#MakeGolfCool Spotlight: Fore the Ladies’ Abby Liebenthal
For Abby Liebenthal, golf has always been there for her. The Ohio native grew up playing with her family and eventually parlayed her passion for golf into a career that has included stints at the American Junior Golf Association, Tiger Woods Foundation, Titleist, Imperial and her current home at the United States Golf Association. The closer Abby grew to the sport, the more she noticed that her friends and colleagues didn’t share the same connection with the game that had been a part of her life as far back as she could remember.
Inspired to change that and encourage other women to pick up golf, Abby hosted a clinic in 2019 that would end up becoming something far bigger and more impactful than she could have ever imagined. In addition to serving as assistant director of media and CRM marketing for the USGA, today Abby is also the proud founder and president of Fore the Ladies, a female-based community and non-profit on a mission to make golf more accessible and approachable for women across the country. Recently, we caught up with Abby to learn about Fore the Ladies’ journey to date, the exciting places they are going in 2024 and how golf course operators can take a page out of their book to #MakeGolfCool for women at their facility.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity:
What was your inspiration behind the creation of Fore the Ladies?
While I have always been surrounded by golf, I also knew I was primarily the only girl in my group of friends and colleagues who was enjoying this experience. Knowing I had played my whole life, more and more of these women in my life started to ask me how they could get started. Whether it be for fun or the many different business, social and networking opportunities that are created through golf, the interest was there. They just had no clue where to begin. With that, I put together a golf clinic, which welcomed far more people than I expected. Soon, we started replicating the model in different locations and were routinely selling out clinics.
When COVID hit, I used the extra time I had to more aggressively pursue what had been a passion project up until that point. I formalized Fore the Ladies, Inc., started a podcast and newsletter, and really went all in on becoming a go-to resource for any woman interested in getting into golf. While the introduction to golf clinics continue to be at the heart of our mission, I’m just as – if not more – focused on keeping them in the game, so they know all that’s available and possible through golf. Today, we’re much more than a women’s golf clinic, but a true golf community ready to serve each stage of a golfer’s journey.
From your experience, what is the biggest barrier to entry for women getting into golf?
First, they simply don’t realize they are welcome and that there is programming designed specifically for them to get started. And a big reason for this lack of awareness is because they aren’t being marketed to properly or at all in many cases. The other big one is equipment. It’s hard to justify investing in a game that you don’t even know you like yet. That’s where we come in to bridge that gap by providing equipment at all our clinics and most social events.
What are practical steps golf course owners and operators can take to reach more women right now?
One thing I’ve told a lot of the courses we’ve worked with is to simply include photos of women playing the game in their marketing collateral. Representation is extremely powerful. Then, when thinking about your current email database, you’re often reaching people who know your facility and have been there before. While it’s obviously very important to continue serving and communicating with your core customer, you need to get new people in the pipeline. One example that comes to mind is partnering with a local business such as a fitness studio and hosting a clinic in collaboration with them.
From your experience, what is the biggest barrier to entry for women getting into golf?
First, they simply don’t realize they are welcome and that there is programming designed specifically for them to get started. And a big reason for this lack of awareness is because they aren’t being marketed to properly or at all in many cases. The other big one is equipment. It’s hard to justify investing in a game that you don’t even know you like yet. That’s where we come in to bridge that gap by providing equipment at all our clinics and most social events.
What are practical steps golf course owners and operators can take to reach more women right now?
One thing I’ve told a lot of the courses we’ve worked with is to simply include photos of women playing the game in their marketing collateral. Representation is extremely powerful. Then, when thinking about your current email database, you’re often reaching people who know your facility and have been there before. While it’s obviously very important to continue serving and communicating with your core customer, you need to get new people in the pipeline. One example that comes to mind is partnering with a local business such as a fitness studio and hosting a clinic in collaboration with them.
What does a Fore the Ladies clinic look like?
It actually starts before the event with a comprehensive email on what to expect. We provide them with suggestions on attire, where to meet and other basic information that more avid players often take for granted. This goes a long way in helping them feel confident and comfortable when they show up on the day of the clinic. As for the actual instruction, our flagship clinics are taught by our host course’s instructional staff and feature rotations through different putting, chipping and full swing stations. Following the clinic, each participant receives an email with information on how to stay engaged and our all-encompassing newsletter, a go-to resource for any woman playing golf that features everything from Fore the Ladies finds on fashion and accessories to a growing library of educational player development content and programming calendar. In the end, I want to give people their own golf community. And if Fore the Ladies can help pave the path for that, it’s a win.
How big is the Fore the Ladies community?
Since 2019, we’ve reached over 4,200 women across the country through our programming. This has grown tremendously beyond clinics to include a variety of social events like happy hour nines and community meet ups, as well as golf getaways that have brought the Fore the Ladies community to some of the sport’s most iconic venues and destinations. This past year alone, we doubled in participation and had more than 2,600 participants and counting take part in nearly 130 events.
As part of our goal to keep women engaged in the game, our focus for 2024 is to identify a list of key cities and develop more programming there as we want to see success in retaining female golfers. We’re also continuing to grow our website and creative content library to truly become the go-to resource for women in golf, not to mention, we have some incredible trips planned.
Care to share where FTL is headed in 2024?
We will be making a formal announcement soon as we iron out some final details, but one hint I’ll give is that one of the places on our list is also hosting a major championship next year.
To learn more about Abby, Fore the Ladies and how to join this growing golf community, visit www.foretheladies.net.
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