by Caroline Garcia, arts, culture and sports reporter.
Virginia Tech now has a women’s club golf team for the first time, and now has over 20 girls playing and competing in its first seasons.
As the school year starts ramping up, so are athletics at Virginia Tech. Freshmen and other students alike are trying out for club and rec teams. But not all sports are created equal. Just a year ago, there was no club sports team for women’s golf, despite a flourishing men’s team with over 80 members.
Emma Miller was a student eager to join club golf in college, only to find herself in a large room with only men golfers. Rather than quitting or being the sole woman on the team, Miller thought of the idea to start a club team for women to play golf at Virginia Tech.
In an interview, Miller speaks on her experience starting the women’s club golf team and motivations behind it.
Her comments were edited slightly for length and clarity.
What was the experience like trying out for the men’s team?
I was the only girl on the team that made it, out of, I think, three girls that tried out. There weren’t as many girls anyway in the beginning — there were 85 guys on the team, and I was the only girl. So I was like, this is way too many men. But I went and I made the team.
What was the process of creating a women’s team?
I talked to the president of club golf and I talked to the rec sports office. I said, do you think it would be possible if we made a women’s branch of the team so that they can try out and not be intimidated, even playing with guys? They said, “You can start a women’s team. It’ll just be a branch — we’ll have a position for you, women’s captain.” So we went and did that. Then I made the Instagram account, sent out tryout information. We got 25 girls to try out, and then we had 15 to 20 girls make the team. That was a lot of fun, but it took a lot of work.
What does it look like to have a branch off the men’s team?
We’re not fully split, because we’re coed. We have people to run stuff for us, like our Instagram, so that we get more girls. We’re allowed to host our own events and call ourselves the women’s club golf team. We get to do things on our own.
How long did the process take to officially become established?
It took about a year and a half to officially become established. I talked to the sports club advisor, and it’s official as of September 2025. I’m on exec and the board so that the women have more of a say in what they do. For tournaments, it’s actually really easy for us, because the guys still handle all that. We have enough representation that we can send four to six girls to tournaments, when we used to send none. It was a pretty smooth process getting tournaments for the women, but it was a pretty long process to get us situated and set up as an official branch.
In tournaments, do you play against other women, or how does that work?
We usually play against guys, because we’re the only team in our conference that really has any women.
What motivated you to create a team for women to feel comfortable playing on?
Girls were really intimidated because there were 70 guys while claiming to be coed. I was really motivated to get the team started because I want a safe space for girls to be able to play golf and feel like they can play and be competitive at the collegiate level without worrying about how they’re playing because of the guys and what they say.
How has your relationship been with the men’s golf team? Are they accepting or helpful?
Yeah, I like to be close with the president and all of our exec members. We’re trying to get a little more involved with what they’re doing, because their events are a little different than ours. We’re trying to get incorporated into those events a bit more. Now that we have the club set up and situated, the relationships are going to be a little better, because we’ll be closer to them and able to hang out and play golf with them more. I feel like that’s just what we need.
Do you wish other schools had women’s club golf teams? Why do you think they might not yet?
I feel like the reason they don’t really have other teams is because they don’t know the demand for women in golf — there are a lot of girls that play, they’re just intimidated, and schools haven’t taken the steps to be less intimidating. Hopefully, once they see that teams like ours are out there, they’ll be inspired to take steps toward having their own women’s team.
Is there anything else you wish people knew about women’s club golf, or club sports in general?
I would just say it’s very important for women to be involved in sports in college, because not a ton of people go after that. I feel like it’s super important to have people that support you.
What has been your favorite part of being a part of, or leading, the club golf team?
I guess I just really love the community. I love my people — they’re really fun, really awesome. We do a lot of things together, which is really nice. We golf together, and a lot of the time we also get better.
Have you seen growth in the girls since starting?
Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of girls get better. One girl was shooting in the 50s, and then as soon as she and I were playing together, we really challenged each other, and now she’s shooting in the low 40s, which is pretty good.
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