Moving with the times:  A heartland rural golf club embraces one of 

New Zealand's biggest female-friendly participation programmes.

Some of golfer and businesswoman Felice Croft’s earliest memories are of trailing behind her father and grandfathers on the Hikurangi Golf Club in Northland.

As a youngster all those decades ago, Croft had no desire to swing a golf club herself. That changed in her late-30s though and now she is president of Hikurangi Golf Club.

“I remember mucking around on the putting green, and I’d run amok around the golf course for sure,” recalls the 39-year-old. 

“I never thought I’d get into golf to be honest, as I’ve never been sporty or played any sports growing up.”

In fact, even in her adult years, Croft would still tag along with her dad and brother, though this time driving the golf cart while enjoying a beer or two. Then, in 2019, she partook in a She Loves Golf tournament which opened her eyes to the game’s more social aspects.

She Loves Golf is a Golf New Zealand initiative designed to create enjoyable and social golfing experiences for women of all ages -- inspiring a love for golf at a participatory level sustaining both physical and mental well-being.

“It was just before the covid outbreak, and Northland Golf Club in Whangarei was hosting a She Loves Golf event for the first time,'' Croft recalls.

``A few of us went along to that. It was fun, and I met a great bunch of ladies. Northland Golf Club was running these events in the hope that they would get more members and, while it’s a beautiful course, it probably has the biggest membership in Whangārei.”

Although Croft lives just minutes away from the golf club in, having grown up in rural Hikurangi just north of Whangarei, and, given her family connections to the Hikurangi Golf Club, being a “die-hard” grass-roots Hika’ girl, she says there was never any question about playing anywhere else.

Following a couple of lessons, Croft began playing as a green-fee golfer, before becoming a fully-fledged club member.

“Then I got recruited onto the committee and, the next thing you know, at the AGM, someone’s putting your name forward as president,” said Croft who has held the title for two years.

As for her game, Croft concedes it is “still pretty average.”

“But that’s probably on me as I don’t genuinely have any desire to be a really amazing handicap golfer. I don’t like that aspect of golf, I like the social, fine-weather day activity. 

``The other good thing about joining a small rural country club like ours is you can show up and get put in a group and you end up playing with every other member. You can play in your own friendship group if you want but I’ve found people often don’t want to. You genuinely get to know everyone else at the club.”

Around her job as general manager at the Croft Poles and Timber family business, a sponsor of the Hikurangi Golf Club, Croft manages a weekly round on the hilltop course.

With one of the cheapest membership fee golf clubs around Whangarei, Hikurangi has just 70 members, with only 10 women. That is something Croft would like to change,  having hosted their own She Loves Golf events and recently having some 55 female players from around Northland for the women’s Champ of the Champs.

She continues: “We’re a small club but we’ve got a really cool group of ladies at Hika’. In the past, what would be referred to as ‘the old guard’ ladies were quite focused on dress code and etiquette but now it’s very open and welcoming with no emphasis on any of that – they don’t care if you show up in your gym gear. That quite snobbish etiquette is definitely there at some clubs … but not in the country.”

Members’ ages range from their 20s to 80s and it’s not uncommon to see a teen playing with one of the elderly members and “everyone’s got really cool banter.”

Set upon farmland donated by the Coutts' family many years ago, the 50-plus hectare 18-hole Hikurangi course has, as you would imagine, a rural feel and what makes it unique is its ability to provide a real workout.

“There’s a bit of a running joke when you go to other golf courses and tell them you’re from Hikurangi and they say you’ve got to have one leg shorter than the other,” laughs Croft, referring to its hilly reputation.

When asked the benefits of playing golf, she replies: “People do it for different reasons. I definitely know people who play golf because they like the competitive edge and tournaments but, for me, it’s the social aspect. And the fitness, if you’ve never been sporty like me as I’ve never prioritised that sort of thing in my life, you feel like you’ve gone out and done something with your day.”

Croft’s attitude, and indeed that of Hikurangi Golf Club, is reflective of Golf New Zealand’s She Loves Golf participation initiative – aimed at women getting into the sport for the first time, regardless of age or ability -- or attire. The She Loves Golf initiative has seen golf clubs around country establishing events and programmes specifically targeting new women players onto the fairways – for a few holes, six holes, nine holes, and sometimes even a full round.

These gender specific initiatives include such quaintly named events as the Wine and Nine nine-hole midweek hit up at the Geraldine Golf Club in Canterbury, the Chip and Sip skills development programme initiated at Pupuke Golf Club on Auckland’s North Shore and Omaha Golf Club just north of the city, which combines practice with pinot gris, the Tips and Sips women’s introduction programme at Waipu Golf Club in Northland, or the well-patronised Kiss My Putt Wine Down Wednesdays running at Arrowtown Golf Club in the wine hub of Central Otago.

Information on the array of golf clubs hosting She Loves Golf participation and coaching events around New Zealand can be found at Golf New Zealand’s websiMoving with the times:  A heartland rural golf club embraces one of New Zealand's biggest female-friendly participation programmes New Zealand’s website https://www.golf.co.nz/she-loves-golf

·