What’s actually behind Australia’s golf boom? Turns out, the answer is women.
New players in Australia during the past two years are now 60 percent female, according to Golf Australia’s own participation data. They’re squeezing in nine holes between school pick-ups and ditching the ‘one round every few months’ for actual, proper handicaps. A whole lot of them are booking all-female golf holidays with their mates. Because apparently the secret to a good weekend away these days isn’t a spa. It’s a set of clubs. Or both, if you’re doing it right.
Case in point: Karen Campbell from Brisbane. Nineteen years of cancer treatment, 18 operations then one doctor who finally said the quiet part out loud.
“You’re going to die of a lifestyle-related illness,” he told her, after years of running a business with her husband and working herself into the ground. “You’ve had cancer treatment for 19 years. I really think you should retire and it’s time to start prioritising your health again.”
Confronting stuff, though Karen would probably tell you it’s nothing special, just a doctor doing his job. Not every woman has faced what Karen has. But so many have faced some version of the same thing, chasing life while life is chasing you back – kids, work, everyone else’s needs coming before your own. For Karen, it took a doctor spelling it out in the bluntest possible terms. But it worked.
Karen had form to follow. Her grandmother was ladies captain at Rockhampton Golf Club. Her dad was president at Bribie Island. So when it came time to figure out what her next chapter looked like, golf wasn’t a stretch.
“I knew that golf was the ticket to just another community,” she said. “How would I swap my work family for another community? I looked towards my grandparents, because they really had a ball playing golf.”
She didn’t do it alone, either. Karen roped in a whole crew of girlfriends – “safety in numbers”, as she puts it – signed up for her local club’s beginner program and three years later, the whole gang have handicaps and an addiction to GirlsTrek golf trips. Mornington Peninsula. New Zealand. The Adelaide Hills. Take your pick.
“People always ask me, ‘Why golf?’” Karen says. “It’s not about chasing a little white ball around 18 holes. It’s about having a lovely walk with somebody really interesting. If you happen to hit a good shot, that’s just a bonus. I’ve played with 13-year-olds and 90-year-olds and everyone’s got a story.”
Golf, in Karen’s view, is bigger than the game itself, especially for young women.
“Golf allows you to switch off from technology and exist in the moment,” she said. “It gives us its own version of forest bathing, as we look around and enjoy the beautiful Australian landscape. Golf is particularly important for women because this embargoed time is a gift to ourselves in the busy lives we lead.”
The results speak for themselves. Fourteen kilograms down. Blood pressure normal. By her own account, genuinely thriving. “I’ve got a clean bill of health,” Karen says. “My specialist can’t believe what a great impact golf has made. I haven’t done anything special except be happy.”
Even her adult kids have caught the bug now, alongside an annual family golf day that pulls grandchildren in from all over the country to see their 87-year-old grandfather in action.
“He gets such a kick out of every single one of his grandchildren with a golf club in their hand,” Karen says. “It brings us all together.”
Karen found her way to GirlsTrek through her friend Melinda Russell, a hiking guide for the organisation who, thanks to a fair bit of gentle nudging from Karen and co., convinced them to add golf to the program. Karen speaks about her with something close to reverence. “She’s probably one of the most extraordinary women I’ve ever met and I’m glad she’s my friend,” she says, unprompted.
Melinda has watched the trend take off first hand. She calls it the “Girl’s Golf Trip glow up”.
“Women are looking to travel with their girlfriends to destinations that provide connection, wellness and golf,” she says. “It’s a girls trip that includes golf, versus a straight golf trip. It’s travel, connection and fun.”
GirlsTrek’s golf offering now takes women across Australia and New Zealand, with an eye on Asia next. “We take ladies on trips all around Australia and New Zealand, with the view to expanding into Asia,” Melinda said. “In particular, Adelaide, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne, Auckland and Queenstown. We’re looking at new destinations in Thailand, Vietnam and Japan too.”
For Melinda, this isn’t just a job. “It is my passion to help more women play golf,” she said. “It’s kinda cool when we arrive at the airport with our clubs and other women come over to us and ask, ‘Where are you headed? Love to be coming away with you.’ For me it’s a privilege to put together ladies golf trips that are well balanced between golf and relaxation. We create a very supportive atmosphere and encourage each other, there’s never any pressure to play golf and if one day you’d prefer a day spa, we have that covered too.”
For Karen, the trips themselves are the real drawcard. “They curate those trips so well,” she said. “You go away somewhere you haven’t been to before, with a wonderful group of women. It’s a real opportunity to see a part of the country, meet some wonderful people and have an all-round experience of being nurtured as well.”
Ask her what she’d say to another woman going through something similar and she pauses, actually pauses, before landing on something true to her nature, entirely unfussy.
“You have to find some joy,” she said. “I think joy is found in the simple things in life – pressing pause, being in nature and seeking out some like-minded people.”
Her advice for anyone thinking about picking up a club? Don’t overthink it.
“Just pick up a club, go and get a lesson, go find a community and just give it a go,” she said. “I’m just a lady
that got lucky. Golf has been one of the most joyous discoveries at this stage of my life.”
