In Kelly Anderson’s nine years of coaching the Warrenton girls golf team, she has never had 17 girls join the program. 

With a mix of returning players and first-time golfers, this season marks the largest roster in program history, which started in 2015. 

“It’s more visible now. After the pandemic, I think golf was one of the only sports where you can get out and play because it wasn’t contact. A lot of more people were picking up leisure sports, and I think that was a big push for women in general,” Anderson said. 

What has typically been considered a male-dominated sport, golf is attracting more and more women, and women are thriving at it. 

“Golf is a lifetime sport. With your job in the future, it can be a great opportunity for you to get out and network and we didn’t always have those opportunities before,” Anderson said. “It’s nice to see more women being able to be involved with a sport that was predominantly male for a long time.” 

For Warrenton Golf Course clubhouse attendant Rich Barton, he noted the excitement surrounding the Warriors’ program this season. 

Barton, who was also the Warrenton boys golf coach for eight years until he retired in 2015, recalled having one girl, Deanna Martin, on his boys team due to the high school not offering a girls team at the time. 

“We encouraged her to find some other girls that were interested in it and she did, so we started a girls program. We got it started and it’s really taken off,” Barton said. “Every year, we were hoping to get five, six, seven girls to field a team and once you get 16, 17 – that’s amazing.” 

Anderson credited the increased exposure in social media and marketing geared towards women’s golf.  

“It’s more inclusive and a long time ago women really weren’t on the golf course, but now it’s marketed better. It’s been a long time coming and women are realizing it’s not just a man’s sport. They can go out there and be competitive as well,” Anderson said. 

Anderson also believes an increase in all of women’s sports has created popularity. 

“Professional sports in general for women have picked up,” she said. “We’re getting more recognition and people are watching those sports and enjoying them because they are so competitive. I think all of those things combined have pushed for an increase in women or young girls playing golf.” 

The impact goes further than just the high school team, as Barton has seen the local women’s league uptick in numbers as well. 

“We’re starting to see the grandkids and the kids of those ladies that are playing push the interest. We had a huge turnout this year for our women’s league, and we’ve always had the interest but now it’s translating to the kids. I think it’s starting to become cool to play golf and maybe it wasn’t always that way,” Barton said. 

Anderson emphasized the lifelong lessons that golf can teach. 

“It’s something that people can pick up, whether they do it competitively or not, you can get outside and challenge yourself to get better at something that consistently is hard. It’s something you can learn a lot of life lessons with,” Anderson said.