Three Golf Australia and two PGA of Australia staff members have graduated from The R&A’s Women in Golf Leadership Development Programme with a ceremony held at the Australian Golf Centre to honour their accomplishment.

Golf Australia’s Megan Carr (Women and Girls Operations Manager), Katherine Lambert (Brand & Marketing Executive) and Janine Barney (Women’s Golf Coordinator), and the PGA of Australia’s Louise Meagher (Events Manager) and Stephanie Jamieson (Training Manager) received their certificates on Thursday, along with Grace Rokela (Te Arai Links Marketing Director), Emily Davidson (Golf New Zealand Diversity and Inclusion Manager) and Amanda Dorans (Sustainability Manager Loch Lomond Golf Club) in Scotland.

The virtual programme is fully sponsored by The R&A and forms a significant part of its commitment to the Women in Golf Charter, which Golf Australia, the PGA of Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia have committed to.

To grow confidence in how they develop themselves, lead their teams, their organisations and to have the drive and ambition to become a senior leader within the golf industry, participants were partnered with a coach to support their learning and overcome any limitations.

The program also opened up new opportunities for the participants such as Lambert attending the 150th Open at St Andrews earlier this year to assist in the delivery of the marketing for the ISPS HANDA Australian Open this December.

“Having the chance to spend a few days at The Open to meet individuals from The R&A and be shown how they set up their tournaments, run the media centre, run activations in the tournament village and everything else that goes on during a major was incredible,” Lambert said.

“I’m very grateful to the R&A, our mentors and my colleagues who have helped me through this fantastic programme.”

Participants had an industry mentor to support them through the programme and to progress their role.

The program takes a blended learning approach with pre-work, virtual workshops and the opportunity to collaborate with other participants on a project as set by the R&A.

Jackie Davidson, Director - Golf Development at The R&A, drove the program and two mentors involved were leadership development consultant and performance psychology coach Jenny Denyer and leadership associate Alison Townson.

Karen Llewellyn, who coaches women in education, sport and health, was introduced towards the end of the programme to assist with the project phase.

Find out more about The R&A Women in Golf Charter.