'Chicks With Sticks' swing into action at DP World Tour Championship, showcasing women's empowerment

‘Chicks With Sticks’ and their ‘queen of the fairways,’ leader Jenny Hennessy visited the $10 million DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates over the weekend to the season-ending tournament on the 2024 DP World Tour schedule.

Jenny, who plays off a two-handicap is also a golf fanatic on a mission to grow the sport for another previously under-represented community in the game: women. She started ‘Chicks With Sticks’ four years ago after arriving in Dubai and discovering precious few female players were available to play with her on the golf courses in the emirate and elsewhere in the UAE.

Jenny said: “I saw a huge gap in the market upon moving to Dubai to introduce women to the sport and to grow the game. Dubai and all the other emirates have perfect weather and conditions, top-class facilities, and amazing coaches and I was frustrated that there weren’t more girls playing golf.

“At social events and brunches at work I’d have women coming up to me and saying ‘you’re the girl that plays golf’ as I was out playing with their husbands or boyfriends at the weekend because I had no female friends to play with,” she added. “I got tired of all these girls coming up to me and wanting to play the sport with nothing being done about it.

“It started as a WhatsApp group called ‘Chicks With Sticks’ with a few friends. There were 30 of us who turned up for the inaugural event, one month later we’d trebled in size to 90 people and six months later there were 200 members,” said Jeny.

“Now ‘Chicks With Sticks’ has introduced thousands to golf. I don’t like describing us as a golf society, I like to say we’re more like a community and lifestyle brand. ‘Chicks With Sticks’ is all about breaking down the barriers that traditionally have stopped people from entering the sport.

‘” We have weekly golf lessons at Claude Harmon’s CH3 Performance Academy at The Els Club, Dubai, so approximately 100 ladies are attending weekly golf lessons, which is just incredible,” she added. “We also host seasonal events, Christmas and Summer parties, and other social events. We’re also working on merchandise.

“What’s really important too, is that in a huge city like Dubai, a lot of people come here on their own and it’s just amazing to have this community of like-minded people joined together by golf. I’m really excited to keep growing the game, one chick at a time.

“We have an Instagram – chickswithsticks_x – and I also have an email database but a lot of our marketing is done through Instagram and word of mouth. The typical ‘Chick With Stick’ is a young, female professional. The community represents some 20+ nationalities,” she said.

“It is amazing to have such a diverse group and so exciting for me. Golf has brought me so much joy and happiness throughout my whole life and it really is a privilege to introduce all these ladies to the sport. We have a female coach at ‘Chicks With Sticks’ – there are a lot of male coaches around but having a female coach is very welcoming to the ladies.

At the heart of making golf accessible to everyone, Jenny is designed to break down the barriers that often come with entering the sport.

“Golf club rental is included in a five-week package which takes off that initial overhead costs of entering golf and we have beginners, intermediate, advanced and social classes so there’s something for everyone,” she said. “Someone signing up for the beginners’ class knows they’ll be on the same level playing field as everyone else. On the first evening of our season, we have a cool sparkling beverage, down on the lawn to settle everyone’s nerves and welcome everyone in and some pink and bubbles can add a lot of spark to anyone’s golf, a little settler.

Jenny is driven by a passion to make golf more inclusive and accessible by expanding the program across the UAE and beyond. As she continues to break down barriers and create spaces for women to enjoy golf, her ambitions are reaching new heights.

“My goal is to introduce as many new people to the sport as possible in 2025 I would like to have a ‘Chicks With Sticks’ base in every emirate, I’ve also introduced it in my home country with bases in Cork, Limerick, and Dublin,” she revealed.

Jenny's journey into the world of golf began at a young age, thanks to her father, a scratch golfer who introduced her to the sport.

“If I didn’t have my dad to introduce me to it - I probably wouldn’t have played the sport and it really is amazing what ‘Chicks With Sticks’ has done by creating this inclusive, welcoming social community,” Jenny said. “It really has broken down barriers that existed for golf in the past.’

“I think there has been a huge drive in the last few years to break down barriers and promote women in sport in general, especially golf. It still makes me very, very upset that there are still golf clubs that exist on this planet that are men only, in the year 2024 that shouldn’t happen.

“I think a lot is being done but I think a lot more still needs to be done to welcome women into golf,” concluded Jenny.

Meanwhile, primary school teacher Cat Moon’s journey into the world of golf is a testament to how "Chicks With Sticks" is breaking down barriers and making the sport more accessible for women in the UAE.

As a primary school teacher and an expat new to the region, Cat had never picked up a golf club before. However, everything changed when she saw a post about "Chicks With Sticks" on Instagram. Intrigued, she reached out to founder Jenny, eager to join the community.

“I messaged Jenny and said I’d love to join in, when can I start? I went along and joined the very first ‘Chicks With Sticks’ group which was amazing at The Els Club,” said Moon.

“I didn’t know anybody but I met some of my now best friends there which was kind of the reason I went, it was such a nice community. I got better and better and went for a couple more seasons. I’m now on the advanced group and plan to get back to it very shortly after just having a baby.

"My husband plays, and we will be going out to play together too. I'm from London, England, where golf was seen as an old person’s sport, and you wouldn’t think, 'Oh, I’m going to take up golf,” she said.

“But then you come to Dubai, and it’s kind of a cool sport in a way—you can wear nice outfits, meet other girls, and enjoy the drinks cart that comes around. It’s great!

“Beforehand, I would have thought more for men, and more for old people. I’ve got some of my work colleagues involved too and they’ve joined ‘Chicks With Sticks’ too, concluded Cat,” added Moon.