Melbourne, Australia: The body that provides guidance to Golf Australia’s Vision 2025: the Future of Women and Girls in Golf strategy has been restructured.

The Vision 2025 Steering Group’s focuses were reviewed at the end of 2019 to be more reflective of the strategy’s evolving work.

The national Vision 2025 roadshow delivered across 2019 brought the strategy to life and motivated clubs to plan and deliver their own gender equality initiatives to grow female golf engagement.

Consequently, it was felt the Steering Group needed to provide national guidance on how Vision 2025 is coming to life in grass-roots community clubs and, as such, its objectives were reshaped.

The Steering Group will now aim to deliver a shared Vision 2025 annual plan for the Australian golf industry, with all stakeholders contributing ideas and resources to growing the game at all levels for women and girls.

In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, this evolution of Vision 2025’s leadership is timely.

All partner organisations are continuing their Vision 2025 strategy work and are conscious of the pandemic’s economic impact on the sport’s membership over the coming years. Engaging women and girls as participants and leaders will be a critical focus for the sport’s long-term membership recovery.

Golf New South Wales Chief Executive Stuart Fraser and Golf Western Australia Chief Executive Gary Thomas are key additions to the group, ensuring that all States can collaboratively contribute to the strategy’s direction.

The remaining Vision 2025 Steering Group members are Jill Spargo (ex-Board Member, Golf Australia), Sarah Chia (Board Member, Golf Australia), David Gallichio (General Manager, Game Development, (Golf Australia), Chyloe Kurdas (Senior Manager, Female Engagement, Golf Australia), Karen Lunn (Chief Executive Officer, ALPG), Gavin Kirkman (Chief Executive Officer, PGA), Paul Vardy (Chief Executive Officer, Golf Management Australia) and Karrie Webb (ALPG/LPGA).

New Golf Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland has joined the Steering Group, which will meet three times a year to set, monitor and review shared national Vision 2025 priorities.