New women-only golf groups—and a few impressive local pros—encourage gals to get out on the green.

by Karen Chávez . photos by Naomi Johnson

Breanne “Bre” Hall is the kind of girl who makes men’s mouths hang open. But usually not in the way she’d like. Hall, 29, is the head golf professional at the Grove Park Inn, overseeing the busy 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed course there, which regularly attracts seasoned golfers and even the occasional world leader. Hall, who escorted President Obama on the GPI course two years ago and gave his golfing buddies a lesson, is part of a growing female golf scene breaking down the unspoken—yet very real—golfing gender barriers.

“A lot of guys come in and ask for the golf pro, and ask where is ‘he?’” Hall says. “At first, it was tough to be young and to be a female. Over time, it gets easier. I learned to smile.”

But belying that smiling, petite girl in a pink polo shirt, Hall is a roiling dynamo on the green, in charge of all the resort’s golf lessons, tournaments and course operations in the sport rooted in an old boys’ club. “When I was in high school, female golf professionals were few and far between,” Hall says. “Nowadays, you see more female head golf pros, or at least female assistants.”

According to the National Golf Foundation, parity has hardly been reached on the links. There are 5.4 million female golfers in the U.S. – 20.5 percent of the 26.1 million total golfers. The number has fluctuated over the past decade, says Greg Nathan, Senior Vice President of the NGF, but has stayed pretty much the same since 2000. Where the numbers are rising for female golfers, he says, is in private courses, where 30 percent of players are women. Women feel more comfortable, relaxed and less intimidated.

Hall says she sees the local movement growing faster than elsewhere, given the plentitude of gorgeous golf courses and better year-round weather. She grew up playing basketball and softball in chilly Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her father and grandfather were big golfers and got her into the game. By eighth grade, she was hooked. “I picked up a club one day and I absolutely loved it,” she says. “It’s one of the most frustrating things you can ever do in life. Some days I ask myself, ‘Why am I out here pushing myself?’ And other days, you love every minute of it. I love competition, and I love challenge.” Hall played at the University of Toledo, then competed in the Futures Tour, the developmental tour of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. In 2007, she started at Grove Park Inn as an assistant and was soon promoted to head golf pro.

Hall and fellow Asheville golfers Carol Mills and Jill Calfee founded the Executive Women’s Golf Association’s Asheville chapter two years ago with 17 ladies. Membership has now more than doubled. “You don’t have to be an executive,” Hall says. “It’s just about getting women together to play the game, laugh and have a good time and learn different aspects of the game.”

The club—which Hall says includes everyone from a bank president to stay-at-home moms, beginners to avid golfers—also dabbles in philanthropy. On August 23, the EWGA will host a golf tournament, Putts for Paws, to benefit Brother Wolf Animal Rescue.

According to Gwen Miller, head golf professional at Asheville’s Crowne Plaza Resort, women are the fastest-growing segment of the golfing population. Sadly, though, they are also “the first group to give it up from frustration, lack of quality instruction, lack of playing time,” she says. Miller, who would only give her age as “over 55,” has been playing golf since age 5 at the Asheville Country Club. She remembers when women weren’t allowed on the course until after 2pm. “It was a guy thing. It was a male-dominated sport,” Miller says. Now, she’s teaching those men a thing or two about a golf swing. Miller is a life member of both the LPGA and the PGA and has launched her own golf school, the Gwen Miller Golf Academy. She teaches both men and women, but offers a Ladies-Only Program to help women excel at golf so that they will stick with it for life. “I teach women properly so that they have more fun with it,” she says. “It’s a domino effect. When women play, they get the whole family involved.”

This spring, she helped launch a Ladies League at Crowne Plaza with Elise Amico and Joyce Simon, open to any female golfer. The Asheville Municipal Golf Course also has a ladies’ league. The clubs offer a way for women to feel more comfortable on the links, but also camaraderie, exercise and certain life lessons, Miller says. “Golf teaches you sportsmanship, and it’s competitive. It’s just you and the golf ball. It’s something that you can evolve with and you can always strive to get better.”

Brenda Kuehn, 46, says golf also ties in to family and life. She learned the game from her father, growing up in the Dominican Republic, played at Wake Forest and in the Futures Tour. With three children, she is kept too busy to play in a league, but plays recreationally at the Biltmore Forest Country Club. “What I like about golf, it really resembles life,” Kuehn says. “It humbles you when you think you are too good and it gives you hope when you’re down. It keeps you honest. People who cheat on the golf course will cheat in life. You have to be mentally tough and very patient.”

Want to play? Here are some women’s golfing groups around Asheville:

Executive Women’s Golf Association. Meets at 5:30pm Tuesdays at the Grove Park Inn to play nine holes. Putts for Paws Golf Tournament is August 23. Call Breanne Hall at 828-252-2711, ext. 1049 or visit www.ewga.com.

Asheville Municipal Ladies Golf Association. Meets at 8:30am Tuesdays at the municipal course, Fairway Drive. Call 828-667-5419 or email BobbiPowers@live.com.

Ladies League at the Crowne Plaza Resort. Meets at 5:30pm Wednesdays. Call 828-253-5874 or 828-689-5665.

Gwen Miller Golf Academy. Instruction for men and women. Special ladies-only program, visit www.gwen-miller.com.

Country Club of Asheville Women’s Invitational Golf Tournament, “Swing for a Cause.” Oct. 10-12, 2011. Benefit for the Mission Hospital Breast Program. Country Club also has a ladies’ league. Call Ann Brandis at 828-231-7777, or www.countryclubofasheville.net.