The world is full of opportunities, which slowly but steadily become equally available for men and women. Some areas are not there yet, but one thing is certain – the world is getting more inclusive every year.
Within our Women of Estevan special, the Mercury continues to share stories of outstanding local women who shape our community and who, by example, prove that nothing is impossible. This time we turned to sports.
Golf has been a male-dominated sport way longer than women have been allowed to play, which makes it more difficult for women wedging their way into the game, as they often face prejudice, even these days. But for our latest respondent – who is one of 29 female head professionals in the country, and one of the very few holders of both head pro and GM titles, according to the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) of Canada – this and any other sports have never seemed to be men's prerogative, and even if someone doubted her she just kept doing what she liked.
Amanda Minchin grew up in Estevan playing all kinds of sports. Basketball, hockey, baseball, soccer, curling, you name it, she was in love with them all until one day she met her real sports love.
"I've played everything. I was very fortunate that my parents gave me that ability to play a tonne of different sports. When I was about 16, I fell in love with golf, which is very odd because I'd always loved team sports," Minchin recalled.
She wasn't one of those kids who’d follow their parents' steps playing golf, as her parents never had an opportunity to get into the game. Minchin says one day she just felt that she had to try it and her parents did what they could to help her follow her curiosity, which later turned into passion and a career.
"My dad found me some second-hand clubs, that's what we grew up on, my brother and I had second-hand stuff, that was fine. We came down here (to Woodlawn), I got into a group junior lesson and I just was hooked."
At the age of 13, Minchin was working at the golf course as a range kid and would spend every spare minute golfing. The competitive part of the game was the only thing that she didn't like in the beginning.
"At 14, I played my first real tournament and I hated it … It was too stressful, I didn't like it. Being the competitive kid I was, it was really hard to admit and really hard to grasp in my head."
Minchin says quite often, especially with female golfers, the qualitative changes occur quickly starting around the age of 15, when the level of play almost instantly goes up. Once these changes happened, the competitive part of the game wasn't a problem anymore and at 16 Minchin finished fourth at provincials and made Team Saskatchewan.
"I got to go to Toronto to play in the Canadian Junior Girls. And that was just amazing. That was my first time on a plane. I had to go by myself with the team, it was just a huge, momentous thing. I remember it still to this day. And we got to go play at the super-private golf club in Toronto, where the grass is like a carpet. It was just an eye-opening experience."
With this experience in hand, Minchin started setting goals more definitively. Her parents' motto was, "Learn to be good at lots of things," and Minchin did her best growing and developing in the sport she chose.
The love for sport saw her pursuing a bachelor of science in kinesiology from Eastern Illinois University – “one the best decisions in life" – where she played NCAA Division 1 golf.
Minchin came back after graduation, still playing amateur golf for Team Saskatchewan. But she felt she needed more, she knew she could get it, and so she chose to challenge.
"I wanted to turn pro and try to take a swing at that. I started playing mini-tour events all over Canada and the U.S., toured around and lived a little bit of a gypsy lifestyle. Came back in the winter and worked some jobs, saved up some money, found some sponsors, and then did it all over again."
That period lasted for about three years. That "great experience" brought her across many interesting people, beautiful golf courses, some adventures and allowed her to do something she loved – playing golf and growing in it.
She fell a bit short of making it to the national team, and since the love for golf was still as real as ever before, she decided to take a different approach to her career.
"I joined the PGA of Canada and became an apprentice. I worked here (at the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club) under Brian Dueck. You have to put in so many hours, and training, and extra schooling on top of my degree. So, I did that and fell in love with teaching. I did a tonne of teaching as an assistant, and coaching, while still working here. It was crazy busy long days, but I loved it," Minchin said.
She became a head pro in 2015. Teaching and coaching were still a big part of life. She continued working with Golf Saskatchewan's high performance and provincial teams. In 2018 Minchin took on the GM role at the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Course, something she didn't foresee.
"I didn't see myself becoming a GM, at least not the year I did. It was down the road that I wanted to do that because I always thought, when I become a GM, I'll have to step aside from working with kids and teaching," Minchin said.
But things played out to her advantage, as she was able to continue teaching, while also taking on the new role.
The signs of recognition kept coming her way through the years, but the one that brought back the sense of a team meant the most.
"Winning my national award (the PGA of Canada's Jack McLaughlin Junior Leader of the Year in 2016) … was very special. And especially because it was really a team effort that kind of goes back to my love of team sports, it was a huge team effort. The support I have here and in the help I had here, it really was a team effort the award probably should have a bunch of names on it."
Teaching and introducing kids to golf is a big part of Minchin's life. The love for the game that she's been playing for over 25 years now, also saw Minchin trying to open this world to more people.
"We're a positive place to be. And I probably sound biased, but I think the things you learn out here are going to help you in life.
"We are trying to diversify. We just want anybody who wants to golf, no matter your colour, age race, socio-economic background, I want to make golf accessible to everybody. That's my goal and that's the goal of our organization," Minchin said.
She added that the golf course is considering offering introductory nights for people who are interested in taking up golf but don't know where to start or feel that the game is intimidating or exclusive.
And while there are still more boys than girls playing golf these days, Minchin, who is currently the president of the PGA of Saskatchewan, said she's never felt any gender-based inequality. Besides, her experience working with kids shows that in sports kids don’t know this learned construct.
"Kids don't know the difference, especially that five-six age. Most of them don't care if it's boys and girls together, why would they? That's only a kid. That's another good golfer," Minchin pointed out.
While the difference in golf engagement persists, the gap in numbers of men and women involved with golf keeps closing.
Even though Minchin says she never felt off in the world of golf because of being a woman, concurring this statistically men-led and dominated sphere and taking a lead role in it, was big, but nevertheless it's not the only challenge Minchin took upon herself. About 2 1/2 years ago she joined the Estevan Fire Rescue Service – another opening-up but still predominantly male industry.
"It was something I wanted to do for a long time. It's very much out of my comfort zone," Minchin said.
"I like learning new things. And that was, again, another way to help the community. I knew it was going to be a huge, huge commitment. But I was intrigued by it.
"I'll admit, there were times when we were training or doing things, and I thought, 'Can I actually do this? Am I going to have the ability to do this?' I'm trying to always question myself and always trying to be better at everything I'm doing. So, those thoughts did creep in there. But then you go, and you have another training night where you learn a lot, and you do it, and you feel great."
Minchin's experiences working in male-dominated industries have always been positive. And while it's not expertise on the state of the society, Minchin's experience suggests that a lot depends on individuals.
"All the guys on the fire department are great, they're awesome. All the guys on our PGA are great. I don't want to say (the work is) genderless to me, but it feels like that. I realize that's not other people's experiences and I don't mean to discredit (other cases) by any means. That's just my experience. I think if you belong to a group of people, and they're really good people, it's not going to matter who's a man and who's a woman," Minchin shared.
Not too long ago, Minchin also became involved with the Estevan Bruins, helping the local team to navigate through rough waters of the pandemic, and before, she also coached an atom girls hockey team for three years, thus paying a tribute to her second sports love – hockey.
Being involved with the community is Minchin's way to give back to the place that's always been good to her. She saw life in different places and had opportunities to move elsewhere, but she felt that her hometown had all it takes to grow, build a career, self-actualize and be successful and prosperous in what you like doing.
"Getting to do GM stuff, but also getting to do head pro stuff, also getting to still teach, work with kids, that's a very unique situation that I have and always had here. I feel very fortunate for it and I'm not ready to give that up."
"I'm very proud to be a member of this community. And there are great people all over and I've been fortunate to meet them."
