Hikurangi Golf Club president Felice Croft encouraging more women into the sport

Hikurangi Golf Club president Felice Croft is part of New Zealand’s bow-wave of women in the golf club administration scene.

Northland golfer Felice Croft has gone from enjoying the greens as a child to being Hikurangi Golf Club’s current president - and she’s encouraging more women to get involved in the sport.

Croft’s earliest golfing memories are of trailing her father and grandfathers on the Hikurangi course but back then she had no desire to swing a golf club.

“I remember mucking around on the putting green, and I’d run amok around the golf course for sure,” the 39-year-old said.

“I never thought I’d get into golf to be honest, as I’ve never been sporty or played any sports growing up.”

However, that changed in 2019 when she took part in a She Loves Golf Tournament at the Northland Golf Club in Whangārei, which opened her eyes to the game’s more social aspects.

She Loves Golf is a Golf New Zealand initiative designed to create social golfing opportunities for women of all ages.

The tournament sparked a keenness in Croft to finally give the sport a go.

She stuck to her “diehard” Hikurangi roots and began playing at the local golf club as a green-fee golfer, before becoming a fully-fledged club member.

Croft said she was then recruited on to the committee, which escalated into her being elected as the club’s president at an AGM - a title she has held for two years.

While she has had a rise in leadership, she described her game as “still pretty average” but said for her the sport was less about excelling and more about the social aspect.

Hikurangi Golf Club has 70 members - 10 of whom are women, whose ages range from the 20s to 80s.

Croft wants more ladies to get on the fairway.

Her club has embraced the She Loves Golf initiative, having hosted its own tournament under the banner. Additionally, about 55 female golfers from Northland competed in the Women’s Champ of Champs at the course.

“We’re a small club but we’ve got a really cool group of ladies at Hika,” Croft said.

“In the past, what would be referred to as ‘the old guard’ ladies were quite focused on dress code and etiquette but now it’s very open and welcoming, with no emphasis on any of that – they don’t care if you show up in your gym gear.”

The She Loves Golf initiative has seen golf clubs around country establishing events and programmes specifically aimed at attracting new women players onto the fairways. Waipu Golf Club hosts the Tips and Sips women’s introduction programme.