‘As women golfers, we’ve just not been part of the story’

Emma Booth isn’t employed by Taylormade, but she has had a profound impact on their business. Upset at their lack of female ambassadors and products for women, she called them out on Twitter and set off a chain reaction which has led to the birth of the Taylormade Ladies Advisory Board and the launch of a new women’s range of clubs this summer.

I think golf has always had a bit of an image problem. When I started my PGA qualification in 2007, I almost felt like the odd one out because, as a woman, I was in the minority. It was the same when I was a junior. I was a member of a golf club, which didn’t have a junior girls’ section. I had to use cut-down men’s clubs because women and kids were never really catered for. It did feel as if we were treated like second class citizens – and that continued into my adult life.

I probably should have said something before but because it had almost become the norm, you kind of accept it. But then I went to a launch day for the Taylormade M6 at Mercedes-benz World in 2018 and everything just felt so wrong. I was just coming back off my second maternity leave at the time and I remember watching the promotional video which didn’t feature any women. It was clear that we were not part of the story. I asked a question, almost sarcastically, whether they made clubs for women. I wanted to challenge them, to make them see what I was seeing. It didn’t feel right that I was expected to stock and sell their products at Winchester Golf Academy when a lot of my customers are not even thought about.

When I called them out on Twitter afterwards, I never expected to receive a response. But David Silvers, who is the brand’s MD, came to see me at the Academy. He admitted that I had highlighted something they weren’t doing and they were going to make some changes. And he was absolutely good on his word. Within a few months the Ladies Advisory Board was set up and I was invited to become part of it alongside some amazing women in the golf industry from across Europe.

We meet every quarter now to talk about improving the culture for women in golf. We get to meet the engineers at Taylormade and we give them feedback on our experiences of what works and what doesn’t work. It’s all very collaborative, with the sole purpose of improving women’s golf and creating some hype around ladies’ golf clubs, like the new Kalea range.

One of the things I said to David was that I couldn’t fathom why they weren’t sponsoring any women on tour. A few months later I got a visit from David Abeles, the President and CEO of Taylormade, who wanted to tell me that they had plans in place to build a Team Taylormade featuring female golfers. That’s how quickly they acted on it all.

Custom fitting for women is our next big focus. If you go to any demo day, it’s primarily filled with men and men’s clubs. We want to make women aware that there are options available. Taylormade now have a female technician who’s running some custom fitting days in Scotland and we’re looking to do the same at Winchester. The onus is now on us to put the work in ourselves and spread the word.

What makes me so passionate about it all is that I’m a mum of three girls. I’m very aware that growing up, all they ever see is men playing sport and being featured as the headliners. I want them to grow up in a world where they see women playing sport and they feel considered when they walk into a pro shop. It shouldn’t feel like a box-ticking exercise anymore.