Charley’s secret for girls getting into golf? ‘Hit it as hard as you can’
The LGPA Tour and Solheim Cup star says girls should also play with the boys and embrace the banter
Hit it as hard as you can and take on the boys – that’s Charley Hull’s recipe for golfing glory.
The Solheim Cup star learned the game at Kettering, where she was the “only girl” on the premises at the Northamptonshire club.
As the sport looks at myriad ways to increase female participation, through initiatives like Girls Golf Rocks and Get Into Golf, two-time LPGA Tour winner Hull has a much more direct way of inspiring the next generation.
“I was two-years-old and my dad played golf and I just got into it from there,” she said of her introduction to the sport.
“I loved it, because I was the only girl there and I was just with all the boys and all the boy juniors and I wouldn’t change it for the world because they were the ones that made me hit it harder.
“I wanted to keep up with them and I loved it down there.”
Charley Hull: ‘I’d make her go out and play with the boys’
Asked whether competitions should be segregated, she added: “I would never do that. If I had a girl, I’d make her go out and play with the boys off the boys’ tees. That’s the way I would do it. Because, at the end of the day, they hit it further and they’re usually a lot better golfers.
“Back when I was younger, there wasn’t many girls around I just go out there and got to play with the boys.”
Hull reckons the experience contributed to her hitting distances. She averages just over 262 yards in averaging driving on the LPGA Tour.
“They would always be taking the mick out of me because I’d be hitting it short, so you just want to be hitting it harder and harder and harder until you outdrove them.”
“It was young banter,” she added. “I feel like kids are brought up too soft these days. Back then it was a lot more fun.”
And on her advice for young girls getting into golf? “Hit it as hard as you can, because when you’re older you can always slow your swing down but you can never really speed it up if you swing it slow when you’re younger. Go out there and have fun. That’s what I do.”
What do you think? Is Charley Hull spot on or should we look at different ways of increasing female participation in golf? Let me know with a tweet.
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
