🌿 7. Intergenerational Golf: The Next Opportunity

Golf is one of the rare sports in which three generations of women can play, compete, and belong together — grandmother, mother, and daughter sharing the same fairways, the same stories, and the same traditions.

In an era of ageing populations, fragmented communities, and declining multi-generational interaction, golf has a unique opportunity:
to become a true intergenerational sport.

This section explores why intergenerational design is a powerful force for participation, retention, wellbeing, and cultural renewal — and why it is one of the most significant growth opportunities for the future of women’s golf.

🌿 Purpose of This Section

To highlight the opportunity golf has to connect generations through shared play, learning, and belonging — and to show how intergenerational formats can strengthen pathways, deepen loyalty, and build community resilience.

Key Insights: Why Intergenerational Golf Matters

1. Golf is one of the few sports that can unite three generations on the same course.

Unlike most sports, golf allows:

an 8-year-old beginner
a 40-year-old mid-life player
a 75-year-old senior woman

to meaningfully play, score, and enjoy the game together.

This is not just unusual — it is transformational.

Every intergenerational interaction:

transfers knowledge
strengthens identity
increases motivation
deepens belonging
builds commitment to the sport

It is participation and heritage playing out in real time.

2. Intergenerational formats increase retention across all age groups.

When generations play together:

juniors are more likely to stay in golf
mid-life women stay connected even when busy
senior women maintain purpose, relevance, and joy
families build rituals around the sport

The research is clear across all sports:
intergenerational engagement improves long-term retention.

In golf — a rare intergenerational sport — these benefits are amplified.

📈 Examples: Intergenerational Golf in Action

1. Family foursomes and mixed-generation events

These formats:

create shared memories
blend fun with competition
bring multiple generations to the club on the same day
strengthen emotional connection to the sport

Clubs that run these events often see:

rising junior membership
stronger mid-life retention
increased senior participation
deeper family engagement with the club environment

2. Mixed-generation club days

Events that bring together:

juniors
parents
grandparents
senior mentors
new women members

build a culture of continuity that no marketing strategy can replicate.

Intergenerational clubs are resilient clubs.

🔗 Historical Connection: Women’s Golf Has Always Been Intergenerational

From the early 20th century onwards, women’s golf clubs and societies often included:

mothers and daughters
sisters
grandmothers and grandchildren
extended family networks

Events such as:

family trophies
mother–daughter pairs
multi-generational club days

were common across the UK and Europe.

The LGU archives show multiple generations of the same families competing in the same championships, sometimes decades apart.

Intergenerational continuity is one of the oldest cultural patterns of women’s golf.

We are not inventing a new idea —
we are rediscovering a powerful one.

🚀 Modern Implication: Intergenerational Design Is a Major Opportunity for Growth

In today’s world:

families are more dispersed
generations interact less frequently
social activities are fragmented
digital life replaces shared physical experiences

Golf can reverse these trends by offering structured, meaningful, joyful intergenerational participation.

Intergenerational design can:

✔ Strengthen junior retention

Children are more likely to stay in golf when they see older role models and share the game with family.

✔ Support mid-life women

Family-friendly formats allow mid-life women to maintain participation during busy years.

✔ Empower senior women as teachers and culture-bearers

They pass on etiquette, tradition, humour, and confidence.

✔ Build community resilience

Intergenerational clubs behave like communities, not facilities.

✔ Differentiate golf from all other sports

Few sports can offer this combination of longevity, inclusivity, and shared experience.

In a 100-year life, belonging across generations becomes a premium asset.
Golf can be one of the last remaining multi-generation spaces in society.

This is not a marginal add-on.
It is a strategic frontier for the future of women’s golf.

🌿 Summary

Intergenerational golf:

bridges generations
strengthens pathways
enhances retention
builds wellbeing
preserves culture
increases club engagement
unlocks new forms of belonging

It draws on golf’s natural strengths and transforms them into a modern advantage.

The next section (“How Clubs, Governing Bodies, and Coaches Can Prepare for the Future”) translates these insights into practical steps — showing how the whole golf ecosystem can evolve to meet the needs of a longevity society.