If you’ve set foot on a golf course over the past two years, you’ve likely noticed the obvious: The game is booming. That includes women, too, but the momentum is apparent in another realm: leadership roles. As you’ll see in this package — in which we’ll feature eight women in the game — many prestigious jobs in the sport are now occupied by females. From holding down national, front-facing gigs to excelling behind the scenes at golf’s biggest equipment companies, women are making their mark in fields traditionally dominated by men. At GOLF, we celebrate the essential role these women play in making the game better, and more inclusive, for all of us.
***
ICYMI: Amanda Renner, CBS Sports Broadcaster
ICYMI: Michelle Penney, Expert Engineer, Product Development, Metalwoods, TaylorMade Golf
ICYMI: Angela Moser, Golf Course Architect and Shaper
ICYMI: Megan LaMothe, Founder & CEO, Foray Golf
ICYMI: Rose Fielder, Director of Engineering Operations, Ping
On the tee: Rose Fielder, Director of Engineering Operations, Ping
While studying mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, Rose Fielder worked with a professor who was collaborating on a research project with Ping. Fielder was a member of the women’s golf team at Michigan but knew playing professionally wasn’t in her future. A few emails led to two internships, and when Fielder graduated she was hired full time as a project engineer at Ping, where she now manages more than two dozen people in product development and testing. She’s never worked anywhere else.
FIRST LOOK: Ping launches Tour-inspired Putting Lab Design (PLD) program
The fellowship of female engineers is relatively small, and even more so in the golf industry. So Fielder has been forced to seek out relatable peers elsewhere. One of her more recent ambitions has been to try to get more women to apply for Ping engineering roles by connecting with a national network of women’s golf team coaches. She was thrilled when her effort elicited some responses.
“The female perspective can get overlooked,” Fielder says. “It’s in subtle ways. I don’t think anybody’s intentionally doing it. That’s why I’m motivated to bring more women into all the roles we have within the company. It helps to represent all the groups.”
Fielder says that one of the great motivating factors in her job is the opportunity to conquer daily challenges and solve new problems — many of which involve people and how they work with one another.
Another cool perk? Ping utilizes their employees for in-house equipment testing.
“I get scheduled for player testing every so often,” Fielder says. “I was out on the range, and it was a beautiful day, about 10 in the morning. I was between meetings, and I just kind of looked around and said to the person on the range with me, ‘Can you believe we get paid to do this?’”