3. The Missing Pathway for Women Aged 25–49

The largest structural gap in women’s golf — and the most important to solve

Overview

Women aged 25–49 are the group most likely to leave golf, not because they lose interest, but because the pathway disappears beneath their feet.

This is not a modern issue. It is a 135-year structural inheritance from the way early women’s golf was organised: weekday competitions, county-only frameworks, and cultural expectations that assumed women would not be available during their mid-life years.

Today, modern life has changed radically — dual-career households, longer working hours, commuting, shared parenting — but the structure of women’s golf has not changed with it.

The result is predictable and measurable: the pathway collapses just as women enter the busiest stage of their lives.

This page outlines what the pathway should be, what it currently is, and why fixing it is essential for the future of the game.

What the Pathway Should Look Like

A functioning pathway in any sport includes:

entry level
development level
club level
county/region level
national level
senior level
lifelong social and competitive opportunities

This is exactly how the men’s game functions. A male golfer can move through a continuous, decade-spanning progression with opportunities at every life stage — including weekends.

Women do not have this.

What the Pathway Actually Looks Like for Women 25–49

Women experience:

1. A strong junior and early-adult pathway

Juniors → County → National squads
Club opens and mixed events
A few early competitive opportunities
Then:

2. A complete collapse between 25–49

No regional associations
No recognised adult-to-national feeder structure
No weekend inter-club leagues
No meaningful open circuit for working women
Weekday competitions inaccessible
No communication framework for women across counties
No national mid-amateur identity or cohort

The pathway becomes a void.

3. A reinvigorated pathway at 50+

Senior county teams
Senior national squads
Veterans’ associations
Regional senior circuits
Weekday-friendly senior opens
Social groups and inter-club seniors golf

This creates a U-shaped participation curve:

high in youth
low in mid-life
high again from 50+

This is not behavioural. It is architectural.

Why This Pathway Gap Exists

1. Historical design choices

The LGU created a weekday-based structure because women in the 1890s were expected to be available on weekdays.
This assumption has never been fully modernised.

2. No regional framework

Men have four regional associations.
Women still rely on a fragmented county-only system.

Without regional layers, the ladder is broken.

3. Lack of weekend competition access

Working women — the majority of the 25–49 cohort — cannot compete in weekday events.
Therefore, they lose:

competitive identity
team roles
improvement cycles
progression
social connection

4. Cultural invisibility

Mid-life women are rarely visible as:

champions
team leaders
influencers
role models
voices within governance

Without visibility, belonging disappears.

5. No structural support for returners

Players who pause golf for family, career, or health reasons have no structured way back in unless they wait until senior golf begins.

History Links

Edwardian & Early LGU Era

County competitions were always mid-week. Married women almost disappear from records until their children are grown.

Interwar Period

Even elite golfers like Joyce Wethered reduced play dramatically in mid-life.

Post-War Period

Clubs report low mid-life participation but flourishing senior sections.

Late 20th Century to Today

The establishment of senior women’s circuits demonstrates that the sport can build a pathway — it simply hasn’t built one for 25–49.

Modern Relevance

This is the single most important insight for current policy.

When women leave in mid-life:

clubs lose future committee members
counties lose competitive depth
national teams shrink
the long-term culture weakens
the senior game becomes self-replenishing from a shrinking base

Every governing body concerned about participation decline is actually facing a pathway design problem, not a recruitment problem.

Implications for the Future

1. Women need a complete, modern, life-stage-aligned pathway.

Including:

weekend competitions
regional structures
mid-amateur championships
county-to-region progression
return-to-golf frameworks
flexible event formats
inter-club weekend leagues

2. The gap must be publicly acknowledged.

Cultural honesty is required before meaningful reform can begin.

3. Senior women must be part of the solution.

They have the lived experience, networks, leadership, and stability to help rebuild continuity for younger women.

4. Fixing the mid-life gap unlocks the future.

It strengthens:

club membership
inter-club matches
national competitive depth
community culture
long-term retention
women’s leadership pipelines

5. Without fixing this gap, women’s golf will continue to shrink.

History shows that the pattern has remained identical for over a century.
The future only changes when the structure does.

The Core Insight

The greatest participation loss in women’s golf occurs not because women walk away — but because the pathway disappears underneath them.

Restoring this missing decade-and-a-half pathway is the single most transformative act the sport could take.