Built on respect, kindness and fun, Zonely is an inclusive golf community in Sydney which has made history by becoming the first social golf club in Australia to sign the R&A Women in Golf Charter.

With Zonely’s vision already aligning strongly with the charter, founder Alicia Nagle said becoming a signatory was a "no brainer".

"The Women in Golf Charter completely aligns with the Zonely values and the core objectives of our company," she said.

The R&A Women in Golf Charter aims to enable more women and girls to maximise their potential at all levels of the sport, and becoming a signatory is a commitment to achieving those goals.

Australia recently reached the milestone of having 100 golf clubs across the country as charter signatories, all actively working towards a better future for women and girls in the game.

As the first social golf club to sign on, Zonely who worked closely with Golf NSW to become a signatory, is paving the way for non-traditional golf clubs and facilities to follow suit.

"Zonely’s vision is really to create the world's easiest and safest place to book and play golf,” Nagle said.

"On the face of it, Zonely is Australia's most inclusive social golf club, and what that means is we are a completely mixed community.

"All genders are welcome, all identities, all golfing types, All Abilities, we're agnostic across everything and that's really working for us."

By connecting like-minded people to safe, fun and accessible venues, Zonely is helping to break down the barriers to entry that golf can often have for women and other under-represented groups.

This very objective is at the core of the R&A Charter, which calls on its signatories to “develop and implement an internal strategy for enhancing gender balance at every level”.

Another pledge that clubs make when signing the charter is to “strongly advocate for more women and girls playing and working in golf”, which Nagle resonates with particularly strongly.

As a woman in business and a founder herself, Nagle is passionate about helping other women and girls feel at home working within the golf industry.

"Broadly, it's about getting women and girls playing the game, but it's also about getting women and girls considering a career in golf as well," she said.

"And that aligns to our company goals too. Zonely is a social golf club and also a technology startup, building a mobile app and website to easily connect people to each other and to golf venues.

“We want to employ as many females and under-represented groups as we possibly can across all areas of our organisation.

"So Zonely itself is a diverse social golf club, but it's also a diverse startup and technology company living and breathing inclusive principles."

To find out more about Zonely and Nagle's story, click HERE.

ABOUT THE R&A CHARTER

The charter was launched by the R&A six years ago and since then more than 1600 clubs and organisations in the sport have become signatories.

The charter aims to:

• Strengthen the focus on gender balance and provide a united position for the golf industry

• Commit national federations and organisations to support measures targeted at

increasing participation of women, girls and families in golf

• Call on signatories to take positive action to support the recruitment, retention and

progression of women working at all levels of the sport

• Set individual targets for national federations for participation and membership and

annual reporting of progress

• Develop an inclusive environment for women and girls within golf

R&A Martin Slumbers has described the charter as “a strong statement of intent from the golf industry that it has to change and a commitment on behalf of all of us to take measures designed to achieve positive change for women, girls and families”.

Golf Australia encourages Australian clubs and facilities to sign and offers a service to help clubs reach the goals and targets that need to be met to become a signatory. More than 100 clubs and facilities have so far signed on.

For information, click HERE.