It reads like a pro golfer’s tour schedule, but this was the impromptu late-July/early-August travel itinerary for Tuscany Williams, the mastermind behind Women Who Golf — the female-only community platform that is taking social media by storm.

What began as a simple online nosey by Tuscany to try to find some like-minded women to play a round of golf with while on her travels has now become a Facebook phenomenon, with more than 55,000 members that provide a truly worldwide engagement. 

Golf Digest Middle East managed to pin Tuscany down long enough for a chat during her time in Dubai to find out what all the fuss is about.

“The reason why I started it was as a result of a simple online search,” explains Tuscany. “I was trying to find another social group of women golfers that I could slot into and meet some other ladies. I just couldn’t find a thing — there was nothing that existed.

“So Josh (my husband) and I decided to set up this group ‘Women Who Golf’ to try to get some like-minded people together and it was just like — boom! 

“It just went crazy, they just kept coming — women from all over the globe kept joining and joining. 

“It really showed that the demand and interest was there. 

Tuscany Williams set up Women Who Golf to find like-minded female players to connect with

“Take this for example. Some people we met in Costa Rica through the group saw we were in Amsterdam, and we met up, along with some other members from America. It is crazy to think that from a small Facebook group just over three years ago we could have this big group of people from all corners of the globe meet up in Amsterdam.”

The group was established in 2019 and Tuscany was determined it was going to be different from other golf platforms and forums: No abuse, no advertising … and no men.

“What I was doing was what I do in life — create a positive vibe and a really inviting place with no promotions within the group or sponsors,” she says. 

“It is a place where women can come and not only celebrate golf but have a great time doing it as well, without any negativity or people plastering adverts or pushing you to pay a subscription or buy something on the back of it. It is just a social club that has become global. “

And it keeps on growing.

“Almost by mistake, we created this community we people felt safe and as a result everyone wants to get in there,” Tuscany adds. “It is a place where you are not going to be sold to and you are not going to be criticised — there are many sites and platforms that become poisonous with negative comments for the sake of it by the keyboard warriors and knuckle-draggers. That is something that has a zero-per-cent presence on Women Who Golf and that is why everyone enjoys it, and that just brings more, again, like-minded spirits to the ‘club’.

“It doesn’t matter about your personal or political leanings, the site is just a celebration of golf and everyone there has that same interest.”

The women-only policy has also helped create that ‘like-minded spirit’ in the group. 

“One of the biggest things I had growing up playing golf and also with our lifestyle of travelling was there was always this issue of it being hard to meet other women golfers,” explains Tuscany. 

“It felt impossible at times to be able to connect and that’s why I jumped on Facebook to see if there was any solution online.

“As I said, I couldn’t find one and I thought: ‘OK, I will create my own and get a couple of nibbles and make one or two golfing connections.’ Now one or two is more than 55,000.

“The girls love the women-only rule as it is their hub, their den,” Tuscany adds. “One member told me they felt very ‘VIP’ getting into the club.”

“The other feedback I get is how everyone appreciates it costs no one any money to join in and everyone can get all the benefits — be it golfing tips, a pat on the back, a good laugh and even
new friendships.”

Women Who Golf members share all sorts of posts including social gatherings, achievements on the course and special occasions

The growing community also makes it easier to get a feel for what is good — and bad — in the current game for female golfers.

“I am asked ‘What is it that women want?’ and I don’t need to go to fancy research companies. I just ask, and I have 55,000 women who will tell me: ‘This is what I hate,’ or ‘This is what I love’. And together we can come up with solutions with our hive mind to get a consensus.”

Tuscany’s travels have taken her all over the world and — of course — to Dubai, which has been a long time in coming.

“A while back we played with the head of tourism in Mexico and she talked about Dubai being a really interesting place and a great hub for golf,” Tuscany says. “That was a couple of years ago and it was something that always stuck with me. 

“We always really wanted to come and check it out first-hand. So here we are to experience this progressive place and get a feel for how I can use that to help the female golfing society. Dubai is progressive on all fronts, not just golf, so that helps when it comes to forward-thinking and creative, positive ideas. 

“I was really curious to see how women’s golf is going here, how they are pushing forward. It is so refreshing to see how it is done compared to other countries, where the more traditional route and ‘status quo’ is firmly in place. 

“We have found that clubs around the world can be struggling for female members and participation, particularly younger players. We have been asked by Golf Australia and many others how to get more women into golf. I always say the same thing and that is the one thing I see in Dubai: Fun! 

“The key is making that first experience enjoyable and making the females in particular want to go back. I could see Dubai thinking outside the box and not just pushing the traditional standards for someone to come and join.  

“They have the best courses, the best tech and the best carts, for example, but there is also the social side, with women’s societies, groups and after-golf drinks. Those little aspects make all the difference to leave that positive mark and make players want to return. 

“It’s not just: Go in, get tee-time, play golf, then ‘Bye!’ Forming connections and having a good time is key.”

WWG is also out to give female golfers that level playing field, so to speak, in the clubhouse.

We have been asked how to get more women into golf. I always say the same thing and that is the one thing I see in Dubai: Fun!

“One thing I find, one thing that comes up a lot from girls on the site, is that sometimes at a club they feel like a bit of an afterthought and there are a few things like that that still need to change and be improved,” explains Tuscany. 

“Consider the stereotype: you are a guy and a beginner and you stink it up on your first round. You have a whole support network of guys slapping you on the back and helping you out with a laugh.

“Now if you are a woman in that situation, you have no such support. You feel out of place and it can feel like all the men are laughing at you. What are the odds of that woman coming back? 

“Like you see in Dubai, if there is that network of support from other ladies, I guarantee you she will be back to do better next time rather than go away with this negative feeling and never touch a golf club again. We just need to grow that: Having not just one or two girls you may know at the golf club, but a whole group where you can celebrate your wins, support those who have had a tough day and have a laugh about it at the same time.

“We are doing the same online with Women Who Golf. For example, when a member posts about her first-ever par, they can get over 1,000 likes and nothing but encouraging comments. That feeling is like no other and, again, will only establish a positive feeling towards the game. 

“I recall one girl wrote: ‘I have no one in my social circle I can share this with, and I can post it here and the feeling is amazing.’ While she couldn’t get the pats on the back in person, she was given an explosion of support to help celebrate that achievement. These little stories I hear are what it is all about.”

With members from every continent and as far afield as Canada, Australia, Costa Rica, the UAE, Mexico, Scotland, eastern Europe and eastern Asia, one concern for Tuscany was the communication hurdles. Thanks to a unified love of golf (and a little technology), she needn’t have worried. 

“I initially thought language would be a barrier but there are more members coming in from everywhere. Some of our newest have signed up from Korea and Singapore,” she says. “I recall one member who posted a query in Italian and — thanks to that magic translation button — she got the exact feedback she required. It was a real laugh as it led some of our other members having a bash at Italian and that was a great illustration of what we are all about.”

Tuscany also plays her part in meeting her social media friends in person. 

“One thing we do on our travels is to encourage members to come and meet up for a hit, laugh and meet your fellow members,” she says. “We are off to LA shortly for one such event at TopGolf there, and that should be fun. 

“We are back in Dubai in October and we are planning to have a WWG meet-up. With the TopGolf at Emirates Golf Club, it is an ideal spot, as you don’t need to worry about tee times, numbers or ability, and it creates such a relaxed vibe where I guarantee new friendships will be formed.” 

So, all female golfers in the UAE now know where to head if they want to grow their own group of friends and fellow players — both online and on the golf course.

Sign up at facebook.com/womenwhogolfcommunity
womenwhogolf.net

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The post What women want: Tuscany Williams talks about her female-only platform that is taking social media by storm appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The school’s revolutionary approach of integrating education with industry has now flowed beyond the classroom and some of Dubai’s most powerful boardrooms to the lush fairways of JA The Resort Golf Club following the launch of FirstPoint School’s (FPS) Golf Centre of Excellence.

FPS has partnered with the world-renowned Leadbetter Golf Academy at JA The Resort Golf Course to offer a pathway to the professional game via scholarships to globally recognised universities and professional coaching academies. Jay Tostevin, FPS’s Secondary School Vice Principal, says promising young golfers can expect a bespoke curriculum that will lead to qualifications, both academically and vocationally, without impacting on the golfer’s training and coaching development.

“Our vision is to create a golfing academy that becomes a central hub for the development of elite golfers within Dubai and the UAE,” says Tostevin.

“We want to promote participation, excellence, enjoyment and understanding of the game, providing a quality education that will stimulate both golf game development and high academic achievement.

“We have teamed up with The Leadbetter Golf Academy as we share the same values that [world renowned instructor] David Leadbetter wants to instill in young people through playing the game. They have 40 centres across the globe and have a proven track record of progressing talent to the top.”

In the first year, FPS is working with golfers from seven to 15 years old and will eventually expand the Golf Centre of Excellence experience to those as young as four and up to age 18. The programme offered is personalised, meaning a teen already playing at MENA Tour level can remain with their existing coach while still benefiting from the Leadbetter Academy facilities and the school’s pioneering academic offering.

“Some of our talented young golfers are already coached by a range of people which we would not change, we are not exclusive,” Tostevin explained. “We want to work with all parties but with The Leadbetter Academy we have the coaches and facilities to provide the students that we begin to develop from grassroots, a pathway into the higher level coaching and potentially to the Leadbetter Academy in Florida.”

Initially, the FPS Golf Centre of Excellence will be delivered as part of the school’s PE curriculum and through after school clubs. Students will compete in intra school competitions while FPS hope to set up a school level league to provide intermediate competition pathways.

“Long term we will have dedicated coaching on-site, allowing our students to train on-site, whilst studying a national curriculum that develops the skills and knowledge through specific golf-related content. There is a multitude of science, mathematics and English objectives that can be taught through the game of golf,” Tostevin said. 

“For example the physics involved in the golf swing, or the numbers you can analyse in swing paths, ball spin rates, stoke percentages… it is exciting to think what could be created.  Students will be able to gain their GCSE’s and A-Levels whilst still playing at the level they need to.”

GEMS FirstPoint School is delivering its golf programme in tandem with The Leadbetter Golf Academy team at JA The Resort Golf Course

Working in partnership with local and globally recognised companies to provide an integrated and individualised curriculum for every student, FPS has become the lead school for Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s (KHDA) Rahhal programme.

RELATED: Why this school expects to create Dubai’s next generation of leaders

What does that look like in practice during a typical day at FPS? How about classes where your child builds an F1 car, explores the solar system from within a space shuttle or constructs a robotic arm? While some students learn in a traditional classroom setting, others will be brainstorming in a corporate office in another part of Dubai, explains FPS principal and CEO Matthew Tompkins.

“Education needs to adapt and evolve to meet the demands of modern industry and prepare young people properly for employment in the Fourth Industrial Revolution that we are now in,” Tompkins says.

“In our younger years, this involves guest speakers and day visits to different industries. As the students get older, the time in industry increases and the experts contribute to develop employability skills while also supporting learning in classes like business studies, economics and PE.

“In the sixth form, students have access to a one-day-a-week project-based internship with a company, where they work as a team to find solutions to issues posed by the company.”

Students in the FPS Golf Centre of Excellence will be provided with opportunities to undertake mini internships within the golf industry such as hospitality, course management and coaching.

Jay Tostevin takes up the cause when FPS is quizzed on how golf can set up future students for “high academic achievement”.

“Golf as a sport impacts positively on academic achievement,” Tostevin said. “In fact, there are over 250 associations between physical activity and academic achievement, academic behaviour, and cognitive skills and attitudes.”

FPS has already partnered with a number of businesses including SIEMENS, Emirates NBD, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Emirates Airline and Facebook. Expect the links with the Middle East golf industry to increase as well.

“Our partnership with SIEMENS is just the start of our links with industry here in the UAE,” Tostevin said. “Our aim is to develop these links so that these companies can collaborate to provide enhanced opportunities for young people. I’m thinking our swing studio could be powered using Siemens technology. 

“The beauty of golf is that the handicap system allows anyone to play with anyone.  The beauty of the Middle East is that 95 per cent of the time the weather is superb. Put these together and we have a plethora of opportunities to organise golfing events where all our stakeholders can come together to socialise as well as forge new business opportunities.”

To find out more about GEMS FirstPoint School and the courses offered, click here

RELATED: How this Dubai school is addressing the challenge of the future workplace

The post VIDEO: Golf now on the curriculum at Dubai school changing the face of education    appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Organisers hope Paige Spiranac will again lend her social media celebrity to December’s Omega Dubai Ladies Masters but admit “we may not put her through the trauma of playing” the season-ending Ladies European Tour [LET] event.

Tournament Director David Spencer has revealed the 24-year-old American is likely to be offered an ambassadorial role at the €515,000 tournament from December 6-9 after emotionally missing the cut at the LET event the past two seasons.

Spencer is also hopeful the aspiring professional golfer will consider returning to act as the official starter for the men at the European Tour’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic, also at Emirates Golf Club, in late January.

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Asked if Spiranac would again be invited to the Ladies Masters, Spencer told Golf Digest Middle East: “Maybe, but we may not put her through the trauma of [actually] playing.“

Related Video: Spiranac hopes to ‘save someone’s life’ by speaking out on cyber bullies

“We’re hoping to bring her to the ladies and the men’s [Desert Classic] and we’re actually considering asking her to be the starter at the men’s event, the official starter.”

Spiranac made her professional debut, and created a global media storm, at the 2015 Dubai Ladies Masters courtesy of a controversial sponsors’ invite.

When the Instagram superstar returned to Dubai last December, she tearfully admitted to an on-going struggle with depression and anxiety due to cyber bullying in the wake of her rounds of 77-79 the previous year.

She had toyed with quitting the game after “the hardest experience of my life” but felt compelled to fight on and speak out given concerning teen suicide rates. “Hopefully I can save someone’s life, I think that’s so much more important than if I make the cut or miss the cut,” she said at the time.

Video: Paige Spiranac’s Top 3 short game tips

Sadly, Spiranac continued to be targeted by faceless online trolls after carding rounds of 77 and 80 on the Majlis layout to finish 13 over par, nine shots shy of the cut which fell at +4, last year.

Spencer took plenty of heat when he first invited Spiranac to Dubai and expects fall-out from the lastest decision. But he remains unapologetic, insisting Spiranac had significantly raised the profile of the Dubai Ladies Masters and would continue to do so in an ambassadorial role.

“We took a lot of criticism for that [the 2015 sponsors’ invite] too but we are happy to stand by what we’ve been criticised for,” said Spencer, who also serves as a strategic adviser to Falcon Golf who now run both the Ladies Masters and Desert Classic.

“In my life I’ve been lucky enough to be in golf situations and see which golfers light up a room when they walk into it and I include in that [list] Seve, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and Tiger, of course.

“But the one I’d add to that is Paige, in that she has great presence, she’s an interesting character, she’s got lots of interesting [charity] causes. Apart from being physically beautiful, which she obviously is, she’s got a heart of gold and that comes across in corporate situations.“

David Cannon/Getty Images Spiranac during the second round of the 2015 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters.

Spencer admitted sponsors were initially reluctant for the tournament to be associated with Spiranac who profits from 1.2m followers on Instagram, and more than 235,000 and 162,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter respectively. But he said corporate backers had done a “complete 180 degree turn” and now, “I mean, they just love her.”

Related: Paige Spiranac and her crazy professional debut

“We think what may be happening is that people think this social media [strategy] is a sexist thing but I was so heartened at that public clinic [involving Spiranac] last year when we had all the young golfers there [watching],” Spencer said.

“There is obviously a connection to golf via social media and we’ve got to be competitive with other sports [and in the entertainment space]. It’s not easy to get sponsorship, whatever sport you have.”

Whatever transpires with Spiranac, four-time defending champion Shanshan Feng won’t return to defend her title due to a prior engagement back in China.

“Shanshan has requested a leave pass and [joked] it will give someone else a chance to win,’ Spencer said. “She said ‘I’ll win it again in 2018’.”

The post Paige Spiranac welcomed back to Dubai Ladies Masters but unlikely to be put through “trauma” of actually playing LET event appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.