How Ladies Who Golf is putting access on course for business

For decades, golf has functioned as more than a sport—it has operated as an informal extension of the boardroom. Keyeriah Miles knows this firsthand.

As a former fintech consultant, Miles’s work depended on fostering those relationships and closing deals. But in 2020, she noticed that while much of her industry moved online during the pandemic, some of her male colleagues continued building relationships and closing deals on the golf course—an outdoor space considered safe within social distancing guidelines.

Golf, she realized, wasn’t separate from work. It was part of how work moved.

“You get to see a person in almost every light, so you get to see if they cheat, if they’re a team player, and things like that, which also transitions to business,” Miles said.

While female participation has surged in recent years—with more than 8 million women playing on-course golf in 2025, according to the National Golf Foundation—the sport remains a space many women are still trying to navigate. Miles, who had never played the game before, decided to learn and started practicing three times a week.

In 2023, she co-founded Ladies Who Golf, a membership-based community designed to bring more women into a longtime “boys’ club” network for business and leadership. Today Miles is building toward a simple goal: expanding who gets access to the rooms where business actually happens.

Seeing green

Miles quickly learned that making golf more inclusive came with a financial contradiction: how to make a historically exclusive sport more accessible while still charging for entry into spaces defined by cost and privilege.

Golf is not an inexpensive pursuit—between lessons, course fees, and equipment, costs can add up quickly. On top of that, securing access to courses proved to be one of the biggest hurdles.

“The challenging part was really having the courses not only say yes, but to offer us a reasonable price point to allow our members to take part in these lessons,” Miles said.

In the program’s first year, she said many courses, unsure how groups would behave or whether they would disrupt existing members, were hesitant to form partnerships.

For Miles, those concerns reflected a broader unfamiliarity with who her community was—and wasn’t. Over time, that skepticism eased as the organization established structure and consistency.

“Some people may say we take our organization a little too seriously,” she said. “We have a strict system in place, and that’s one reason why a lot of the courses advocate for us now.”

Miles became obsessed with consistency as the company scaled. Rather than relying on informal expansion, Miles built a chapter-based model designed to be replicated city by city. Each of its 11 chapters operates with local ambassadors who help run events and coordinate member experience. The goal is not just expansion, but uniformity—so whether in Atlanta or New York, Ladies Who Golf feels the same.

What emerged was less a traditional golf company and more a layered access system—one that blends instruction, community, and infrastructure while constantly negotiating what access should cost, and who gets to define the terms.

Through the rough

Miles said early setbacks weren’t just about demand, but execution—especially on the marketing side. What began as a two-person operation eventually required outside support to keep up with platform changes and algorithm shifts.

A more structural test came with changing seasons. Golf is weather dependent, and the model wasn’t designed for off-season continuity.

“We were not aware of the impact the winter months would have on the community,” Miles said.

During colder months, in-person lessons slowed significantly, forcing the company to rethink engagement. Instead of pausing operations, Ladies Who Golf expanded into social events, wellness programming, and charity-driven gatherings through its nonprofit arm to sustain momentum.

Another lesson for Miles has been learning to lean into her strengths.

“I will not be the one who does well in putting,” she said. “But short game, yes—I got us.”

A family affair

Miles didn’t build Ladies Who Golf alone. She co-founded the company with someone who has always been in her corner: her mother, Lashonda Miles.

Together, they split the business in a way that mirrors its dual nature—operations and experience. Miles leads the back end, overseeing administration, finance, and day-to-day operations. Her mother serves as the public-facing presence, supporting on-course activations, events, and member engagement.

Miles said navigating that relationship posed an early hurdle.

“My mom has only known me as her daughter,” she said. “It was really hard for her to adjust to the business side of her daughter.”

That shift meant establishing boundaries between personal and professional dynamics—something she said required “giving each other grace” as they learned how to operate not just as family, but as co-founders.

Teed up for success

For Miles, the measure of Ladies Who Golf isn’t just how many cities it operates in or how quickly it has grown, but what happens inside the community it creates. She’s seen members form professional relationships that extend beyond the course—introductions, partnerships, and opportunities that began as casual rounds or weekend clinics.

This is the real goal—not just getting more women to play golf, but nurturing the connections that develop once they’re there.

For founders, the lesson is simple: Access is only valuable if it can be built into something repeatable—and sustained as a business grows.