Nicole Livingstone was the cherry-picked guest on this week’s episode of the Australian Golf Show, joining the team for a yarn on all things golf, women in sport and of course – Cam Smith’s mullet.

“When you see Cam Smith walking around with that hairstyle it breaks the mold of golf”, said Livingstone.

Light-hearted banter aside, relatable role models play a huge part getting people involved in sport. Especially kids.

This was evidenced in the golfing world over the past month with registrations for MyGolf, Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia’s junior participation program, doubling. It’s no coincidence that this spike in registrations coincided with Minjee Lee and Cam Smith each taking out major golf tournament titles and rising to become the No.2-ranked players in the world in the same period.

The power of role models rings true across the sporting landscape as Nicole aptly points out in today’s episode. As the AFLW heads into its seventh season it has “over 540 contracted female players... and over 600,000 women and girls playing AFL across the country,” said Livingstone.

“From a society point of view, women’s sport changes how sporting clubs operate, the way that they represent their local communities and they’re now reflective of our nation.”

This societal shift is beginning to be reflected at a number of golf clubs across the country through junior participation programs like MyGolf, MyGolf Girls and the Junior Girls Scholarship. Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia is working closely with golf clubs and facilities of all kinds to open the door to golf even wider to women and girls - whether that be a traditional golf course, a driving range, mini golf – whatever format it is, it’s all golf. 

Hear more from Nicole as she chats with our regular hosts Tiffany Cherry, Mark Allen and Martin Blake by listening to the Australian Golf Show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.