eBusiness Weekly
Golf has historically had a reputation as a privileged game played predominately by those from a white and wealthy background, but is progress being made to improve diversity within the sport?
Tiger Woods — one of the sport’s all-time greats — remains just one of a handful of professional golfers worldwide to come from a mixed-race heritage, although the 15-time major champion has played a key role in helping to attract the sport to a wider audience.
A special new Sky Sports documentary, “Driving for Change”, sees two black professional golf coaches — Trey Niven and Nicola Bennett — share their experiences of diversity in golf and the strides being made to make the sport more inclusive.
Efforts have been made to bring the sport to different communities within the UK, including introduction sessions for black and Asian golfers, although Bennett believes much more can still be done to grow the game further.
“On a scale of one to 10, I’d say three in terms of where I think it should be,” Bennett said on the show.
“Coming from one being default for a long time, I’d say it has pushed up to about three from good people representing the game and from getting more influencers from different people and cultures involved.
“I think people who are running the game just need to be a bit more hands-on and think ‘what can we do outside the box to get people into the game who are not inside the box already?’.”
Despite golf’s governing bodies making steps to make the sport more inclusive and diverse, both coaches admit golf is some way away from incidents of racial discrimination being eradicated.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any active racism towards me that’s maybe direct, but there’s a lot of passiveness,” Niven said.
“I’ll be on the range and people will walk past you and say “you’re the next Tiger Woods” or even things (when I was) at school like “let me touch your hair” because it’s different and you look a little bit different.
“People do it in a passive way, so the next Tiger Woods comment one is like are you saying that because I’m good at golf? Are you saying that because of what I look like? Why are you saying that?”
Bennett: “Because it’s stereotypically it’s such a white-dominated sport, I think racist people don’t want people from different backgrounds into their society. Those boundaries are definitely breaking.” As well as discussing their ideas to improve diversity, the new programme sees the pair showcase how they are already helping to introduce more people to golf, plus offer a series of helpful hints and tips to help you improve your game. — Sky Sports
