Why female golfers need to start “stepping up to the tee” online

Found out two interesting pieces of news about the female golf community. Apparently, not only has Golf for Women Magazine gone out of business, but golf (in general) is also unfair to women (shocking).

I’m completely aware that I’m slightly late to announce both of these pieces of news, but I’m going to discuss them anyway.

Why? Because the best part about both of these problems is that female golfers have complete and total control over turning them around. With social media resources out there, all you have to do is start talking.

I found out Golf for Women Magazine is going out of business by checking out conversations on Twitter between @sherrytabb, @SweetSpotGolf and @golfgirl. Golf for Women Magazine has been around for 20 years, so this is a huge hit that the community took last summer.

Interestingly, ALL of that traffic is now being redirected to Golf Digest for Woman.  Notice “woman” – shouldn’t it be “women”? Last time I checked more than one woman plays golf. Probably should correct that.

Here’s what Nancy Berkley, (an expert on women’s golf) had to say about it on Cybergolf:

“Women golfers serious enough to buy and read about the game are still too much of a niche market for a publishing empire that tries to reach broader market.”

Honestly, I’d like to disagree.

From what I know of female golf (which isn’t much), there is a huge market here – and this is exactly what makes the LPGA so incredibly successful. There’s a huge online presence of fans, and they should be (and are) responding to this through mediums such as Twitter, which is a giant leap toward a future that is promising. My question is – are the right people listening?

Ok, so print media outlets are struggling (they all are right now) – largely due to the fact that we’re in an economic recession and there is no measurable ROI in these outlets. But online, in the blogosphere… that’s a place where female sports can be discussed with opinion and authority, and by the athletes themselves. This is powerful, and it has the potential to take off.

It’s inexpensive and highly engaging. All you need to do is stop complaining, take some responsibility and start talking.

Now, for the other piece of news… golf is unfair to women. Again, shocking.

In response, golf community leader Sherry Tabb says, “let’s go with it.”

Love her attitude.

Instead of b*tching about how it’s unfair, she tells women to take responsibility, and gives them some exercises to improve upper body muscle strength.

Would be great to see some female golfers up on Women Talk Sports. If you’re interested in syndicating your blog’s content, please contact us. Coming together, our voices are wayyyy more powerful than when we’re separated.

LPGA signs 10-year deal with Golf Channel

Interesting development.

The LPGA announced last week a 10-year TV deal with Golf Channel.

According to an article in Golf Week, this deal makes the tour the first stand-alone women’s sports organization to receive a rights fee agreement for domestic broadcast coverage.

“We’re not going to talk about any of the details about that,” Carolyn Bivens (LPGA commissioner, pictured above) said, “but it is ground-breaking.”

They’re not sure on specifics of the deal, but they do know that individual television production costs will increase for most events due to the structure of the new deal.

According to Golf Week, beginning in 2010, Golf Channel will provide fans virtual one-stop shopping for domestic events. It will broadcast start-to-finish coverage of most domestic events, including one major championship, and international feeds of LPGA global events.

In addition, Golf Channel will show early-round coverage of tournaments that will have weekend coverage on other networks. It also will continue to broadcast the Solheim Cup.

According to The Sports Business Journal (SBJ), it’s leaving tournament operators wondering whether or not they will get much ROI.

However, Golf Week quoted Paula Creamer, LPGA pro golfer, as thrilled.

““To be able to be on a network week in, week out is very important. It’s good for the game of women’s golf,” said Creamer.

According to Jon Show at SBJ,

“Events now pay in the low to mid-six figures to cover production costs under separate five-year deals with ESPN and Golf Channel. Two-thirds of domestic LPGA events pay about $250,000 for production on Golf Channel, while the others on ESPN pay $350,000 or more.”

I’m not incredibly knowledgeable about the golf industry, so if you have any valuable details to add to these, please feel free to comment.

In particular, I’m interested in hearing  what this means (if anything) for the league.

(NCAA) A drained economy: The end of women’s professional sports?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Yesterday, at the top of NCAA.org read the question,

Will the economy undo women’s professional sports? Would this have a trickle-down impact on women’s college sports?

My personal opinion is no. The economy won’t undo women’s professional sports. Our culture’s value system will. When the economy is down, so are programs (across all industries) which rely on sponsorship/advertising and aren’t particularly “popular” with the dominant class of society. Unfortunately, these days, women’s professional sports fall into that spit bucket.

However, it doesn’t mean we can ignore the problem – it’s a topic that rightfully deserves some discussion.

The Houston Comets announced this week that they will be suspending operations until they find a new owner for the club. We don’t know what this means for the future of the Comets, but as far as the 2009 season is concerned, the Comets are done.

Similarly, the LPGA announced in late November that it will be cutting back on three tournaments this year, as well as prize money. USA Today reports,

“The reductions come amid an economic downturn that is sweeping across the sports world, although the PGA Tour increased its purses for 2009.”

However, there is hope in the sky.

Women’s Professional Soccer is making a comeback. This article in Forbes discusses the mistakes that WPS’s predecessor has made. With all that investment, they couldn’t get people in the stands.

What I pose, however, is a larger question.

With the overwhelmingly large amount of young women (and older women) who currently  – or at some point in their lives – participate in sports, why are female professional sports so unpopular? Where is that disconnect? Where is that market?

Florida Gulf Coast University pays $3.4 million to settle Title IX retaliation

Apparently, there was a huge Title IX case settled this week down at Florida Gulf Coast University.

So much so – in fact – that you’re reading about it here, and you can find it on the Title IX blog, the Naples News and NBC.

Essentially, a group of women including volleyball coach Jaye Flood and women’s golf coach Holly Vaughn registered concerns over Title IX violations in FGCU’s sports programs.

The case won $3.4 million.

Yay!

What’s particularly interesting is that Jaye Flood had the best record of any sports team in the school’s history. When she complained of gender inequity, she was rated poorly, suspended and ultimately fired.

And that, my friends, is against the law.

When I first read about this, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I mean, seriously? Does this still happen?

Linda Correia, lead counsel for Flood and Vaughn, says, “This is the price of retaliation,” Correia filed the Title IX lawsuit earlier this year in Ft. Meyers, Florida with Public Justice, a national public interest law firm also based in Washington, DC.

Here’s a little bit more background information on the women who filed suit.

Coach Jaye Flood compiled a record of 80 wins and 13 losses in the first three years of the volleyball program, the best win-loss record of any coach in FGCU history.  In her team’s first year in Division I, Coach Flood’s team  won the Atlantic Sun Conference, and she was honored as the Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year.  After Coach Flood registered her gender equity concerns with the school, and despite her performance, FGCU rated her poorly and suspended her. Coach Flood was fired four days after filing her Title IX lawsuit.

Women’s Golf Coach Holly Vaughn was a professional tour golfer when she developed FGCU’s women’s golf program, accumulating 11 tournament wins in her first four years of play and ranking as high as number 3 in its division.  Unlike male coaches, Coach Vaughn was not offered a full-time position and was not permitted to select her own assistant coach.  Coach Vaughn earned far less than male coaches, and was compelled to share her office in a trailer with a men’s team assistant coach.

Coach Flood and Coach Vaughn complained about gender equity under Title IX and claim they were retaliated against as a consequence.  The law also prohibits retaliation for complaining about Title IX violations.

It’s clear that Title IX needs to stay due to situations such as this. People can’t get away with this, and I’m so happy to see women like Jaye Flood and Holly Vaughn standing up for themselves and lawyers like Linda Correia representing us.

“Speak English!” says LPGA

A recent article in the New York Times explained that members of the LPGA must speak English in order to play. Interesting move, considering most of its athletes are foreign-born. Apparently, the concern is over appeal to sponsors.

“Being a U.S.-based tour, and with the majority of our fan base, pro-am contestants, sponsors and participants being English speaking, we think it is important for our players to effectively communicate in English,” says Libba Galloway, the deputy commissioner of the tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

On the surface, I think this move is similar to that of Geno’s steaks in South Philadelphia, which sports a sign that says, “This is America. We speak English!” (Genos was later unsuccessfully sued for that sign).

This is not exactly the type of PR the LPGA needs right now internationally. But hey, anything to keep those sponsors happy, right? There has to be a line somewhere…

Shin Wins Open

Shooting 6-under on Sunday, Ji-Yai Shin won the Ricoh’s British Open. According to Women Play Sports, Shin, who finished all four rounds with a 18-under, won the Open by three shots.

Wie is Disqualified from State Farm Classic

I just read on the Golf Chick Blog that because Michelle Wie failed to sign her scorecard on Friday, she was disqualified from the State Farm Classic. Only the LPGA failed to tell her about it until she had completed her round the following day.

Wow, thats a little rediculous. Kind-of makes you think the LPGA is using her for her publicity, right?

According to an article on newsday, Sue Witters, the LPGA’s director of tournament competitions, disqualified Wie in a small office in an LPGA trailer at the golf course after asking her what had happened.

“She was like a little kid after you tell them there’s no Santa Claus,” Witters said.

Wow, that’s really bold. Especially after what Wie has done for the sport.

Wie Takes On the Men in PGA

Woohoo!

Michelle Wie, an 18-year-old Stanford student – has decided to tee it up  – against the men, and this time it’s for money.  Wie will debut in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, her first appearance on the PGA Tour this year.

There’s been speculation Wie would concentrate solely on women’s competition, especially after last year when she injured both wrists and made only two cuts.

But she is bashing speculation and this will be her eighth time playing on the PGA Tour, and she has yet to make a cut. According to Washington Post, the only time Wie has made money playing against the men was on the Korean Tour, in 2006, at the SK Telcom Open.

Here’s what she had to say:

“It’s not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world. This is a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from these great players and take those lessons into the future to becoming the best player I can be on any tour. This is another step in the process of making me a better player.”

Wie will be playing her seventh and final LPGA Tour event of this year at the CN Canadian Women’s Open in August.