Golf Ireland has launched the first sector-wide Gender Equality Audit of Irish golf to assess the impact of its Women in Sport initiatives and identify where it can make further progress in creating a more inclusive game.
The research comes as Golf Ireland approaches the conclusion of its first strategic plan, Golf for Everyone, and will provide an evidence base for decisions around future participation programmes, governance supports and investment.
Supported through the Sport Ireland Women in Sport Programme, the project is being undertaken in partnership with Technological University of the Shannon and Ulster University, with Dr Aoife Lane and Dr Katie Liston leading the research.
A significant focus will be placed on Golf Ireland’s LevelPar programme, which brings together initiatives aimed at increasing female participation, strengthening inclusion and creating progression opportunities for women throughout the sport.
The audit will examine participation programmes including Get into Golf and Chip & Chat, as well as leadership and governance initiatives such as DriveON and the Women in Golf Charter.
The first phase of the research is a 20-minute online survey which opens today and will remain available for four weeks.
It is open to anyone involved with a golf club in the past 12 months, including members, volunteers, administrators, committee members and staff.
Importantly, Golf Ireland is seeking responses from both women and men, with the ambition of building a broader picture of how gender equality is understood and experienced throughout the sport.
“This research will give us a clear view of how women and girls experience golf on this island,” said Golf Ireland CEO Mark Kennelly.
“As we near the end of the current strategic plan, it’s the perfect time to assess the impact of the initiatives we have put in place.”
“We know progress has been made in recent years, but this audit will tell us where our programmes are working well and where they need to be strengthened, and it will shape the priorities we bring into our next strategic plan.”
In addition to exploring the experience of individual golfers, the research will assess the effectiveness of the tools and resources provided to clubs and whether they meet the needs of administrators and committees around the country.
The intention is that the findings will influence future policy development, programme design and investment.
Once the survey phase has concluded, a series of focus groups will explore emerging themes in greater depth before the findings are compiled into a final report.
“No research of this scale has been carried out in Irish golf before,” said Golf Ireland COO Tracy Bunyan.
“Working with Dr Aoife Lane and Dr Katie Liston, and with the support of TUS and Ulster University, gives it the academic backing it needs to produce findings we can stand over.”
“We’re asking everyone involved in golf, women and men, to take 20 minutes to complete the survey. The strength of this research depends on how many people take part, and the honesty of what they tell us.”
Five years into the unified governing body’s existence, this offers an opportunity to establish a clearer benchmark for gender equality across participation, leadership and the club environment, and to use that evidence to shape the next phase of the organisation’s strategy.
That should make the eventual findings of interest not only within golf but across Irish sport, where governing bodies are increasingly being asked to demonstrate the measurable impact of Women in Sport investment rather than simply report levels of activity.
Sport for Business Perspective
The significance is that Golf Ireland is putting formal measurement behind several years of investment in participation and leadership programmes.
Women in Sport funding has helped create a substantial range of initiatives across Irish sport, but the next stage of development is increasingly about understanding which interventions are producing lasting behavioural and structural change.
A sector-wide audit gives Golf Ireland the opportunity to establish that baseline before writing its next strategic plan and, just as importantly, gives clubs a chance to identify where national policy and local experience may still differ.
Golf Ireland, Sport Ireland, TUS and Ulster University are full members of Sport for Business. KPMG are our Official Golf Coverage Partners
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Image Credit: Golf Ireland
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