Have men reaped all the golf benefits?

Eager to chat about her chapter and itching to get out on the green, Sherry Bruck showed up at Doral Arrowwood in Rye Brook a recent Friday with golf clubs in tow.

“Golf is such a great barometer for being able to handle pressure,” said the president of the Westchester chapter of the Executive Women”™s Golf Association. “It”™s a real teaching tool that way.”

 

Also executive creative director of Harquin Creative Group in Pelham, Bruck knows of the lessons that golf teaches.

“I think that for those of us who are in business, we love to golf because you really have to work on your mechanics, but you have to work on your strategy in your head,” she said. “And your head is what messes you up most of the time.”

Golf is really “skills for life,” concurred Hilary Tuohy, sponsorship committee chairwoman.

“Things like your strategy and course management and learning how to recover are really skills for golf,” Tuohy said. “But, they”™re also the same skills you need for life and business and it”™s a super networking opportunity from a business perspective.”

The collective Executive Women”™s Golf Association brand was founded in 1991 and now stands at 120-plus international chapters.
The Westchester chapter was formed in 1998; there were 10 to 15 members.

Bruck said the number has grown to more than 150.

“What we”™ve successfully done in the last four years is really raise the bar in terms of professional communications,” she said. “We have a really professional website, an e-blasts program and instead of having one league, we have five to six leagues.”

Those leagues provide a relevant playing field for women of varying skill levels.

“We like to call ourselves a virtual golf club because unless you belong to a club, you don”™t have that camaraderie,” Bruck said. “We want to help people get in the game and stay in the game.”

In general, Bruck said the EWGA has over the past few years really seeped into the business community, whereas before, they were “a little under the radar.”

One benefit for members, Tuohy said, is the versatility of the organization.

“If you do want to play competitively, we have the largest amateur competition that you can play in,” she said. “It”™s a huge benefit for those members who are more advanced and who want to compete at that level but are not good enough or who don”™t have the time to dedicate to be professional golfers.”

Corporate sponsorships are a huge part of what keeps the EWGA engine running.

“We benefit because we either get cash donations from them or we get prizes that we can give to our members, but they benefit in that they gain access to our membership base,” Tuohy said.

One of the chapter goals is to break the 200-person membership ceiling and to retain and foster strong corporate sponsor relationships.

“We also want to get the education clinics running in sync and consecutively, so the women can take their game to the next level,” Bruck said.