Changing the Course

Women are reshaping golf, from participation to leadership, and the game is stronger for it

Efforts to grow the game of golf in Colorado have exploded beyond the traditional institutions behind the game.

There is now a growing network of clubs, meet-up organizations, clinics and other groups all bent on bringing down the barriers women feel about joining the game.

“The intimidation factor about males continues to dominate the golf industry,” said Lauren Gracey, a 29-year-old Denver Realtor.

Gracey is like many millennial-age women who picked up the game during or shortly after Covid. Looking for more options for women-centered gatherings, she started the Denver Golf Collective, which runs a series of events on the front range meant to bring more women to the game.

They have couples-clinics, summer lesson series, and clinics designed for beginners – 9-hole scrambles and other formats. Through the winter they’ve kept it going with indoor-golf tournaments at local golf-lounges.

“I think it allows them to take the mental barrier down – when you’re surrounded by a lot of dudes who always feel it,” she said. “You can make a mistake or ask questions – if you haven’t played it’s a very learned sport – it’s not something you can just pick up.” She said her group is trying to offer a way for young women to feel comfortable on the course. “It’s about finding a community of people who actually enjoy playing together.”

The National Golf Foundation released new data that shows the number of on-course women golfers over the past 20 years.

It shows one thing loud-and-clear: as popular as golf has become among millennial men since the Covid-pandemic, women have joined the game at an even higher rate.

“When it comes to post-pandemic participation gains in recreational golf, women and girls have outpaced their male counterparts and accounted for a greater share of growth,” the NGF report concluded. “Over the past six years (from 2020 to 2025), there has been a 45 percent rise in the number of on-course, female golfers. This participant pool has experienced a net gain of 2.5 million, climbing to more than 8.1 million in total, the highest count on record.”

The number of women golfers was 7.1 million in early 2000s, but dipped with the 2008 recession, then soared after 2020. The PGA of America Colorado section has an ongoing effort to not just get women into playing the game, but working it. The PGA of America is responsible for training and credentialing the thousands of teaching and operations pros who run clubs and courses. It has been a priority to have more women work in the industry partly because then more women will see people who like them taking part in golf.

The PGA of America’s released a series of testimonials last month from women who work already in the game encouraging others to be open to the golf industry.

Kelly Deimund, a PGA professional since 2007, has worked at the Club at Cordillera and the Country Club of the Rockies for much of her career and recommends that women ‘know your value.’

“You bring a unique and highly valuable skill set to an industry that has historically been male-dominated and you have the ability to shape your own career path,” she said.

The Colorado Golf Association runs 10 tournaments for amateur women players across the state and administers six qualifying tournaments this summer here in Colorado for national USGA tournaments. This summer the CGA became involved in supporting a new tournament, held by the newly-created Sapphire Tour, which was looking to conduct it’s first Colorado tournament for African-American women golfers. Ben Pennymon, the director of golf at CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned by the CGA, sought to bring the Sapphire Tour to the course and CGA CEO Ed Mate said the CGA threw its full support behind it.

“It all came together very quickly, and I think a lot of seeds were planted for next year,” Mate said. “The participants and their parents or their followers who traveled from out of state said it was one of the best tournaments they’ve attended. So it was a real shining moment for the state of Colorado and for CommonGround Golf Course, and it’s all because of Ben’s passion for the game and particularly for getting people who are traditionally not really been part of the game or been boxed out, (getting them) a chance to be a part of it.”

Tarek DeLavallade created the Sapphire Tour two seasons ago and said the CGA made its first Colorado event possible.

The competitors, many of whom played college golf at HBCU schools, played for a $12,500 purse with $4,500 going to the winner. “The partnership and what we felt as far as being embraced came directly from the Colorado Golf Association,” DeLavallade said. First the CGA board of directors members got involved to help financially support the effort, then reached out to local companies for more. “We had other small and medium-sized companies from around the community who invested in the success of the event as well,” DeLavallade said. “So, from law firms and attorneys to small businesses and different respects, they all leaned in to help us offset some of those costs.”

The tournament had 18 local women participate in a golf clinic along with 24 junior golfers. About 100 spectators came out for the competition each day. They are making plans now for a 2027 return.

Mate said that since the CGA merged with the Colorado Women’s Golf Association in 2018 it has been a priority to not allow the CWGA’s focus and goals to get lost within the larger organization.

“We saw that as a rallying cry for women’s golf – really making sure that we make keep our promise. Because when we merge with the CWGA, one of the fears among the women leaders of the CWGA was that the legacy and the priority of women’s golf would be diminished. And that has not happened.”