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Taking the Scenic Route
Unsurprisingly, Jo Taylor wasn’t surrounded by golf-crazed friends when she first picked up a club at the age of eleven. Slightly more surprisingly, golf didn’t present itself to her through a golf-fanatic father or brother. Jo fell in love with the game on her own accord. Three years later, she was whisked away to Royal Lytham for the 2003 Women’s Open (from Essex to Lancashire for one day of golf; that’s some Class A parenting!), where she followed Annika Sorenstam en route to victory and even managed to blag an autograph; all in a day’s work. Jo was hooked.
The Right Attitude
Be it through Sorenstam’s Open heroics and a Swedish autograph or something else entirely, by the time Jo got to studying Applied Golf Management at Birmingham University, she was pleasantly surprised to find five other girls inspired to make golf a career.
Despite this, I think we can all agree that there is room for more women in the game of golf. Jo told me that ‘You get used to being a minority’ as a woman in golf. At face value this may paint a pitiful picture of the women’s game, but in actuality Jo doesn’t see this as an obstacle but says the fact ladies often ‘Have to try harder to get taken seriously’ simply fuels her desire.
Heart to Heart
When Heart FM’s Jenni Falconer approached her for lessons having never picked up a club before, Jo appeared to have an almighty task on her hands. Yet just six weeks later the presenter took to the GolfSixes Pro-Am with Jo as her caddy, highlighting the accessibility of golf for women and, in fact, all newcomers. This was part of a campaign run by love.golf, alongside the PGA’s of Europe, with the goal to ‘shine a light on various challenges, questions and benefits that can be experienced by women and girls getting into the game’ and ultimately ‘inspire a new generation of female golfers’, according to love.golf’s website.
The love.golf campaign is one very close to Jo’s heart and she will continue her work for the cause in future.
What Needs to Change?
‘Basic stuff’, Jo tells me. Despite her experience and prestige in the game, Jo admits to still getting nervous when visiting unfamiliar golf clubs. Why? A lack of signage, apparently. Now this doesn’t mean that a ‘Toilet This Way’ sign will add a thousand new members to every golf club, but Jo strongly feels a ‘change in environment for newcomers’ is necessary. There’s an onus on older existing members to create a more friendly, welcoming environment in the clubhouse. But Jo says that there is simply ‘no need’ for every single golfer to play competitions and earn a handicap, and that the pressure on beginners to do so can be extremely off-putting.
The attitude of running clubs is one that Jo feels golf clubs can learn from; allowing relaxed, recreational members as well as the serious competitors.
We talked for a long time about a range of topics in the sport, but there was one clear message coming across from Jo: Golf is accessible! More now than ever.
Written by Joe Carabini
