‘It Was The Best Decision I Ever Made’ - How One Ex-LET Pro Rebuilt Her Career To Make Solheim Cup History

For decades, golf has been one of the most notoriously male-dominated industries in sport, both on the fairways and behind the scenes. Historically, women accounted for a tiny fraction of golf governance, tournament administration, and club management.

Even today, in critical sectors like turf management, figures from the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) show that fewer than 1% of greenkeepers are women. Across wider course maintenance and turf roles globally, female representation hovers around just 2% to 4%.

When it comes to professional golf, a game that most players have dedicated their entire lives to, what actually happens if the pro scene doesn't work out?

For a long time, having a viable "Plan B" within the golf industry wasn't easy, especially for women. If you didn't make it on tour, the options to transition into a rewarding, sustainable career behind the scenes were severely limited.

However, the tide is turning. Driven by initiatives like The R&A’s Women in Golf Charter and leadership development frameworks, the game is undergoing a major cultural shift. From tournament directors and club secretaries, to Level 4 rules referees and greenkeepers, women are not just entering the workforce, they are shaping the future of golf.

Such was the case for former LET professional Elizabeth Mallett. Despite enjoying a stellar amateur career playing for England, she turned professional, struggled, and left the tour after three years. Today, the 32-year-old has carved out a successful niche behind the scenes, working as a DP World Tour tournament official and Level 4 Rules referee.

The Birmingham-based referee said her love affair with the game started at an early age. “I hit my first ever shot on my ninth birthday,” she recalls. “My dad said: ‘Do you want to go to the driving range?’ I had no idea what that was but I went along anyway. We went into the shop and he said, you can have anything you want. As the irons were numbered I chose the one with a nine on the bottom and a putter. The rest is history.”

It didn’t take long for Mallett to get extremely good at golf. In fact, she won her first national title aged just 12. The win catapulted her onto the elite amateur golf circuit and she was a member of the England team from the age of 10 to 21.

The highlight was winning back-to-back English Girls’ titles in 2009 and 2010, followed by the individual championship at the 2012 European Girls’ Championships.

Mallett then went to play college golf in the USA and spent four years at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she became an All-American. She shot up through the world rankings inside the top 100 and after graduating managed to secure her LET card. But that’s when things got difficult.

“Golf is my passion, I always wanted to play, so when I graduated I went to Q-school and got my LET card but it was a big step up from the playing side of things,” she admits. “The professional game is called professional for a reason - you've got to have a good all-around game.”

Mallett’s best LET finish was 78th and she suffered several disappointing missed cuts along the way. So, after a few years of trying she decided to change career path and put her communications degree to use, joining the DP World Tour as a tournament office manager and recorder. “It was the best decision I ever made,” she says.

Her DP World Tour colleagues suggested that with her skill set and playing background she would make a great referee. After a lot of hard work, learning, testing and putting her knowledge into practice, she achieved R&A Level 4 qualified referee status. This led to her making the history books as the first female referee representing the DP World Tour at the recent Solheim Cup.

“It was incredible to be a part of the officials and experience the Solheim Cup first-hand inside the ropes as a referee walking with the players,” she enthused. “There are very few tournaments a year that create that type of electric crowd atmosphere aside from the Majors, so being part of the Solheim Cup was very special. The game of golf has given me so much - friendships, experiences, travel - it was just amazing to be able to give back through the rules and what I'm doing now.”

As a referee, there’s a lot of pressure to make the right decisions, but this is something Mallett insists came fairly naturally to her, having been on the other side of the fence as a player.

In refereeing there is a lot of judgement required beyond what is written in the rules. “You've got to make that decision. I have genuine empathy with what the players are going through. There’s so much on the line. The outcome of a ruling can really impact your score, the rest of your round. They're playing for a lot of money, ranking points and so on.

“I’ve had a few challenging situations where players are in disbelief about how the rules are written and applied. It’s my role to help with rules scenarios and get the ball back in play. I haven’t had any controversial ones, thank goodness.”

Mallett says her mindset leading into the Solheim Cup was to make sure that her refereeing preparation was extremely detailed. She studied the rules for the match play format intensively, looking at previous rules incidents at the Solheim Cup to help her prepare. “I was really conscious of my responsibilities in being chosen to represent the tour and repaying the trust that the tour had given me. It was very important to me to do a good job.”

Sadly, at club level many players don’t have the same interest in learning the rules, many with a poor knowledge of the most basic, fundamental Rules of Golf. For Mallett, empowering players with that knowledge is key to helping them understand the game and improve performance.

“My advice to women and girls in the game would be to encourage them to get involved with learning the rules right from the start, alongside taking golf lessons, because it's so crucial. It’s something I wish I'd have done as a teenager, because it really helps your understanding of the game and it can even save you shots when you're out there.”

Knowing the rules is also part of good golf etiquette. Golf is a game of tradition, which is something to be upheld for the next generations to come. Yet sometimes even rules situations require a bit of intervention and with so much technology now available, just like other sports (think of the sensors on a tennis court and VAR in football) there’s been a big change in how rules decisions are made in the last decade.

“I did two weeks back-to-back on the PGA Tour this year and they are leading the way with tech,” she explains. “It’s becoming more and more applicable to the job. I actually called on a TV referee during the Solheim Cup to ensure where the golf ball had crossed the penalty area because it happens so quickly, and we're all human.”

It is an evolution that extends well beyond the rules and refereeing. For Mallett, transitioning into tournament operations opened up a whole new perspective on where a passion for golf can lead, and she sees a bright future for the next generation of women entering the industry.

“The one good thing is that there are a lot more opportunities for women in golf now,” she says. “There's certainly been a huge push in female participation, lots of campaigns to get women and girls playing golf, which is fantastic. I think that's put more of a spotlight on the careers and pathways for women within golf.”

Beyond playing, it is clear there are countless opportunities for women in golf, a movement that continues to gain momentum. To foster these pathways, The R&A launched its Women’s Leadership programme for ambitious career women, with Mallett among those graduating this autumn.

“It’s a great programme built around developing leadership skills,” she explains. “Things like handling conflict, working in fast-paced environments, managing teams. Leading, inspiring and collaborating with others.”

As for what’s next for Mallett, she says she’s still riding the bubble of post-Solheim Cup excitement and hopes that the professional job she did will lead to many more opportunities in the future

“I'd love to referee at a Ryder Cup,” she says. “In the meantime, I’ll be continuing to referee tournaments on a global stage and tournament directing. That's my focus really going forwards.”