13
April
2023
Hailed a great success in bringing together women from across the UK golf industry, Walton Heath Golf Club, venue for the 2023 AIG Women’s Open, hosted its first Women In Golf Summit on Friday 31st March. The summit brought together women from across the UK golf industry with four keynote speakers and was presented by The Jazzy Golfer. The summit was the brainchild of Walton Heath Golf Club Chief Executive Officer and GCMA member, Alex Woodward, and was hailed a great success by more than 75 women who attended. Woodward said: “Whilst the overall number of women in the golf industry is still too low, the number of leaders in our industry who just happen to be women is very healthy. This Summit served to highlight these leaders, network and showcase them formally to as many more women as possible with the goal of facilitating a bigger wave of involvement in the future.” In attendance were women from club management, event management, player management, TV & broadcasting, golf architecture, agronomy, greenkeeping, sales and marketing, sustainability, county governing bodies, national governing bodies, international governing bodies, golf tourism, golf professionals, golf fashion, golf club manufacturing, golf nutrition, insight collection, journalism, charities, professional tours and more. Kerry Alligan-Smith - general manager at Redditch and GCMA director - attended as a delegate, and said: "It was an absolute pleasure to be part of the Summit and to be surrounded by such amazing talent from within our industry. "The day was full of insights, positivity and a real drive to encourage, empower and celebrate females in all areas of golf. Thank you to Alex Woodward and Jemma Overing for hosting such a fantastic day and I hope this will become an annual event." Zoe Ridgway, Championship Director - AIG Women’s Open, The R&A, served as one of the Summit’s keynote speakers. With a career spanning 20 years, Zoe shared stories about her time working in the golf industry, highlighting the importance of women progressing into senior leadership positions. The audience also heard from Vicky Cuming, Vice-President, Head of Golf Clients, IMG EMEA, in addition to Broadcaster and Sky Sports Presenter, Inci Mehmet and Founder of Medi8 Golf, Nicole Wheatley. The day was presented brilliantly by The Jazzy Golfer. Zoe Ridgeway With Walton Heath Golf Club hosting the AIG Women’s Open for the first time this year, it was fitting for the Championship Director, Zoe Ridgway, to deliver a keynote message, and she said afterwards: “Walton Heath’s Women in Golf Summit was an excellent opportunity for women working across the golf industry to come together. It really highlighted what opportunities are possible within golf and I hope that it inspired those in attendance to continue to aspire towards long and successful careers.” Vicky Cuming, who has guided the careers of Dame Laura Davies and two-time European Solheim Cup Captain Catriona Matthew, along with current standouts Georgia Hall and Charley Hull, shared some of her experiences from managing professional golfers. Vicky said afterwards: “The energy in the... Please LOGIN to read the full article.
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