With growing the game such a big priority these days in golf, it’s little wonder why a major focus is on getting more women and girls involved.
After all, the National Golf Foundation reports that out of 24.7 million golfers in the U.S., just 5.3 million are females. In other words, a little more than one in five golfers is a female.
Needless to say, encouraging women and girls to take an active role in the game is foundational for organizations committed to growing the game, and that certainly includes the Colorado PGA.
There are certainly programs in place that encourage women and girls to take up golf and stay in it, but it’s important to send the right message as well. Having women in top leadership roles can both send that message and bring new perspective to decision-making.
With that as a backdrop, the Colorado PGA broke some new ground recently when for the first time a woman became president of the board of directors for the Colorado Section. Leslie Core-Drevecky, the only head professional Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora has ever known, was sworn in last month for a two-year term. (Core-Drevecky is pictured in red above at a mother-daughter clinic.)
“I’m excited and humbled, but I don’t want to view it in that light,” Core-Drevecky said this week before departing for the PGA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. “I want to provide encouragement for other females to get involved. Hopefully, we’ll bring more ladies into the game. (Fewer than) 25 percent of golfers are women, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
(Coincidentally, on Nov. 22, Suzy Whaley of Farmington, Conn., was elected the first female officer in PGA of America history, putting her in line to likely become the national organization’s president in 2018.)
Core-Drevecky has served on the Colorado PGA board for six years, and previously she was the Section’s vice president. She’s also a past chairperson of the Section’s Education Committee.
So will Core-Drevecky becoming president help efforts to attract more women and girls into the game?
“I hope it will,” said Colorado PGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth. “I know she’s definitely tried to do that at her own facility (Murphy Creek) — making the game more inclusive. (Her new role) can only help. Golf is still male-dominated, and we need to try to be more inclusive. The low-hanging fruit is getting more women into the game.”
Core-Drevecky is a former Oklahoma state women’s amateur champion (1984) who lettered one year at the University of Oklahoma before later turning pro in 1985. After four years of competing on the Futures Tour, Core-Drevecky held club professional jobs in Texas and Oklahoma before being hired as Murphy Creek’s first head professional in 2000.
During her years in the Colorado PGA, Core-Drevecky has twice been named the Section’s public course merchandiser of the year (2001 and ’02) and twice the CPGA’s Horton Smith Award winner for developing and improving educational opportunities for PGA professionals (2009 and ’10).
“Leslie does her homework,” Ainsworth noted when asked about Core-Drevecky’s strong points as a Colorado PGA leader. “She’s one of the most prepared people when she comes to the board room. She takes her role very seriously and works hard. And she likes to get all the facts before making a decision.”
While the Colorado PGA is certainly one of the main players in driving growth of the game in the state, working in concert with the other leading golf associations in the state is a priority for Core-Drevecky as she embarks on her two-year stint as CPGA president.
“One thing I’m really looking forward to is working more with the CGA and CWGA in doing things more together,” she said. “We can catch attention and do more as a bigger force.”
The PGA staff at Murphy Creek has certainly made its presence known within the Colorado Section in recent years. Besides Core-Drevecky becoming president, the last three Dow Finsterwald Players of the Year have come from the Aurora course’s staff. Geoff Keffer won the award both in 2012 and this year, while Caine Fitzgerald earned the honor in 2013 after qualifying for the PGA Championship.
“They’re not only fine players but wonderful golf professionals,” Core-Drevecky said of Fitzgerald and Keffer.
Meanwhile, a former Colorado PGA president, Hiwan Golf Club head professional Kyle Heyen, this week becomes the District 9 director for the national PGA board of directors. For the next three years, he’ll represent the Colorado, Utah and Rocky Mountain PGA Sections on the national board.
