Reprinted from The Dallas Morning News

Golf pro gives women confidence on the links

by Cheryl Hall

11:17 PM CDT on Saturday, September 2, 2006

Sue Shapcott wants to help women work on their handicaps – not their golf handicaps, but the one that prevents them from mixing business with golfing pleasure. In a word: intimidation.

Many women are so worried about making fools of themselves that they don't participate in the collegial foursomes or corporate tournaments that men find so crucial in building client and colleague relationships. "Women are losing out on the networking," says the 36-year-old director of instruction at Tenison Park and former touring pro in the U.K. and Asia . And like it or not, there will always be lots of business done on the golf course. "You're not going to beat it, so you better learn how to join it," she says.

Ms. Shapcott designed a program at the Dallas municipal course that aims to give women enough confidence to tee it up at business events. Just about anyone can play and have fun at a scramble – a tournament where each foursome plays from the best shot of the group. Yet many women let angst get in the way. Nonsense, says Ms, Shapcott. "There's no reason why rank beginners can't learn enough so that they can go and enjoy the scramble and not be the one driving the beer cart."

In addition to tips on swings and putting, she also teaches protocol of business golf. "Women are going to be more confident if they know exactly what's expected of them and aren't trying to B.S. their way through it like guys do." Ms. Shapcott offers a deal for companies that want to encourage women in this quest: $100 an hour for range lessons and $10 per golfer. "If you have 10 women who just want instruction for three and a half hours, it's $450 for the group," Ms. Shapcott says. She also offers a half-day of range teaching with nine holes of golf. She floats from group to group, giving tips and answering questions. That runs $600 for 10 women plus individual green fees of $30 to $50. Among the local companies that have participated are Bank of America, G.E. Capital Solutions, Baker Botts LLP and Prudential Capital Group.

Team building

"We approach this as a team-building exercise," says Kelly Brendel, a vice president at Prudential who heads a three-woman portfolio management team. "It also builds a skill that is unfortunately lacking in many women who haven't grown up with the chance to play." You can tell the trio is serious. They've come out twice this summer – the first session was on a 100-degree-plus broiler. Wednesday's session was a comparatively cool 94. "They're a hardy, die-hard bunch," Ms. Shapcott says.

Ms. Shapcott is a populist golfer who can't imagine joining the country club set. That's not her upbringing. She and her older sister used to walk across the local golf course on their way to and from elementary school in Bristol , England . "We'd hang around to watch, and I'm sure we may have occasionally picked up a golfer's ball by mistake," she says. "One of the pros there said, 'Instead of being a nuisance and getting in the way, why don't you caddy and earn some pocket money?' So that's what we did."

They played a lot of golf, and both wound up on the professional tour. "The annual membership for juniors for unlimited year-round golf was 18 pounds," says Ms. Shapcott. She holds various national championship titles of England , Wales , Britain , France and Belgium and competed in the European and Asian tours from 1989 through 1995. She met Dallas ' Hank Haney while teaching and working for the British PGA at the venerable St. Andrews in Scotland . He recruited her to come to Dallas as an instructor for one of his schools. She came here sight unseen in August 2000, one of our hottest months on record. Her biggest mistake in the move was buying a retro 1971 VW bug without air conditioning.

The masses

Last October, Ms. Shapcott joined Tenison's Golf Academy of Dallas, where she's been given free rein to bring in the masses. "I like it when everybody gets the opportunity to play golf – women, juniors, minorities." Today her female students run the gamut from novices to those who are polishing their games. U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn doesn't have clients to schmooze, but she's had such success under Ms. Shapcott's tutelage that she's organizing an outing for some friends. "Golf is a remarkable opportunity to spend four hours with a person in a beautiful setting and have a lot of conversation," says the federal judge. "Once you reach a level where you're not going to be embarrassed, you can enjoy yourself and develop business while you're playing."

Patte Lee, a financial planner with Lincoln Financial Advisors, wants to sponsor group sessions with Ms. Shapcott as a recruitment tool. After just three months of lessons, Ms. Lee has shaved 16 strokes off her previous handicap of 47. But her biggest thrill comes when she plays in a scramble and the group picks her drive for its next shot. Ms. Shapcott can relate.

"There's nothing better than to stand on the first tee with a bunch of guys waiting," she says. "You can see it written all over their faces: 'Oh God, what did we do to get stuck behind women?' Then you bang it down there, look back and see their faces turn to shock."