Competitive Balance in Women's Collegiate Golf

Abstract

Since the implementation of title IX in 1972, there has been in increase in the organization and participation of women's collegiate sports teams. In 1982, which is when Women started competing in NCAA golf, participation was numbered at 739 and by 2008, there were a total of 2047 participants. This paper shows how the increase in participation among division 1 women's golf teams has affected the competitive balance in women's collegiate golf. The method of assessing this effect is to compare all the participating scores in past NCAA championships against the increase in participation over time. It is hypothesized that as participation increased, the scores have trended lower and therefore made women's golf more competitive. The division 1 men's golf team is used as a control to see that the effects are unique to the women's team.