We first met Red Vines super fan, Tiffany Fitzgerald, when she reached out to ask if the Red Vines brand would be a sponsor of the inaugural Black Girls Golf retreat. We were honored to share a little Peace, Love & Vines at the November 2021 event, and celebrate their empowerment of young women, and advocacy for more diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sport of golf.
On National Women & Girls in Sports Day (Feb. 2), we sat down with Tiffany to talk about how playing the game of golf is changing women’s lives, and how Black Girls Golf is working to literally change the game.
All About Confidence
For many of us, our self-confidence is a work in progress. Developing confidence is especially difficult when you are constantly entering spaces where no one looks like you, shares your experiences, or affirms and appreciates your unique identity. From her experiences in the corporate world – and on the golf course – Tiffany Fitzgerald knows this struggle. But rather than retreat from arenas that weren’t designed for her to be successful, she decided to rebuild them.
“When I started playing golf,” says Tiffany, “I was literally the only woman I knew playing golf, and definitely the only black woman I knew playing golf. So, it was really difficult for me to show up in that space and feel confident.” Needing a soft place to fall and make mistakes was what prompted her to start the Black Girls Golf (BGG) organization. “I think people bond through shared experiences,” she says. “And Black Girls Golf gives people a space to have these shared experiences where they can fail together [and] they can learn together. And as they build that confidence in their ability, I think it helps them in other areas of their lives.”
This transferable confidence is one of the many benefits of participating in sports, especially for young girls. “There’s been so many studies done that show girls who participate in sport tend to have more healthy body image, they are more confident, they do better in school,” Tiffany explains. She has seen first-hand how playing golf has given women confidence, and helped them be more assertive. “You’re performing in front of people alone, by yourself, showing your ability – or inability for that matter – 18 times! And being able to do that builds your confidence.”
Tiffany has enjoyed watching the women of BGG evolve and become more confident, more assertive. “Being a woman on a golf course…” says Tiffany, “Sometimes you really do have to assert yourself.” Women needing to be more assertive is often in response to the assumptions she sees still exist among many male golfers; namely: that women aren’t good at golf, or they play too slowly, or any number of presumptions she believes need to be challenged industry-wide.
Not Just “Women Athletes”
These assumptions were developed in large part by the insular nature of the sport of golf, Tiffany explains. “Golf happens to be the last bastion of white privilege in this country,” she says. “If you really think about it, it’s a really insulated environment that is steeped in tradition and exclusivity. All the things that society is telling us is what’s keeping us apart, and what is becoming a hindrance to social justice.”
Dismantling this last pillar is part of the work of BGG, in their advocacy for more diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the sport. These efforts promote creating more access to the sport for women, particularly for women of color. When asked about the changes she’s seen for women in sports since starting BGG, Tiffy remarked that there haven’t been monumental changes, but she does see change happening – in part because of the pandemic.
“There haven’t been any life-altering changes for women in sports since Title IX,” she says. “But I think what has happened is the marketability of women in sport. And I think COVID had a lot to do with that, where people are at home more and they’re watching sports more.”
And as we have all been watching, black female athletes have taken the lead in helping people to see women in sports differently. She points to women of influence like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaki, and Serena Williams, noting that “They really have taken that confidence and taken sport and have shown people that we’re not just ‘women athletes’. We’re athletes. And we can perform and be as entertaining as the men.” Happily she says that, “Black women have taken their seats at the table, so to speak, and we have created these spaces like Black Girls Golf where we can be exactly who we are.”
Waking a Sleeping Giant
Finding a protected space to be authentic can be a struggle for black women, Tiffany explains. “Oftentimes we have to show up in professional spaces and measure everything against the environment,” she says. And she means everything. “The way we speak, the tone of our voice, the volume of our voice, the way we wear our hair, the way we dress, our word choice,” she says, “We just have to measure all these things against the environment and that can be so exhausting.”
Yet Tiffany remains hopeful that sports can be a space with a level playing field, where all are welcome. Though it will take some work. “It’s kind of like waking a sleeping giant, you know? I think the giant has been awakened and now it’s just a matter of putting the pieces together and creating a puzzle that looks different,” she says. First among the many needed pieces are the efforts of the Black Girls Golf Foundation, which works with industry leaders to create more access to careers in golf for young black women.
When asked how she approaches conversations with leaders about raising black women’s equity in the sport, she says honesty is always the best policy. “I don’t think people can be expected to make necessary and relevant change – impactful change – if they don’t really understand the issue or understand what’s expected of them,” she says. “If we are sugar-coating things or making things appear as if they’re not as bad as they really are, people really can’t come to the table with solutions that solve the real problems. So, I’m always very honest.”
So Much More Than Golf
An honest approach has also enabled Black Girls Golf to become what it is today: a safe space for building strong, supportive relationships among women. “At our [retreat] in November,” Tiffany says, “there were women coming up to me every single day thanking me for creating this space – some with tears in their eyes.” She shared many of the stories of these women, some of whom had long tenures of playing golf, but never with other black women. In one case, Tiffany shares, “There was a woman who was playing with men all the time, and she said, ‘Tiffany, I never understood that I really needed to be around people who understood me and who get me.’”
She said these are only a few of the stories of BGG members for whom the game of golf has become life-changing and self-affirming, and that for them, it’s much more than the sport itself. “Being in a space that supports their womanhood and affirms their blackness in ways that [don’t] happen in other spaces… it really has been so much more than golf.” She now sees golf itself as merely an access point to a space that’s all about building sisterhood.
The November retreat provided an opportunity for affirming that sisterhood in person. “What I really wanted those women to take away,” Tiffany shares, “was a sense of pride in who they are and what they’re doing in their own separate lives because they’ve met other women who have a similar or shared experience. So, it was really just getting everyone together and solidifying those bonds of sisterhood that we had built online because we’d been virtual for so long.”
After finding ways to stay connected virtually throughout the past two years, the group gathered in Dallas for the in-person retreat. “I just really wanted to build this really fun but very nurturing space,” Tiffany says of her expectations of the retreat, “And I know we achieved that.” She shared several moments during the retreat when she was able to see these women connect, let loose, and truly enjoy themselves. “Coming from a corporate environment,” Tiffany says, “I had never been in a professional space where I could let my hair down like that. It was just so much fun to watch them have such a good time with each other.”
Looking Forward
Tiffany hopes for more in-person gatherings of Black Girls Golf members this year, letting us in on a few plans for 2022 that include more golf lessons, and watch parties for major competitions like the 2022 Master’s Tournament in April (and she’s already looking forward to this year’s retreat). We can’t wait to see what 2022 holds for Black Girls Golf, and we’ll be watching as they continue to change the world of golf for women everywhere.
To support Black Girls Golf in their efforts toward a more equitable playing field, click below.
