkus, President, Golf for Cause; Stina Sternberg, Global Golf Director and Columnist, Golf Digest; Le Ann Finger, Director of Player Development, EWGA; Sandy Cross, Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion, PGA of America; Jen Weiler, Vice President, Strategic Alignment, The First Tee; Peggy Norton, Project Coordinator, Golf 2020; Victoria Martz, President, Victoria Martz Golf; Nancy Henderson, President, LPGA Foundation; Nancy Berkley, President, Berkley Golf Consulting [not shown: Cathy Harbin, Vice President Corporate Revenue, ClubCorp; Donna Fiedorowitz, Tournament Activation and Outreach, PGA Tour; Beth Major, Director Public Services, USGA. Recently added members of the GolfForHer team are Clemmie Perry, President of Women of Color Golf and Kathleen Walinsky, President of the WGC Cadillac Match Play Event.]

When our task force began developing the website, we all agreed on several basic goals. We wanted it to be one that all junior and women golfers would look at regularly - where they would find encouragement as well as good content. And the content had to serve all skill levels including those that were still wondering where to take their first lesson as well as those playing in their club championship.

About Social Media: As we worked through our mission, we realized that in order for the site to be relevant to the increasing number of junior girls and younger women coming into the game, we had to incorporate social media. As a result, when a reader finds an article on GolfForHer that she wants to share, she can post it on Twitter, send it to her Facebook page or use Instagram. And, of course, she can also just email it.

One girl or woman (a guy as well) reading GolfForHer.com now can reach hundreds - thousands - of women by passing along an article or just a comment about it. A special Twitter feature at the end of the website called "Who We're Following" facilitates even more communication. "Who We're Following" streams in tweets from hundreds of golfers, golf writers and industry leaders. Readers can just reply, retweet or favorite the tweet. Golfers of my generation, who remember when they first used email or the internet, must now learn all about social media. In order to grow women's golf, learning to tweet may be almost as important as learning to putt.

New Photo Contest: An example of how GolfForHer will use social media is evidenced by a photo contest just announced on February 9th. Using Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for the next six weeks, GolfForHer readers will be able to post a picture that shows why golf is such a great sport for women and girls.Readers can post to Twitter and/or Instagram feeds with the hashtag #GolfForHer. Beginning April 1st, GolfForHer followers will be able to vote for the winning photo on Facebook. The winner of the photo contest will receive a full set of Ping Rhapsody clubs with matching bag.

I'm thinking of the photo I would post. Perhaps my granddaughter with her first set of golf clubs. Or would it be the view of the 18th green on my home course at twilight just as the moon peeks over the green? What photo will you submit to #GolfForHer?

But as our task force was incorporating all of our website features including social media, the cost to build the site was increasing. Did we have enough funding to get this done? Not really.

But, we were lucky! One of our task force members, Cathy Harbin, is Vice President, Golf Revenue, at ClubCorp USA. ClubCorp is a leading owner-operator of private golf and country clubs and private business clubs in North America. It operates a portfolio of over 200 golf and country clubs, business clubs, sports clubs, and alumni clubs in 26 states, the District of Columbia and two foreign countries. And ClubCorp stepped up with the critical funding that made it possible for us to build the website that would be the best resource for all female golfers in the U.S. and perhaps the world.

ClubCorp joins 10 other corporate and golf associations that supported the development of GolfForHer.com. Below the Featured Articles pictures on the opening page, are the logos of all the associations - listed in alphabetical order. A click on any association's logo will lead you to that association's website. If you always wanted to know more about the Executive Women's Golf Association, just click on the EWGA logo.

Featured Articles: When you first visit www.GolfForHer.com what will catch your attention are four photos which are leads to "Featured Articles." Featured Articles are generally news-based and change regularly. The articles are short and quick reads which fits our website style.

Top-Bar Tabs: If the Featured Articles don't interest you, or if you are looking for a particular topic or answers to a particular question, just look above the four Featured Article photos to the black horizontal bar just below our mission statement. Here you will see seven topic tabs which for me are the "spine" of the web site. Here is how they are organized.

Skill-based Tabs. The first four top tabs in the black horizontal bar are skill-based: New to Golf, Recreational, Competitive and Juniors. By clicking the "New to Golf" tab, a reader is able to quickly find out where to take lessons and begin her golf journey. And at the other end of the skill-spectrum, a very "competitive" female golfer will learn about the new USGA Senior Women's Open. Our task force recognized that many women fall into a middle category that is beyond beginner but not competitive. We decided to use the term "Recreational" for that GolfForHer viewer.

"Recreational" golfers may play a few or many rounds per season, but probably the social element of being outdoors with friends just having fun -with a do-over "mulligan" here and there - is more important than winning or losing. But if you like matches with winners and losers and if you enjoy using the USGA Handicap System, you are more likely to find articles in the "Competitive" section helpful.

The Junior Tab was very important to our task force because we all know the importance of growing the junior girls programs. The Junior Tab has four sub-topics: Getting Started, Junior Programs, Finding an Instructor, and Advice. Families will find these topics a great source of information for their junior golfer.

Advice Tabs. Each of the skill-based tabs includes an "Advice" section. But the innovative feature of GolfForHer.com is that the "Advice" articles are also collected under the top line "Advice" tab. This is an innovative and intentional duplication. If you are looking for a section to read often, I recommend that you frequently browse through "Advice." Since women golfers play golf for many different reasons and don't always fit into neat categories, the Advice tab serves as a rotating "catch-basin" for good advice.

There is another reason why I like the Advice tab. And that is that women golfers consistently under-estimate their skill level. Many new women golfers consider themselves "beginners" far too long. By looking through the Advice articles, more women golfers will be able to read articles that encourage them to move out of the "beginner" mind-set and get out on the course. Or, even to try out some competitive golf matches.

But if you have a particular topic you are looking for, dig deeper in the Advice tab. Although the "Advice" tab covers a lot of fairway, it is subdivided into four sections: Fitness, Instruction, Equipment and Rules & Etiquette. One of those sub-topics may have an answer to your questions.

Fringe Tab.The Fringe is very unique. First, "fringe" is a real golf term. It refers to the grass adjacent to the green that is sometimes (but not always) mowed to a length slightly longer than the grass on the putting green but shorter than the fairway grass. Not all courses are designed with fringe around the greens. Sometimes the fringe is also referred to as a "collar" because if mowed properly, it looks like a collar around the green.

Greens with fringe require players to make adjustments to the club they use and/or how hard they hit the ball. If a player hits a low shot planning to roll the ball through the fringe on to the green but does not put enough speed on the ball, the fringe may slow the ball down. In fact, the ball may just stop in the fringe! The Fringe Tab on GolfForHer.com is a play on words. It is a place for articles to stop for awhile. They may have appeared previously or in a different section, but The Fringe gives readers another chance - another "shot" - at looking at them.

Newsletter Tab. Don't forget to register for the weekly newsletter. The newsletter will be a selection of the most recent popular articles from the site and a reminder to revisit your favorite sections. For busy women, our short Newsletter will be their favorite feature.

Search Icon. Let's say you are invited to a corporate outing and want to know more about it. Use the search icon way at the end of the top bar and search "corporate outing." Up will come an article titled "Just Say Yes to That Golf Invitation." The article is one I wrote for cybergolf.com/womens golf that describes what to expect at corporate golf outings.

With so much information available on GolfForHer.com, a good question is, "What is the source for all this helpful information?" Fortunately, among our task force are representatives from all the major U.S. golf associations and publications.

For example, the articles I write for www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf tend to be lengthy and comprehensive to fit the style of cybergolf.com. But, for GolfForHer.com, I will select portions of a cybergolf.com article and edit it just for GolfForHer.

There is no shortage of content. Every one of the associations on our task force routinely writes and publishes articles about women's golf covering a broad range of topics. But, until now, there has never been a place to collect them, re-publish them and make them available to all the millions of female golfers in the U.S. Everyone on our task force will remember our discussion as we developed our mission statement and decided to put it up front on the first page of GolfForHer.com. We hope readers agree that "It's the Ultimate Resource For Women and Girls Who Play Golf or Aspire to Play Golf." Enjoy it, learn from it and play more golf.

Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women's golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, "Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women's Golf," published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. Nancy is a member of the World Golf Foundation Women's Committee that will be launching a comprehensive new website for all women golfers at the PGA Merchandise Show in January 2015 in Orlando, Fla. She is a featured speaker at PGA Section meetings and at national conferences. She was a contributing editor of "Golf for Women" magazine and a founding advisor of "Golfer Girl Magazine." Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.

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