Hosts Rachel Melendez-Mabee and Neema and Nisha Sadekar stated one thing throughout this edition of Beyond the Green: Golf is an $84 billion industry. It was the most repeated phrase during Monday’s event, and it served as a reminder for young women to jumpstart their search for the rising opportunities within it.
This Beyond the Green marked the first hosted at a KPMG Women’s Championship – this one being at the 2022 edition at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland – so it was fitting for women-empowerment influencers to lead the panels and workshops presented.
Kicking off the #KPMGWomensPGA with a fun and busy morning with @PGAWORKS and Beyond The Green! pic.twitter.com/1i1TjVw0e3
— PGA of America (@PGA) June 20, 2022
“This is our commitment to make golf more colorful,” said Melendez-Mabee, who aside from hosting is also the PGA WORKS Leader for PGA of America. “Representation matters. We need to say yes. If we say yes, and be more confident, we’ll have a seat at the table.”
Beyond the Green is inspiring and empowering the next generation to pursue a future in the golf industry.#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/nqwwpoX0uO
— PGA WORKS (@PGAWORKS) June 21, 2022
Women leadership expert Annette Comer reminded attendees that for women, it is not as easy as getting good grades and working hard to be successful. There are other components that women have to master, such as training the mind and mastering communication styles.
“Why is it we’re playing to not lose and not playing to win?” Comer asked the crowd. “The first thing I want you to realize is that you are not a part of the ‘all-boys network.’ You never will be.”
Careers in Golf are Rising
If there is one thing that networking and a golf swing have in common, it’s the follow through.
During the “What’s in the Bag” panel, PGA recruiting specialist Kate Drimel and PGA of America Brand and Strategy Sr. Director Molly Gallatin highlighted some of the ways to find a career in golf. They mentioned a range spanning over 2 million opportunities, whether they are strictly on the course or find themselves on the corporate avenue. The message was to diversify the industry with more women, LGBTQIA members and people of color.
“If you’re anything like me, the reason I work in sports is I don’t want to sit at a desk,” Gallatin said. “And the opportunity to just be in the game and to be around people, to learn about new cultures, that’s something that golf offers that not a ton of other sports do.”
Design Thinking: a New Way of Thinking
Dr. Angela Reddix taught the attendees how to “design think” by creating a prototype and sharing it with their audience. She challenged them to practice creating one, and some of the topics shared by the young women were youth crime, gender pay gap, cyberbullying, racism and financial literacy.
“That was outstanding,” Dr. Reddix said. “You had 10 minutes to do all of that. You didn’t come up with some fluff stuff. You came up with substance. This process of design thinking takes you from being someone who admires a problem to someone who understands that there is power in the problem, if you can help create solutions.
That is how you can go from seeing things as so negative to seeing things as an opportunity”
And while announcing the winner of Dr. Reddix’s prototype activity, one of the judges left the young women with an empowering thought.
“You did that in 20 minutes, now imagine what you can do with the rest of your life.”
