100 women and men from across the world of golf gathered at Walton Heath last month for the 2nd annual Women in Golf Awards, hosted by Nicola Bennett.
The winners came from all sectors of the industry and range in age from 20 to 83, showing the amazing contribution that women make at every stage of their careers.
Among the 2023 Women in Golf Award winners were:
- Sally Hinton of Close House won Female PGA Coach of The Year sponsored by the PGA in recognition of her commitment to growing women’s and girl’s golf.
- Maureen Clarke of Sherwood Forest Golf Club won The Unsung Hero sponsored by England Golf for her 40-year commitment to golf.
- The Women’s Initiative sponsored by PING was taken by Yvonne Brooke, Founder of The Ladies Golf Lounge, a 10,000+ social community of women golfers.
- Women in Turfcare sponsored by BIGGA went to Amanda Dorans of Loch Lomond Golf Club, a champion of sustainability for the last 15 years.
- Pure Golf was named as Brand of the Year sponsored by The British Golf Industry Association.
“What a night!” commented Nicole Wheatley of Potteries based Medi8 Marketing, co-founder of the awards. “I feel like we have met some future industry leaders this evening. To see them shine on this stage gives me a huge sense of pride, and confidence that golf continues to move in the right direction.”
The ballot for 2024 Women in Golf Awards ceremony is now open and available through the website www.womeningolfawards.com
Sally Hinton, PGA Coach of the Year was born and grew up in Shropshire, learning to play at Bridgnorth Golf Club where dad Paul was the club pro. Whilst there she represented Shropshire at juniors and ladies level.
She has followed I then footsteps of grandfather (Ron Hinton), dad (Paul Hinton) and uncle (Phil Hinton) by becoming a PGA Pro. Between them they have over 140 years combined membership of the PGA.
“I’m honoured to have been named Female PGA Coach of the Year. I’ve been coaching for nearly 14 years, and this is a true career highlight. I’m passionate about encouraging more people to get into golf as well as improving the visibility of women in golf.
It was great to attend the Women in Golf Awards and be amongst so many fantastic role models.”
Maureen Clarke
“The Women in Golf Unsung Hero award is for a woman whose role may have gone unrecognised. A judging panel made up of five independent industry experts chose the winners and amazingly they unanimously chose me.
In 1968 I joined Sherwood Forest Golf Club and the Notts County Ladies’ Golf Association and became hooked on golf. I have been on the Sherwood Forest committee in various roles and in the 80s I became the NCLGA County Junior Organiser organising training, competitions and matches for the girls. In the 90s the English Ladies’ Golf Association appointed me Junior Area Manager to help county junior organisers in Notts, Lincs, Leics and Northants develop junior golf.
In 2002 I was voted onto the ELGA Executive and sent to the R&A Rules School at St Andrews to take my rules examinations and subsequently became a chief referee for ELGA, then EWGA and then England Golf. I started to give rules talks and demonstrations at clubs using my indoor equipment which depicted a golf hole – tee, hazards, green etc which enabled me to explain the rules. Any money I raised was passed on to the Notts county junior girls for development.
I have had so much enjoyment from golf, meeting wonderful people and visiting beautiful golf courses. This has been a reward in itself, and I highly recommend it.
