\u27Practice" makes perfect: locating young people in golf club culture

Given its long history, conservative image, explicit norms and gendered, class-associated practices, golf has been acknowledged as a site for rich sociological investigation. Research demonstrates how golf club culture is classed and gendered, where the institutional nature of the golf club creates communities of affluent people who share in similar amounts of capital, constraining various non-hegemonic groups. This research examines golf club culture in Ireland and the influence of golf club practice on the experiences of young golfers (aged eighteen and under). The investigation is framed by critical feminism, while postmodern perspectives offer potential for new insights into golf club practice. Reflexivity and positionality acknowledge my subjectivity, bias and values in the research, and identify my positions of elite golfer, golf development officer, golf club member and researcher in the field. Along with a national questionnaire to the population of golf clubs, prolonged visits to the field include one-day visits to ten golf clubs nationwide, a three-month pilot ethnography and an eighteen-month ethnography in one golf club setting. Employing Pierre Bourdieu’s (1977) theory of practice, results indicate the symbolic practices used by golf clubs to classify and reproduce capital among young golfers. A creative nonfiction data representation attempts to communicate the institutional nature of golf club culture to a wider reader audience. The complex role of the golf club in promoting hierarchies among girl members is significant, where rules, restrictions and an achievement culture encouraged a dominated, ability-centred habitus. Advocating for inclusive social practice in golf, I also engage with my conflicting and compromising positions and selves in the field, highlighting the ethical dilemma and moral implications of the researcher-participant

'Practice" makes perfect: locating young people in golf club culture

Given its long history, conservative image, explicit norms and gendered, class-associated practices, golf has been acknowledged as a site for rich sociological investigation. Research demonstrates how golf club culture is classed and gendered, where the institutional nature of the golf club creates communities of affluent people who share in similar amounts of capital, constraining various non-hegemonic groups. This research examines golf club culture in Ireland and the influence of golf club practice on the experiences of young golfers (aged eighteen and under). The investigation is framed by critical feminism, while postmodern perspectives offer potential for new insights into golf club practice. Reflexivity and positionality acknowledge my subjectivity, bias and values in the research, and identify my positions of elite golfer, golf development officer, golf club member and researcher in the field. Along with a national questionnaire to the population of golf clubs, prolonged visits to the field include one-day visits to ten golf clubs nationwide, a three-month pilot ethnography and an eighteen-month ethnography in one golf club setting. Employing Pierre Bourdieu’s (1977) theory of practice, results indicate the symbolic practices used by golf clubs to classify and reproduce capital among young golfers. A creative nonfiction data representation attempts to communicate the institutional nature of golf club culture to a wider reader audience. The complex role of the golf club in promoting hierarchies among girl members is significant, where rules, restrictions and an achievement culture encouraged a dominated, ability-centred habitus. Advocating for inclusive social practice in golf, I also engage with my conflicting and compromising positions and selves in the field, highlighting the ethical dilemma and moral implications of the researcher-participant

'Didn’t know she could shout that loud': The performance of fandom among female followers of women’s golf

While a growing body of evidence exists around women fans of men’s sport, less is known about women fans’ perspectives and identities in relation to women’s sport, and what is known tends to focus on homogenous representations of sports fans, rather than a diversity of fan types and follower styles (Pope 2017). Building on the authors’ previous appraisals of the Solheim Cup – the biggest event in women’s golf – this paper examines fan performances of women at the 2019 event in Scotland. Twenty-five white women from the UK/Europe were recruited via social media before, during and after the Solheim Cup, with online interviews taking place in the following days. Using performative sports fandom as a framework the authors seek to examine women fan performances at a major women’s sporting event. The analysis of the interviews resulted in three themes around (1) friendship, care, and connection, (2) negotiated fan performances and (3) distinctive fan performances. While it must be acknowledged that this is a homogenous group of fans, it is hoped that this research will add to the understanding of the diversity and complexity of fan identities

National identities, European identity and cosmopolitanism: The case of female golf fans at the 2019 Solheim Cup

The aim of this paper is to consider the relationship between sport and identity formation by examining testimonies of 24 British women who attended The Solheim Cup golf tournament in 2019 to support a transnational team made up of professional European women players. Relatively little is known about the effects of transnational sports teams on identity formation, not least because such teams are themselves rare. The Solheim Cup, contested by teams of female professional golfers representing the United States and Europe, is one such example. The data set consists of interviews with women who attended the competition which took place in a period of political uncertainty between the UK electorate voting to leave the European Union and Brexit actually taking place. The paper analyses the women’s views in relation to national identity, European identity, and cosmopolitanism. Although it emerges that most of the women felt more European in the context of a competition involving a team representing Europe and were opposed to the UK leaving the European Union, they could also be described as cosmopolitan as a result of their educational level, social class and experience of living in or regularly visiting foreign countries.</p

‘Didn’t know she could shout that loud’: the performance of fandom among women followers of women’s golf

While a growing body of evidence exists around women fans of men’s sport, less is known about women fans’ perspectives and identities in relation to women’s sport, and what is known tends to focus on homogenous representations of sports fans, rather than a diversity of fan types and follower styles. Building on the authors’ previous appraisals of the Solheim Cup – the biggest event in women’s golf – this paper examines fan performances of women at the 2019 event in Scotland. Twenty-five white women from the UK/Europe were recruited via social media before, during and after the Solheim Cup, with online interviews taking place in the following days. Using performative sports fandom as a framework, the authors seek to examine women fan performances at a major women’s sporting event. The analysis of the interviews resulted in three themes around (1) friendship, care and connection, (2) negotiated fan performances and (3) distinctive fan performances. While it must be acknowledged that this is a homogenous group of fans, it is hoped that this research will add to the understanding of the diversity and complexity of fan identities.</p

Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-19 [Editorial]

Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-1

Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-19

Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-1