When it Comes to Gender, Golf Can Learn from CrossFit

Sue Shapcott, PhD, PGA

Owner: Change Golf Instruction and Sports Query

Madison, WI 

In 2016 I became addicted to CrossFit.

As participation data shows, I wasn’t alone. CrossFit was one of the fastest growing leisure activities in the USA between 2000 and 2020. CrossFit, of course, is very different from golf, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it. Specifically, why CrossFit participants include equal numbers of men and women, when golf continues to be a male-dominated sport.

Golf and CrossFit and golf have the same demographics with two exceptions. CrossFit’s participants are younger, and despite the high physical barriers associated with it, CrossFit has no gender gap. Workouts are adapted based on strength and agility – a bit like golf’s tee system.

So, when it comes to gender parity, what is CrossFit doing right that golf is doing wrong?

Interesting research in three key areas provide the golf industry with food for thought when strategizing about ways to increase women’s participation in the game and in our workforce.

One: Rethink Women-Only Classes. Most CrossFit classes are mixed gender. My favourite workout partners are both men and women who push themselves, and me, hard. Working out and learning in a mixed-gender environment builds mutual respect amongst men and women. The military recognized this in 1994. And research on adult sports participation suggests that learning in a mixed-gender environment is beneficial for both men and women.

The stereotypical differences in how men and women learn, think, and communicate have been largely overstated. We all have individual differences, but it is too simplistic to categorize participants based only on gender. Not all women want to be social, and not all men want to be competitive. We don’t learn differently either.

Does golf focus on women-only classes because it relies on outdated science? Or because that is the tradition? Or do we offer women-only classes because we think that is what the market demands?

Whatever the reason, does the practice have the unintended consequence of stigmatizing women golfers, making them feel more like an appendage rather than a bono fide member of the community?

In my studies, less than 15% of women golfers want to learn in single-gender classes. So although we shouldn’t eliminate women-only classes entirely (for example, love.golf is a great women-only golf program), we should not offer them exclusively. I started offering mixed-gender (or co-ed) public classes in 2017 and haven’t looked back.

Two: Consider the Culture. Regardless of whether women learn golf in a single-gender or mixed-gender environment, it is intimidating. Intimidation is one of the valid justifications for women-only classes, but there’s another way to solve that problem.  In other male-dominated fields, a growth-minded culture (a culture of learning, not a culture a knowing) has time and again been shown to reduce the intimidation factor for women. And importantly, this culture can be set by the coach.

CrossFit epitomizes a growth-minded environment. It is a culture of learning. That is probably why, in my opinion, CrossFit outperforms golf in gender equity. The ethos behind CrossFit is that if you work hard, you can get stronger regardless of your age or gender. Golf, on the other hand, is a culture of knowing. More problematically, my research has demonstrated that golf coaches believe that male golfers are more able to improve than female golfers. So regardless of whether women are in a single- or mixed-gender class, it is detrimental to women’s participation if the golf coach doesn’t convey a growth-minded message to both men and women.   

Three: We Need More Women Coaches. The CrossFit workforce is 35% female. Golf, by comparison, is 5%. To be clear, women coaches are not necessarily better at coaching women golfers. You will find good and bad coaches in any group.

But what does matter in the bigger picture is that more women are seen as experts. Social scientists say that a critical mass of 30% is when women stop being tokens of representation and start being equals.

CrossFit smashes through that threshold. Because of this, women’s expertise is normalized for both men and women participating in CrossFit. Women have successful role-models and men learn to have the same respect for coaches – and other participants – regardless of gender.

When it comes to the workforce, golf is in a catch-22 position. Less women play golf, less women become experts, less women join the workforce. That is why putting good hiring processes in place is essential to breaking the cycle. This means making hiring processes transparent and fair so that women who want to coach get the same access to job opportunities as their male counterparts. A doable first step towards this may be committing to having at least one female coach in your interview pool. A diverse coaching workforce is possible if you are committed to it. And once women see that others like them have carved out successful professional careers in golf, they may be more likely to stick around. That is when we may gradually increase the coaching workforce from 5% to 10%, to 20%.

The golf industry has wrestled with increasing female golf participation for decades. In my opinion, however, we haven’t been bold enough to really shake things up. Maybe that’s because change is difficult. Or maybe it’s because we haven’t had disruptive industries, like CrossFit, to show us that there is a different way.