Ten years ago, Lindsey Neidus and her sisters—Whitney and Kathryn—became investors in the semi-private StoneWater Golf Club (Cleveland, Ohio). Stepping into their leadership roles, the sisters opened a new restaurant, renovated aspects of the club, opened an outdoor bar, and are seeing their club fitting and golf lesson space, The Linksman, grow and attract new members.
From left to right: Kathryn Neidus, Whitney Neidus, and Lindsey Neidus.
Lindsey serves as Membership Marketing Manager, Whitney is the club’s GM and oversees events, and Kathryn is the Executive Chef.
As Lindsey gets more comfortable with her new role in the club and resort industry, she has noticed a growing number of women taking up golf. In response, Lindsey and her sisters have focused on creating an environment where women feel welcome and comfortable.
Designing programs with women in mind
Neidus says that she saw a hole in the golf industry that she believed women could enjoy.
She saw how golf gave her husband and his friends an activity to get together, spend time outdoors and stay active while also catching up.
“For me and my girlfriends, our hangouts revolved around going to get something to eat or going on a walk,” she says. “I feel like this sport is something that women could really get behind.”
Neidus has started seeing a trend of more female golfers in the past few years and attributes some of that growth to the visibility that social media has offered to women in the sport.
“When you open your social media, you’re seeing female golfers and it makes you think, ‘Oh, I could do this too,’” she says.
Women gaining more leadership positions is helping drive this growth as well. Like Neidus and her sisters, when women are in decision-making positions, they’re thinking differently about programs and events.
“For example, my sisters and I try to be more inclusive and create events geared towards not just women, but minorities and young people,” she says. “Both of my sisters have little kids, so a lot of the things we are doing come from a need for things that we want.”
StoneWater now offers nighttime leagues because more women work during the day and the club also offers family golf on weekends, allowing families to come out and play together
“There’s opportunities like this that weren’t there before,” she says.
Appealing to women goes beyond simply scheduling leagues and events at convenient times, but Neidus says her team is being more mindful of what they offer to eat and drink and the messaging for marketing materials.
Neidus believes men and women view the game differently, which influences the language that Neidus and her team use for marketing materials.
“This isn’t true 100 percent of the time, but I think the score on the course is not the most important piece of golf for women as it often is for men,” she says. “Sometimes they want to just be out with friends, or practice, or play alone to get out of their heads.”
Because of this, Neidus changed the name for the Monday night ladies league to the Monday Night Swing Society. The whole league was revamped last year with Neidus inviting female golfers out to the club to meet some pros. Afterwards, there was a social hour.
“The social hour was the greatest moment,” says Neidus. “By the end, everyone was exchanging numbers and had become friends. Many women posted from that little event which drove more interest from other women who saw their posts.”
The newly revamped league kicked off recently with around 70 women signed up—before this event Neidus says the original league had only 10 attendees.
Along with the Monday Night Swing Society, StoneWater offers beginner, intermediate and advanced clinics with multiple dates and times to fit into busy schedules.
Neidus says having a range of classes allows women the opportunity to grow at their own pace without intimidation from others who have been involved in the game for longer.
“I feel like when you build a golf experience that works for women, it ends up working better for everyone,” says Neidus.
The business and social impact of women in golf
With StoneWater changing its golf approach to meet women where they are, Neidus believes women are changing the industry of golf in two big ways.
“First, there’s a business side to golf that women are now able to take advantage of,” she says. “Deals are made out on the golf course.”
Being involved in the game positively affects a woman’s professional life, according to Neidus.
Secondly, it impacts personal lives. It’s another outlet for women to get together with one another and create a hobby.
Neidus believes this trend of women in the golf industry will only continue to grow. She is already seeing lifestyle and clothing brands jump on the trend and utilizing that to their advantage with apparel made for women.
