General Manager Matt Parsley is hoping an investment in facilities will increase diversity in the course maintenance team at Conwy.
Conwy Golf Club is investing £100,000 into new facilities in a bid to attract female greenkeeping staff and improve its overall offering to women.
The North Wales venue received a cash boost from the Women’s Golf Legacy fund to renovate its greenkeeping compound and develop a new halfway house, with both projects including facilities specifically for women.
The £20,000 funding is part of a £1million programme launched by the Welsh government, through Wales Golf, aimed at creating more opportunities and improving infrastructure for women and girls in the sport. The initiative aligns with the upcoming AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl, which marks the largest women’s sporting event ever hosted in Wales.
About Matt Parsley
A Level 3 Accredited Manager and PGA Senior Manager with almost two decades of management experience, Matt Parsley started out as an Assistant Pro at Royal Liverpool in 1995.
After qualifying in 2000, he became Club Pro at Holywell, where he spent almost 18 years, eight of which saw him also serving as Manager.
In 2016, he earned his PGA Director of Golf qualification, and in 2018, he took on the role of General Manager at Conwy.
Conwy is in the process of delivering on a two-pronged plan to enhance its own offering, with General Manager Matt Parsley optimistic about adding a female member to an eight-strong course maintenance team already producing exceptional playing surfaces.
“We actively want to try to recruit female greenkeepers, but we’ve not had the facilities where we could cater for them,” he explained. “Part of this funding is going towards an upgrade to our greenkeepers’ welfare unit to include female showers and female toilets.
“The greenkeeping team is the only department in the club that that is all male, so it’s something we’re working on.
“I think when you can see something you can be it, and we want women and girls to see people like them working within our greenkeeping team and know that’s a thing they can do too.”
A new halfway house with facilities for men and women is also in development, with the project scheduled to be completed in September.
The finished work will represent a boost to Conwy’s inclusion efforts, an area in which Parsley believes the club has made great strides.
“We’re quite forward-thinking and we’re trying to do as much as we can,” he said. “We’ve got joint male and female club captains who are of equal standing, and we’ve got inclusive tee sheets on a Saturday.
“All of our competition days are inclusive, so if there’s a men’s event there’s also a women’s one and it’s all on an open tee sheet. Ultimately, we want to encourage everyone to enjoy their golf here.”
