Europe's Largest Black Golfing Events Set To Return For Third Year

Members of Black British Golfers pose for a photo on a golf cart

The Future Shapers Series, an annual event organised by Black British Golfers, will return for its third successive year at Foxhills Country Club on August 18th.

As Europe's largest black golfing event, it aims to bring together new and existing black golfers to try and tackle perceived barriers to entry and raise golfing participation in the community.

Working alongside the 15 other Black British golf societies that hold events on a regular basis, the Future Shapers Series offers a celebratory event that continues to attract a wide range of ages, genders and golfing abilities from all across different black African and Caribbean communities. 

“Broadly speaking there is a misperception that the Black community do not play golf and are not interested in playing golf, Ray Nyabola, founder of Black British Golfers, said. “We are committed to changing that narrative. 

“In 2021 we played our inaugural event with 60 people playing with double that number playing in 2022. This year we expect to welcome 150 players to play on two golf courses with over 110 adults playing on one course and 40 young people on the other. Tickets to play in this year’s event sold out within 5 minutes of going live with a very active waiting list.”

The organisation, founded in 2021, will continue to partner with Adidas Golf and Black Heart Foundation for the day. The numbers in attendance have grown year-on-year, with a quarter of this year’s field made up of young people with female golfers making up another 13%.

The event was first played in 2021 (Image credit: Black British Golfers)

“At Adidas we strongly believe in one starting line for all, giving people the chance to access sport and for sport to have the power to change lives, Chris Hedderman, Adidas Golf’s head of marketing said. “Ray is so wise that we’ve let him guide us, and we can then bring our reach and our passion to highlight these young athletes and bring people together.”

Ric Lewis, founder of Black Heart Foundation, said: “The Black Heart Foundation is proud to support the Future Shapers Series. We fully support Black British Golfers commitment to working with the various stakeholders of the game to remove any real or perceived barriers in key areas including participation and access to golf for the Black British community.”