Winchburgh Niddry Castle Golf Club in Scotland has more than doubled its female membership in the past three years thanks to two initiatives aimed at encouraging women and girls to try the sport.
The club’s female membership now stands at 24 percent, which is double the national average for women’s membership in a Scottish golf club.
Scottish Golf believes the club could provide a blueprint for other golf clubs to follow in building popularity of the sport among women and girls.
The club’s increase in female membership is largely due to the club’s entry level coaching courses entitled ‘Get Confident in the Basics for Women’.
There has now been eight editions of the course, with more than half of all participants continuing to play the game and apply for club membership.
The historic club’s female membership has risen from 22 to 49 since 2022.
However, it’s not just the adult membership that has grown. There has been a recent influx of girls, courtesy of the club’s adoption of Scottish Golf’s Girls’ Golf Hub programme.
Sixteen new girls came on board in May when John Pritchard, the club’s head coach, initiated a scheme to offer coaching to girls aged seven to 16 in and around Scotland’s fastest-growing community.
Now, beyond the initial six-week Hub stage, 13 girls are members and continue to benefit from coaching under the Golf Foundation’s Girls’ Golf Scholarship.
