Golf pro talks about the challenges she faced as a woman in sports

Kristen MacLaren coaches the men’s and women’s golf teams at Queen’s University. Photo from queensjournal.ca

By Olivia Waldriff

BELLEVILLE – One of the two women who entered the Belleville Sports Hall of Fame in 2019 says it was also her goal to get more women involved in her sport. 

Kristen Maclaren is currently a PGA of Canada golf professional at Cataraqui Golf and Country Club. She is also the head golf coach at Queen’s University.

“I knew my challenge going forward if I wanted to teach golf was to try to get girls involved,” she said.

As a kid MacLaren said she first got into sports because her whole family was athletic and they encouraged her to try it. She played a few different sports in elementary school but didn’t start playing golf until her mid-teens.

“The main challenge that I ran into when I stared to pick up the game of golf was that there were no women at all involved in golf so basically for me to be able to go out and play … I would have to play with boys or I’d have to play with adults … I don’t think it was a deterrent for me to keep playing golf I think it was just me wanting to be more focused and really put forth an effort to make sure that my career was going to be successful,”

Kristen MacLaren said golf hasn’t changed much since she first started playing and they still have a long way to go in regards to women golfers. Photo from golfnewsnow.ca

Maclaren won the 1998 Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship, has played in two National Collegiate Athletic Association national championships and won three individual NCAA Division I championships.  Her performance in golf got her a four-year scholarship at the University of Texas El Paso. In 2000 MacLaren became the first Canadian to be inducted into the El Paso Golf Hall of Fame.

“It (Texas) was great … golf season here in Canada is very short so when I was looking into scholarships I wanted a place that I could play all year round and Texas was the perfect spot … we never really put the clubs away,” said MacLaren.

MacLaren says it was an honour to be selected for the Hall of Fame. 

“Belleville is my hometown so it’s definitely something that I’ve always watched and always thought that I would love to be inducted, never did I think I would be but when I got the call from Dave Mills (the president of the hall of fame) I was pretty excited … he actually was the one that got me going in golf so it was really nice to have the phone call from him,” said MacLaren.

The Belleville Sports Hall of Fame is located on the second floor of the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre in the Doctor R.L Vaughan Atrium. It was started in 1986 and the first induction ceremony was in 1987. They currently have 87 athletes, builders and teams and of those 87 inductees only 14 of them are women.

“It’s pretty neat … it’s pretty nice to have my picture up on the wall next to some pretty amazing male athletes,” said MacLaren about being one of the few women inducted.