Girls In Golf Society featured at World of Golf Museum 17th Aug 2021

Iconic day, Iconic bridge, Iconic Clubhouse - photo credit Mya Hodge

We had a fantastic first full day in Scotland visiting St Andrews yesterday! We were greeted by the wonderful staff at the World of Golf Museum who gave us an informative tour of the museum. The museum is packed with something for everyone. It has gone above and beyond to include EVERYONE and we were emotional about GIGS being featured in it, please do check out the images we have posted, we can’t quite believe it!

HUGE THANK to Rebecca Prentice and the TEAM at World Golf Museum - please go visit if you are in St Andrews.

We next stopped at The Himalayas putting green, which was tons of fun! Of course it turned into a very heated competition with Caron taking home the win! Special shoutout to Jade however, who scored 0 points on the Front 9, but pulled off second place by the 18th! We definitely gave everyone on the green a chuckle with our friendly, fun and competitive spirit!

Swilcan Bridge such an iconic picture moment and we of course could not miss the oppurtunity to get the Pride Flag out and have our photo moment! Iconic moment for Pride in Golf and our Society.

We have had the perfect weather the last couple of days and cannot wait to head over to Carnoustie tomorrow for the start of the AIG Women’s Open Championship.

GIGS featured by Women and Golf

Let’s make golf more inclusive!

Big thank you to Emma from WOMEN & GOLF for featuring GIGS and helping to spread the word.

We’re on a mission to make golf a much more inclusive and accessible sport for all and particularly to LGBT+ Women who play or would like to give golf a try.

- have a read, then better still, JOIN US.

Sarah Stirk - Sky Sports Golf - “I want to have a voice in our Community.” via Attitude Magazine

Pride Month, The R&A and Sarah Stirk

June, the month of Pride celebrations and where many businnesses and corporations support and encourage LGBT+ Inclusion & Diversity and fly the rainbow flag. From many it feels genuine support, but from others, it so often feels like an opportunity to just pay lip service to appease our community - Rainbow-Washing as it’s called. The jury is still out on that one.

Earlier in the year, as part of GIGS mission to encourage golf to become a more inclusive & diverse sport, we approached the R&A (The Royal and Ancient) with the suggestion to have an Official LGBT+ Meet Up Point at the forthcoming AIG Women’s Open Championship at Carnoustie this year. They welcomed the suggestion and said they wish to continue the dialogue with us, although unlikely that anything would happen anytime soon! At the very least, we hope that they will fly the Rainbow Flag to encourage & welcome our community who attend the Tournament. We live in hope.

- Watch this space !! -

TV Presenter for Sky Sports Golf, Sarah Stirk, has given an interview (link below) for Attitude Magazine’s Pride issue commenting ‘I’m proud of who I am’ and says ‘I want to have a voice in our community’ and our favourite ‘I don’t give a sh*t anymore’. Her decision to share could not have been an easy one, but we’re delighted she has chosen to do so and it will be wonderful to have such a huge voice in golf as part of our community.

Well done Sarah and Welcome

A GIGS Beanie finds its way to all sorts of good people - pictured with Presenter Sarah Stirk - we know she will wear it with Pride.

England Golf and the Rainbow Laces campaign - plus Pride Sports Club Finder and The BBC LGBT Sport Podcast

STONEWALL

In 2013, Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign was launched and has been a successful and popular campaign, particularly in football.  We are very excited that England Golf are now recognising the LGBTQ+ community in golf and are fully behind the campaign.  As a golfer for most of her life, GIGS Founder, Caron commented

 “The golf industry and governing bodies have virtually ignored the LGBTQ+ community, so the fact that England Golf are now acknowledging our existence as golfers, is a huge step in the right direction.” 

ENGLAND GOLF LGBTQ+ SURVEY

England Golf LGBTQ+ Survey

For far too long golf has been a predominantly, straight, white male sport, with zero ambition of attempting to reach out to any wider community, let alone the LGBTQ+ community.  This is finally changing. 

England Golf is committed to modernising and welcoming everyone into the game and are currently carrying out a survey to understand how they can better support the LGBTQ+ community with regards to their experiences with golf.  So whether you’re a regular player, beginner, love Adventure Golf or are just thinking about how to start but don’t quite know how to, please click the link below and complete their survey.   They want to hear your voice: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SYFFJ2M

Girls In Golf Society (GIGS) came into existence as a way of bringing gay women together to enjoy golf in a fun and safe space, where like-minded women can be themselves, feel included and most importantly, have fun with friends and allies.

We would like to give a BIG GIGS SHOUT OUT to Jamie Blair – Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager at England Golf, who reached out to GIGS and invited our members to participate in the survey and supplied some Rainbow Laces for us.  We look forward to the ongoing conversation and thank Jamie for our inclusion within their Rainbow Laces campaign, which will undoubtedly give GIGS a platform to elevate our voices and let the world know what GIGS is all about!

READ THE ENGLAND GOLF INTERVIEW WITH CARON HERE - Thank you England Golf !

BBC SOUNDS - THE LGBT SPORT PODCAST

You will also be able to listen to Caron’s recent interview on the BBC SOUNDS - The LBGT Sport Podcast - hosted by the fantastic Jack Murley, talking all things LGBT golf and GIGS - LISTEN HERE - Thank you Jack !

PRIDE SPORTS LGBTIQ+ SPORTS INCLUSION

Pride Sports works solely to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport and improve access to sport for LGBTQI+ people.  You can now find GIGS via their LGBT+ Sports Club Finder and we are delighted to be included in their Rainbow Laces campaign featuring many of these grassroots clubs.

Check out Caron and Jade on the Pride Sports GIGS video.  They talk about why GIGS is important to them and why a society like GIGS is needed.  ANOTHER BIG GIGS SHOUT OUT to Steve Stiller and his Team at East Brighton Golf Club for allowing us to film at the Club. See the Video HERE.   

Stonewall - https://www.stonewall.org.uk
England Golf - https://www.englandgolf.org/rainbow-laces-day-girls-in-golf-society-enjoys-a-lockdown-revival/
BBC LGBT Sport Podcast - BBC LGBT Sport Podcast
Pride Sports – https://pridesports.org.uk/lgbt-club-finder/
Jamie Blair - https://twitter.com/EngGolfDis
East Brighton Golf Club -  https://www.ebgc.co.uk

 WE HOPE YOU WEAR YOUR RAINBOW LACES WITH PRIDE
MANY THANKS FROM TEAM GIGS