For some people inclusivity is a dirty word. To them it is nothing more than an attempt to bring affirmative action via the back door to the detriment of the mainstream. They look back at all the inclusivity projects undertaken by failed leftist governments and conclude that this must not be allowed to happen to their golf. However for golf to remain an exclusive club and to expect the general public to somehow fall in line at some undefined future point is irresponsible and unworkable. There have to be certain efforts by the golf authorities to bring more people into the fold. This article aims to list some of the measures that could possibly be used to reach this objective.
Getting Diversity to Work For Golf
- Talk about it. The first step in acknowledging the problems is often the most difficult but also the most important if you are to get to the bottom of the lack of inclusivity in golf. If you pretend that the problem does not exist, then you are onto the road to defeat.
- Have a diversity of people representing the sport. This does not have to be just the players. You can include other professions associated with the sport such as spokespeople and managing directors. This will show that the diversity is not surface but is entrenched within the golfing community.
- Create rules and procedures to support any resolution that you may have to include people in the sport. This might include the banning of unlawful discrimination or even the abuse we hear about in golf.
- Raise awareness by training all the people who work in the sport about the need to improve the image of golf across all communities. In the same way that a reputation can be destroyed by a single employee, it can also be built by that employee. If everyone knows the objectives then they will be in a position to assist in their delivery.
- You need to give as much publicity as possible to the things that you are already doing towards achieving the objectives. The tendency is to have a modest attitude towards success but the downside to this approach is that you leave a gap for people to come up with their one mumbo jumbo about what they think you are doing.
- Related to the point above is to launch an aggressive rebuttal process that counters any inaccurate information that is being disseminated about golf in general or about particular tournaments. It might initially appear to be a bit of a bother but it will help the image of the sport in the long run.
- They say that you live and die by the sword. Thus if the golfing communities have decided to include everyone, they have to make sure that it becomes part of the fabric of the culture within the community. This is not about organizing one single event but have a continuous growth process.
