Female Spectators: Marketing Implications for Professional Golf Events

The purpose of this study was to assess the reasons why female spectators attend professional golf events. A random sample of 1,368 female spectators rated the relative importance of 27 reasons to attend on a 5-point Likert scale. The instrument used had an internal consistency of 0.914 as measured by Cronbach Alpha. The sample was made up of 302 spectators attending two LPGA events, 798 spectators attending six PGA events, and 268 spectators attending two Senior PGA events. The analysis of variance and Tukey test were used to determine reasons that were significantly different among the three tours, the four age categories, and the four categories of golfing frequency. The results indicated that golf tournament organizers should concentrate on attracting older spectators (> 65) and infrequent golfers (< 25 rounds per year). The results also show that female spectators are attending professional golf events because it is an excellent opportunity for them to learn from the professional golfers in order to improve their own performance. At the Senior PGA events, more emphasis should be put on the personality of golfers and the inclusion of top performers in the event. Finally, all reasons related to promotional aspects of the events did not attract female spectators.