Northwest Ladies Golf Association is more about camaraderie than competition

Published 11:27 am Thursday, July 30, 2009

Meeting new people on the golf course can be fun, but most of us still prefer the company of good friends. The fact is, it can be awkward and even uncomfortable to show up as a single, which means being partnered with unknown players.

In particular, some women find the experience downright forbidding.

“I have actually gone out before as a single,” said Kathy Harris of Lynnwood, “and everybody asks, ‘Are you here by yourself?’

“For whatever reason, it’s not as common for a woman to go out as a single and join (with other players). Some women do it, but the vast majority are more comfortable having their tee times filled with people they know.”

“There was no way I would’ve thought of doing that, especially in my first couple of years (of playing),” agreed Lori Parsons of Edmonds. “As you get more confident, maybe. But I still think that happens very seldom (for women).”

And that’s a big reason why Harris and Parsons have found a home with the Northwest Ladies Golf Association, which promotes golf and camaraderie for Puget Sound-area women. There are weekly events, periodic weekend outings, and even occasional multi-day excursions, all in the company of other golf-minded women.

“This league is probably more socially oriented than competitively oriented,” Harris said. “These are women who just want to have a good time.”

“It’s not a competitive group per se,” added Rikki Rothenberg-Klein of Redmond, the association president. “It’s more for women who want to be comfortable, who want to have friends and who have a passion for golf.”

And it provides an opportunity to fit in for those women who might otherwise “feel kind of left out,” she said.

Rothenberg-Klein, a self-described “golfaholic,” joined the NLGA at its inception 15 years ago.

“And for me personally,” she said, “I’ve made some of my dearest friends in this organization. We have a diversity of women of all ages and all skill levels, and we make it really easy for women to have an opportunity to golf.”

The NLGA has about 175 members from the Puget Sound area, with maybe one-fifth coming from Snohomish County. A handful are members of private clubs, but the large majority are not.

According to Rothenberg-Klein, some organization members are longtime players, but others join as beginners. For the novices, there are clinics to provide swing instruction and to explain things like golf etiquette. There is also a mentorship program that pairs experienced players with newcomers.

“We have a lot of comfort zones so that someone who’s a high handicapper won’t feel bad,” Rothenberg-Klein said. “They won’t feel like they’re necessarily competing with anyone. They can just be out golfing for the pure enjoyment of it.”

The association has weekly league play at four Seattle-area courses, including Nile Country Club in Mountlake Terrace on Thursday evenings. Members also have taken recent weekend trips to Kingston’s White Horse Golf Club, Burlington’s Avalon Golf Club and The Home Course in Dupont, with future events planned at The Golf Club at Hawks Prairie in Lacey and Bremerton’s Gold Mountain Golf Complex.

Also coming up is a weekend getaway for golf in the Bellingham area.

The association “is all about making friends,” said Parsons, who joined the NLGA four years ago. “I was really just looking for a ladies league to play in, but then I came across this group and it’s just been fabulous.”

Many golf courses have women’s clubs, but the events are often on weekdays and conflict with work schedules, she pointed out. “So if I hadn’t found this group, I doubt I’d be golfing much at all. And since I’ve joined this group, I’ve made so many friends,” Parsons said.

Harris, who has also been a member for four years, recalls being “very nervous when I joined the league. I was worried about having to compete. But one of the nice things about this organization is that you don’t have to be a great golfer to be a part of it.

“It’s a great way to meet other women who like to have fun and play golf, and I’ve really enjoyed it,” she said. “I’ve met so many people through the organization that I never would’ve met in other aspects of life. So many have become really good friends of mine, even off the golf course.”