Since the early 1990s, when working women realized that golf was an important networking tool, leagues have flourished. While some are limited to executives, others are open to anyone. All try to provide a comfortable, supportive atmosphere where women can play more and better golf. In the process, these leagues are combating the factors that keep women from the game or push them to leave it. The reasons for the exodus are varied.
Many women say they neither feel welcome nor comfortable on the course.
Some women find the game too difficult. While women make up 21 percent of the 24 million golfers in the U.S., they play only 17 percent of the rounds. Sixty-nine percent play fewer than nine rounds a year. These women have as many reasons for not playing the game or using it as effectively as their male colleagues. Nancy Oliver can relate to all that.