What's the Future of Pro Women's Golf?

The Solheim Cup was played about 60 miles west of where Klees Golf Shop is located.  Driving in the Chicagoland area is purgatory, but a number of customers went out to Rich Harvest Farms to see some of the best women golfers in the world play golf.

I heard someone complain that the course conditions were too hard: high rough, small greens, etc.  However, the course played less than 6700 yards and from what I heard Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie maneuvered quite successfully around these conditions to beat their opponents.

The Mother McAuley golf team went out on Saturday and the coach told me they had the best time, cheering on the Americans, watching great golf and getting inspired.  I wish I'd been with them.

I haven't paid much attention to women's golf lately. The LPGA events are only on the Golf Channel or the internet, which makes them inaccessable to me most of the time. The fact that mostly Korean women win doesn't make me want to go out of my way to watch, either.

A sports writer for the Tennessean, Joe Biddle, summed up what I suspect a lot of golf fans are thinking:

"The Solheim Cup hysteria [joy, excitement, American players winning] was everything the LPGA is not. The LPGA is rudderless. It better identify a commissioner who can find ways to take advantage of the emotions the Solheim Cup brought to the surface. The product is there. Without a dominant American golfer, it's a hard sell."

I find the LPGA state of affairs depressing even as I find the interest in golf of high school girls delightful. So will these girls watch pro golf if there are no Americans winning?  I don't know.

I'm glad the Solheim Cup drew crowds and inspired many. Let's hope something good happens with the LPGA and the future of women's golf in the U.S.