Top Golfer To Play Exhibition Game In Wimbledon

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Part of initiative to encourage people to try golf

Top ladies' golfer and European Solheim Cup captain Carin Koch is playing an exhibition round at Wimbledon Common Golf Club on Thursday (April 30).

Carin will be playing nine holes on the Camp Road-based course as part of National Golf Month, which encourages more people to give golf a go in May.

This year there is a special focus on persuading more women to try golf and Carin will be joined in Wimbledon by Kate Hoey MP, the Mayor's Commissioner for Sport in London and a former Minister for Sport.

Wimbledon Common Golf Club has been picked as the perfect venue for the launch of National Golf Month as it was an all-male club until 2005, but now has a thriving women's section and a successful ladies' acaademy.

Market research in 2014 commissioned by Syngenta, a golf course turfcare specialist, and one of the many sponsors of National Golf Month, revealed that 5% of women in the UK said they would be ‘very interested’ in taking up golf.

However, the research also showed that golf in the UK continues to be perceived as expensive, a sport for older men and requires club membership, potentially putting off new players.

BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty, talkSPORT presenter Georgie Bingham and 19-year-old Solheim Cup star and Ladies European Tour professional Charley Hull, are among the female personalities also lending their support to National Golf Month.

Doug Poole, a former professional golfer and the founder of National Golf Month, said: “What has happened at Wimbledon Common Golf Club is a great example of how golf is changing in the UK. The ladies academy is introducing women from different walks of life to golf and it’s great to see how, through the coaching and mentoring programme, new players are developing from starters to regular golfers.

Carin's exhibition game at Wimbledon will start on the 2nd tee at 11am, and she will play holes 2-5, 11-14 and the 18th. The course is on common land, and the public are welcome to watch her play.

April 30, 2015