Middlesex’s Nicola Bennett was crowned the England Golf Diversity & Inclusion Champion for 2024 at Tuesday’s England Golf Centenary Dinner & Awards at The Midland Manchester Hotel.
As a qualified PGA Professional Coach at Bush Hill Park GC and Golf Foundation Ambassador, Nicola has been delivering golf in 15 North London primary and SEN schools, as well as community groups, for the past three years.
She goes above and beyond her local remit, attending community golf festivals in Birmingham and central London, while in the past year, of the 224 pupils she coached, 61 per cent were from an ethnically diverse community, 56 per cent were girls, and 13 per cent had a disability.
After receiving the Diversity & Inclusion Champion award, sponsored by Citation, she said: “It means a lot for me and my community of people from different ethnic minorities to be recognised.
“In this day and age, things are so difficult in terms of the pressures of things like social media and inflation, and it’s so important to embed strengths within young children so they can carry themselves in life, and just to be able to give them this through playing golf and learning mannerisms and etiquette, it really helps to make them strong-minded individuals and we need that more than ever.
“I dedicate this award to the kids and ladies that I coach because the golf is secondary. It’s more about the community that has been built and just to see what golf gives to people is incredible. It’s way more than golf – I see women come together going through divorces, losing people, through heartache, and it just brings people closer together, so this is for them.
“The most rewarding part is seeing people evolve and become better versions of themselves through having more of a holistic mindset, being more confident and able – there are no words to describe what that feels like.
“I hope to increase participation and to make golf a lot more inclusive. There’s still a lack of BAME minorities in golf and I hope different organisations and firms can do things to help change this.”
Working with the local School Games Organiser, Nicola has introduced pupils to a golf club for the first time by hosting two primary school festivals at Bush Hill Park and accommodating 16 schools and over 200 pupils.
In addition, she runs four regular women’s coaching groups at the golf club and has 153 in her golf group. She has also run classes for the Muslim Women’s Sports Association.
Nicola is passionate about inspiring more young people from all backgrounds, particularly girls, into the sport. She makes the introduction fun, safe and calm.
Nicola also WON the Middlesex Award for Personality of the Year in 2022
