Iford golf club are hosting a virtual driving range tournament dubbed ‘Galentines Tee Party’.
Except Iford are not the only club hosting the event, as there are set to be five others spanning across four different countries, including a range in the Netherlands.
Leading the event at Iford is golf coach Katie Dawkins who said, “ we did the ‘three range range off’ before and one of the best features of it was that you can connect communities of women together regardless of where they are in the world.”
For their previous event in November, Iford gathered 19 players and played against Belfast and Dublin who also had 18 players of their own.
This time round Dawkins is hoping for more competitors, “so the idea is to get over 100 women attending this, and I think we’re probably going to smash that.”
Based off their previous numbers, hitting their target is very much in the realm of reality, especially with the additional ranges in the Netherlands, Bristol and Three Hammers.
However, in the UK, men are three times more likely to play golf once a month compared to women, so Dawkins’ event is about taking the initial stride in getting women onto the range and taking an interest into golf.
Dawkins said “A lot of women won’t go to the range because they’re intimidated but Inrange are excited about how this can power the growth of women’s golf.
It’s powering it in a way that’s fun, accessible and isn’t at all intimidating.”
The technology that Inrange provides allows players to play a round of golf without leaving your bay at the range. Each shot is tracked and you can play anything from a full round like you were on the course, or some more light-hearted mini-games.
The latter may be important for the Galentines event being run at Iford, by keeping it less serious more women may be interested in keeping an active women’s golfing community.
Being their second event already, Dawkins is certain that the event will grow even bigger than it is already. She said “During the PGA show in Orlando, one of the ranges in the states said that they want in on the next one.”
Managing the time differences across the world is a problem that Dawkins is willing to tackle to ensure that the event grows as much as possible with Swing City in Sydney Australia also being on her radar for ranges which she wants to attract.
The ‘Galentines Tee Party’ is to be held at Iford Golf Course on Monday February 9th.
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