Focus vs. Fun - Lessons from the LPGA Founders Cup

By: Nancy Berkley


This past Sunday, the LPGA Tour's Founders Cup honored the 13 women who founded the LPGA in 1950. The winner of the Founders Cup was Hyo Joo Kim, a Korean golfer who according to Golf Channel/NBC announcer, Judith Rankin, has one of the most beautiful swings on the LPGA Tour.

Kim's victory should make the JTCB, a Korean cable company and sponsor of the Founder Cup, very happy. And the Wildfire Golf Club at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Course & Spa near Phoenix was a perfect location. Built in the 1990s, it's among the first wave of golf clubs to offer a "resort" experience.

But, it was runner-up Stacy Lewis of the U.S. that won me over. In the final stretch, she demonstrated an amazing and visibly competitive spirit that showed awesome concentration and focus.

The current marketing strategy for growing women's golf in the U.S - and I am part of that think-tank - it to stress the friends and fun the game offers women. But, after watching the Founders Cup final round, I am inspired by Stacy's performance in a slightly different way.

Last week, I participated in my club's end-of-season club championship. With my USGA Handicap Index of 18, I competed in the second division. And even though we have several hundred women golfers, only four entered the competition in my division. I was runner-up - losing on the 17th hole to my opponent.

Every club I know of has a hard time fielding their women's club championship tournaments - at all skill levels. I hear the explanations: "Women don't like playing head-to-head; it just requires too much concentration; it's too hard and just not fun; who wants to lose and be runner-up?"

And yet it was concentration, dedication and focus that inspired the Founders of the LPGA. It was hard work for 13 women - from different backgrounds and different parts of the country - to create the LPGA back in 1950. It was hard to pack up cars and drive all over the country -- some even with their babies.

But what brought them together was their love of the game. They didn't win every one of their matches. We owe them everything we can do to grow the game of golf for women and girls. Women's golf promises both fun and friendships. That's what makes it so special.

The number of women and girls playing golf in the U.S. is growing. It's one of the few bright spots in the U.S. golf demographic landscape. And it's growing from the bottom up! The LPGA Girls Golf Program now reaches 40,000 girls. Congratulations to Kiernan Schindler who heads up Girls Golf, sponsored by both the LPGA and the USGA.

The Founders Cup is the sixth tournament of the LPGA Tour's 2015 season. It has always been one of my favorite events because my first set of golf clubs were Wilson's Patty Berg signature clubs. That dates me!

Berg was one of the founders of the LPGA and lived in Minneapolis. I grew up in St. Paul and went to the University of Minnesota. Probably Patty's headlines in the local paper were the main reason I knew golf was not just a man's game.

This 2015 season is a high point for the LPGA and its founders. With 33 tournaments (not counting the Solheim Cup in Germany in September), the LPGA's schedule is back to its historic place in women's golf history.

The LPGA's "Asian Swing" in Australia, Thailand and Shanghai, which intentionally is scheduled during the U.S. fall football season, is behind us. The Founders Cup this past weekend reminded of us of the tour's roots.

And now, it's on to the rest of the season. The Kia Classic in Carlsbad, Calif., March 26-29 is next. And then the LPGA's first major - newly repackaged as the ANA Inspiration - will be played at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., April 2-5.

I don't think they removed the bronze statue of Dinah Shore at Mission Hills. And let's hope that there is water in Poppy's Pond for the winner! And let's make sure that women and girls find both fun and focus in the game of golf and continue to honor the founders of the LPGA.

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.