Keila Doyle, the founder of the UAE golf technology platform GolfHero, says golf is fast becoming a networking and business tool for women, as women’s golf events, leagues, corporate days and communities multiply across the region. She makes the case in a new comment piece sent to Dubai Edited by GolfHero.
The old joke, she writes, was that golf was where men in suits went to close deals. “The frustrating part was that the joke contained a truth. Golf really was where relationships were built and opportunities were quietly handed out, and women were largely absent from those conversations.” What has changed, she argues, is who is playing and what they are playing for.
Four hours on the course
Her argument rests on time. “A round of golf is four hours of walking, waiting, and talking, with no agenda and no exit at the coffee station,” she writes. A conference “hands you a lanyard and forty seconds of small talk”, while a women’s league “hands you the same faces week after week, a shared challenge, and the kind of familiarity that turns a contact into an ally.”
“I have watched women arrive at their first corporate golf day knowing nobody and leave with a mentor, a client, and a standing tee time,” she adds. “Deals are rarely signed on the eighteenth green, but the trust that makes them possible is built between the first tee and the last putt.”
Confidence on their own terms
Doyle also sees the course as a place for women to build confidence, visibility and influence. “Standing over a tee shot in front of your CEO is nerve-racking exactly once,” she writes. Skill matters less than people fear: “Nobody remembers your score; they remember that you showed up, laughed at your shanks, and asked good questions on the back nine.”
To sceptics who see an old boys’ club with a new membership list, she replies that today’s women’s golf communities were built deliberately to welcome beginners without judgement and to mix seniority levels in a way offices rarely do. Her advice to women who have written golf off: “book the lesson, join the league, accept the corporate day invitation.”
GolfHero turns paper scorecards into performance insights through scanning and data analysis, and helps players connect with other golfers. Doyle founded it after she began learning the sport herself.
If you want somewhere to start, see our guide to the 2026 sport season, or book Sunday brunch at the Dubai Creek Golf clubhouse.
Image: courtesy of GolfHero.