Business Golf for Women.

Business Golf for Women. This is now more important than ever!

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Golf Blog by the Mel Sole Golf School.

Men have dominated corporate America for years.  But the days of the "good old boys" are slowly but surely coming to an end.  Women are running America's Corporations, sitting on Advisory Boards, and becoming entrepreneurs.  Playing golf can be a huge stepping stone into this world.  Leslie Andrews, writing for forbeswoman.com, gives a unique insight into women using golf to climb up the corporate ladder.

 It’s really not the golf that matters, truth be told. It’s the secret club, the secret language. Being the game and making decisions. And that means being on the golf course.

By Leslie Andrews

46% of women surveyed noted “exclusion from informal networks” as the biggest impediment to reaching their career goals.

Catalyst, a prestigious research firm dedicated to expanding opportunities for women in business, found that 46% of women surveyed noted “exclusion from informal networks” as the biggest impediment to reaching their career goals, with golf being one of the leading informal networks from which women felt excluded. The obvious question being: Are women being purposely excluded, or are women sometimes excluding themselves? The answer to both is yes..

Virginia Rometty.

Take the most obvious recent case of Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM. IBM is one of three sponsors of The Masters which takes place at Augusta National, arguably the best and most prestigious golf course in the U.S. Historically, Augusta automatically grants membership to the CEO of IBM, but not so this year. Rometty, who was named CEO in October 2011, was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine in 2012. That wasn’t good enough for Augusta National – as a woman, she was denied membership to the club – the ultimate club for CEOs.

But not every golf story of exclusion is as dramatic as that of Rometty and Augusta.  Women still feel that the secret society that is golf still excludes them. In my experience with executive women, there are two primary factors that keep women off the golf course:  intimidation and fear of embarrassment. And while being denied access to Augusta is currently uncontrollable, intimidation and fear of embarrassment are most assuredly addressable with a few easy steps.

Many women assume that the men who play golf do not want to play with women. With a few exceptions, not so!

Most importantly, women need to understand that many of their assumptions about what it takes to play business golf are myths, and that those myths need to be replaced by a sense of reality. For example, most women assume that the men who play in corporate outings are good golfers. Not so!  Many women assume that the men who play golf do not want to play with women. With a few exceptions, not so!

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

The business benefits of golf.

And so it is with golf. The business benefits of golf are so powerful. Woman should not exclude themselves from golf .  They would be doing themselves a disservice. I am by no means saying that diving into the world of business golf is simply mind over matter.

There are some rudimentary skills one needs to play golf.  You need to have the ability to get the ball in the air more often than not.  And you need to have a basic understanding of rules and etiquette.

You do not, however, need to play as well as the LPGA or PGA Tour pros that you see on television each weekend.  Another myth embraced by women that needs to be crushed.  I mean, really, do you think you have to sing like Aretha Franklin in order to make singing part of your life?

Women don’t control the whole equation.  The Virginia Rometty episode provided a stark reminder of that.  But we do control part of the equation.  And it is imperative that we do our part to seize the opportunity that golf affords.

Source: Leslie Andrews recently released her first book, Even Par:  How Golf Helps Women Gain the Upper Hand in Business, published by 85Broads.  For more on Leslie, check out www.LeslieAndrewsGolf.com or follow @LAndrewsGolf.      http://www.forbes.com/forbeswoman/

Pictures : Familjen Helsingborg    David Hilgart    U.S. Army  Mel Sole Golf School

Thanks for reading - Business Golf for Women.  Glad this segment of the golfing population is growing!

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