Carin Koch on showcasing women’s golf
The media coverage for this year’s matches is bigger than ever before and that is awesome as this is our best chance to showcase women’s golf. I’ll certainly be hoping that we can inspire a few people to pick the game up.
Golf isn’t a mainstream sport in Germany and, partly because there isn’t the tradition of being a men’s sport, there is a bigger percentage of women. I think the split is 40 per cent. In China, where golf is very new, it’s nearer 50.
Things are done a little bit differently in Germany which keeps women in the game. There are more women involved in the club and with the administration side of things.
Carin Koch welcomes Maria and Sophie to the Solheim team
In Sweden golf is very much a family sport. It is also very relaxed compared to the UK. We don’t have the same dress codes, you can go up to the club in jeans if you want to. Neither do you need to have a collar on your shirt.
Things have to be changed, to get women to enjoy and stay in the game! People in Sweden normally dress well anyway so it doesn’t really affect what we wear. It’s also quite cheap to play. Clubs used to charge an entrance fee, like a loan that you get back if or when you leave. Now most clubs offer a yearly fee, like a gym, so it has changed a lot.
If you have a membership somewhere, then you can play anywhere for a green fee. People want to be able to play with their friends who are members at different clubs and they like to travel so things have definitely changed.
The club that I represent, which is the nicest one in the area, was private but they went bankrupt and then opened again. You have to pay a little more but you don’t have to come up with a big sum of money.
It used to be more like a business club, with a lot of men, but that changed when they started again. Most members now were born in the 70s and 80s so the average age is 42 which is amazing.
I think every club could do more wherever it is, I think there should be another tee further forward for beginners and ladies who don’t hit it very far and there aren’t any toilets for women at lots of places.
Women are often forgotten about, there might be benches by the men’s tee with signs of where to go and then you get to the women’s tee and there is nothing at all.
Things have to be changed, to get women to enjoy and stay in the game!
Ecco shoes sponsor European Solheim Cup stars
