Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Women’s Golf Day event held by Innisbrook Golf Resort, a Salamander Golf & Spa Resort in Palm Harbor, Fl. It was a fabulous event designed to introduce more women to the game of golf.
Women’s Golf Day started up about four years ago as a means to introduce young girls, and women to the game as well as invite women that already play to come out for an afternoon of golf clinics, product demos, 9 holes of play or chip & putt events. The annual four hour event spans 43 countries and has over 20 million participants. Participating locations must meet a certain criteria in order to qualify to host an event. The two that stood out to me as noteworthy were that the event had to have 2 hours of golf and 2 hours of socializing or networking. The other was that the venue had to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and provide promotion of the Foundation at the event.
Innisbrook Golf Resort graciously hosted approximately 100 women to an afternoon of golf clinics where participants were taught how best to hold a club, the right posture and proper form for hitting the ball. They set up on the driving range and let us all have a go with either a driver or an iron. Golf on the range was followed up with spa treatments from their Salamander Spa and delicious food with an open bar. Yes, they provided us with an open bar. Gotta love the 19th hole.
We are very fortunate to have such a world class resort so close by. Each March Innisbrook hosts the Valspar PGA Tournament and through out the year the host events open to the public like their 4th of July celebration complete with fireworks. It was a real treat to attend their Women’s Golf Day event.
I own a set of clubs but haven’t played in a very long time. I wasn’t even sure if I knew how to hold a club. It turns out it’s almost like riding a bike and I picked up my grip right where I left it, so to speak. After a couple of swings and more than a few misses, I was able to drive the ball a bit of a distance with a little lift too. As I was sitting there waiting for a friend to take her turn I texted Kevin to ask if we could hit the driving range more often. Playing 9 holes would be a lot of fun and somewhat cost prohibitive at the moment for us, but a bucket of balls is a cheap way to swing a club and get out there to practice.
Innisbrook sent us all home with a gift bag of goodies including a coupon for an additional 1/2 hour golf lesson when booking a full hour with one of their amazing Golf Pro’s. I’m hoping to be able to make use of it later this summer. It’ll give me a good excuse to break out my clubs.
If you’d like to participate next year you can find a location near you hosting an event next June by checking the list of locations on the Women’s Golf Day website. I’ll see you on the links.
