Creating a Culture of Kindness Through Golf

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast

And Jenefeness is the founder of Soft Life Swing Society. Jenefeness reached out to me as that hustling entrepreneur. and a couple of weeks ago and said, "hey, Colin, I love what you're doing. I'd love to be on the ModGolf podcast!" And I get a lot of people that want to be on the ModGolf podcast. So it's tough to choose who to have on. I only have so many episodes, so much bandwidth. But as soon as I spoke to Jenefeness it's like, you are awesome. Your energy is infectious. Yes, you have to come on! Right now and. Here she is. She's going to join us on ModGolf. Welcome!

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 02:10

Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for making a space for me, thank you for allowing us to share our story and having this platform to do so. Really appreciate you.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 02:22

It is absolutely my pleasure. Okay, so we're going to start with this question, this icebreaker that I love to ask. I know from our previous conversation that you haven't played golf all that long. And I know now how you got into it in the first place, but I'm going to ask this icebreaker question because I love this question and that is your introduction to golf. What was that moment or how did you get that golf club in your hand the first time? Was there a power of invitation? Does someone invite you to that? So tell us about that as far as your golf origin story.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 03:49

My golf origin story starts with my daughter. She was a part of The First Tee program as a young person and I would take her to the practices, to the events and she had a tournament. And during the tournament she did really well. She had an amazing time. And then while I was there, somebody was like, "well, do you golf"? And I was like, no. And they were like, oh, you should you should consider it. And I was like, "oh, never had, never thought about it".

And then later on, I took her to the driving range and I started hitting some of her clubs. And I was like "Actually I have no idea what I'm doing!" She was laughing at me. I was laughing at myself. And then I started thinking about, well, let me get out here and do this. I was already going to the courses with her. Just being able to play with her and to start playing was fun.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 04:53

Now, what year was that for context?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 04:56

That was in 2000... 18, 19-ish.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 05:00

Okay, just before that little thing called COVID hit.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 05:03

Right.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 05:03

All right. So let's fast forward. So you started playing. So you got the bug. You got the hook. I'm assuming you had that on the driving range with your daughter when she was not laughing at you you must have hit a pure one you that's that addiction right that dopamine drip you actually hit that pure one it doesn't even feel like it's coming off the club face and it launches into the air and it's like It just feels amazing.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 05:23

I wish that was my story! I was Horrible, I was for a long time. I actually did not get the bug until this year. This year, 2026, I was like, okay, I'm out here two, three times a week. But up until then, I just would go out and I would just enjoy having quality time with the people that I love. But no, I didn't really and love it. But now I love it. It's a cliche, though.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 05:56

Well, I didn't say that the first time with the driving range you hit that pure shot. It does take a little bit of time, but once you hit that, you are hooked. There's no turning back after that. Okay, so. I want to in parallel run your personal golf journey and then how you expanded, took some lessons and got involved and obviously built a bit of a community and then started playing your first green grass experience. So before we get into the creation of Soft Life Swing Society, why don't you tell me about the first time you ever played on a par 72 18-hole golf course. When did that happen and what was that experience like for you?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 06:41

So it probably happened in like 2021, 2022. It was so intimidating. First of all, I didn't know which club to use.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 06:51

Yeah.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 06:53

I felt like I was being rushed. I felt like I was the worst person out there. It was not a great experience at all. I was just out there like, "this is hell! Why did I even choose to do this?" Halfway through, I'm like, "I don't know that I'm going to finish this. Why are we doing this to us?" So yeah, no, that experience was not good at all. I would pick up if I hit too many shots. Now I can say, double bogey, triple bogey, whatever. If after i putt it so many times i'm like okay let me just pick this up and i'll skip a hole, just sit in the cart. It was not a great experience.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 07:40

But you are creating great experiences now with Soft Life Swing Society. And I love your tagline that you have. One of the quotes that I read that you want to make the game accessible, low pressure and fun for women, particularly black women and women of colour. So what was the AHA moment for Soft Life Swing Society? When did that start? How many "not fun rounds" did you play before you switched gears a little bit and then how did you start building community? Give us the birthing or the origin story of Soft Life Swing Society.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 08:17

The reason why I wasn't having fun was the folks that I was playing with. I feel like everybody around me was just really, really good. They were so experienced and I just felt judged. And so what I started doing is just inviting other women who were new, who were maybe intimidated, maybe never played a whole round. Just saying, hey, let's go out to the range. Let's go out to the Williams Nine where it's a par three course and it's only nine holes. And so I started creating this environment where other women who were just like me were coming out. We were learning from each other. We weren't judging each other. And it just became fun. Like we would just go out there and just say somebody got a par.

Like that wasn't even a goal. The goal was maybe like double bogey. Okay. Triple bogey. But maybe two putts or six putts. I don't know. But we just started making games out of it, creating opportunities. And it became fun based on who I was golfing with. And then my intimidation factor just kind of reduced a little bit where I was like "You know what? Everybody had to start somewhere". If I'm slow today or there's other people slow in front of me, I started understanding golf etiquette, golf language, the pace of play. I started understanding all that, which made me a little less nervous.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 09:39

I like this. I like this a lot. So these are recurring themes that I've talked to, especially with women over the years of why they avoid golf, why they stay away from it. But you are creating this... Culture of kindness. There you go.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 10:01

yeah

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 10:01

Is that a thing now? I guess it is now.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 10:03

It is. It is absolutely.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 10:04

This culture of kindness. Yeah, that you've created.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 10:06

We need that. We definitely need that. As women, we don't want to go out somewhere and we automatically feel judged. We feel intimidated. We want a kinder entry where it's like, "girl, You hit that? Okay. That was horrible. We're going to do it again. Let's try it again". Rather than somebody saying, "oh, pick it up". I remember my husband even is saying to me at some point, "go ahead and pick up". Like, he's tired of me trying, tired of me hitting the ball, doing volleyball, hitting it way across into another field. It was just crazy. But no, having an environment where a woman can say, "you know what? Yeah, that was horrible. Let me show you how to do that differently. Let me tell you which club to choose. Let me slow you down a little bit. Let me let you know that it's okay to go slower". That type of thing where you don't feel judged. You actually feel supported. You feel safe in this environment to make mistakes and not feel like um it's the end of the world.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 11:28

So I've spoken to a lot of golf courses, golf course operators and owners, and they want to help grow the game and they want to make their facilities open to beginners to the game and communities that have felt unwelcome in the past, whether it's women or younger people. Whoever that is but they bump up against capacity, supply and demand. And golf has never been more popular than it is now. So there just isn't the inventory. So their tee sheets are already filled. So they have a difficult time, but I know that you have a really strong partnership I believe with Fir State Golf Club and also with Meadow Park Golf Course in Tacoma. So can you elaborate on that a little bit?

How did you partner with them, since I'm sure they're also very busy, that they understood what you wanted to do with Soft Life Swing Society and how they've opened this up so you can have instructional clinics and tee time sessions on Tuesdays and all those good things you're doing here? So how did you manage to build those partnerships that they opened their hearts and their tee times for for you and the other women?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 12:36

Well, one of the things that we did is we went to Meadow Park Golf Course and we took some lessons. So that's how it how the relationship actually started. I reached out to the golf pro there and I said, "hey, we are a bunch of women who are brand new. We are eager to learn and we're fast learners and we're amazing! And we're pretty, so you need to know that coming in". So we took these lessons we did four cohorts with him. And at the end of each lesson or each cohort, he would take us out on the course. So it would be instruction and then take us out.

And so that in and of itself built the confidence of the ladies, but it also built that relationship with Meadow Park Golf Course. And so now when we do things like a couple of weeks ago, we did our Hit and Sip where we just come out on the range. We invited a PXG golf manufacturers and they gave us clubs to add to our club cabinet. I think they gave us seven clubs, which are drivers, hybrids. And they let us test out some clubs. That was pretty amazing. We also partner with Pro Discount Golf. They gave us gift cards so we reach out we tell them what we're doing and most times folks just want to support it. Like you said golf courses golf manufacturers golf stores they want more women they want more entry-level folks taking part in the game.

And so when we just tell them what we're doing, they want to support it. And they've become partners, like really great partners in the work that we're doing. So with Meadow Park Golf Course, we continue to go there. Each week they reserve us two tea times at around 4:30 every Tuesday. Sometimes we need three tee times. But it's just been a great opportunity to have a home base for us, a home base where women know on Tuesdays this is where we're going to be. And they've been really kind with giving us instruction, being very patient with us because we we don't know everything, but we're learning and it's been fun. And it's been amazing having that partnership.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 14:47

So good So good. So my understanding over the last couple of years you've managed to onboard almost 200 women that have registered for your events. and I guess you asked them all because it sounds like you've got the stats. I'm reading this here that you said that about 97 % of them have never picked up a golf club. That's almost all of them. So what is the first thing that you do when these women show up and they don't even know which end of the club to hold or basic fundamentals? I'm just curious to to hear what what are the first things you do to to put people at at ease.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 15:32

Yeah, the first thing we do we talk about safety. We talk about, hey, when you're holding this club, it's an extension of your arm. Like you need to understand that as soon as you swing this thing, you can hurt somebody. So that's the first thing we do. And then after we talk about safety, we go into the grip. What does that look like? How do you grip this club? And then we go into the swing and then we go into tempo. We take it really, really slow. Before you even pick up the club. We're talking about, okay, when you pick this up and you swing this thing, you could kill somebody! So let's be careful.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 16:05

Yeah.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 16:07

And then after that, it's like, okay, now let's talk about how you're going to swing this thing. How are you going to make it make sense? So that's how the lesson starts. Regardless if you show up 10 minutes before we go out and you've never touched the club before, or if you've touched the club before and you just haven't in a while, we we try to assess on the spot where you are and what you need. Then we take all the fear out of it. You got to get out here and so we push you out onto the first green but really the education the safety and then making sure they're comfortable.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 16:49

I'm curious about your onboarding. I see you're very active on Instagram and also on Facebook. Are those the two places where people then find you, discover you, and then reach out to you? How do you keep growing and get new women to join you?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 17:03

Definitely that way, but also word of mouth. People see us at the golf course and they start to recognize us. There's a lady that is a really amazing golfer. She's at the Meadow Park often. And she came up to me one day she said, I love what you're doing. I want to donate some clubs. I was like, "wow, thank you so much". She donated to our club closet. That's one of the things that we have. We have a closet of clubs. So when women come, that's not a barrier. You can borrow these clubs. That's one barrier that's taken off the shelf. You don't have to. you worry about, oh, I don't have any clubs. Well, we have some, you can borrow them. So we have folks that are mostly word of mouth, telling folks "hey you interested in golf"? There's a group of women that are doing it and making it a kinder entry into golf so it's mostly word of mouth and also the social media.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 17:54

I heard this stat the the other day when I was talking to someone, had them on The ModGolf Podcast and we were talking about the the rise and the explosive growth of simulator golf, indoor golf and the stats. It's very interesting that for green grass experience, traditional golf, the percentage of women that are playing even though it's growing quite a bit and there's so much more room for growth there is hovering around 15 or 18 percent and for indoor simulator virtual golf it's almost triple that, it's at least double that it's up around 35 almost 40 percent

Which I find is really interesting. I can see also that you're removing the intimidation factor. You're not holding anybody up. There's no pace of play you have to worry about. You don't have to worry about etiquette. So all those barriers are knocked down. So the reason I ask this Jenefeness is are you looking to expand Soft Life Swing Society into a virtual environment, having events indoors at, whether it's just pure entertainment or some combination of fun competition. Is that something you've done already or looking looking to do in the future?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 19:04

We have done that we have a membership at Evergreen Golf Club, which is the indoor golf simulator in Tacoma. They have one in Tacoma and they also have one in Redmond Washington and so yeah we've done mixers there we've had a great time at those in those environments and it is absolutely more friendly. It's almost like Topgolf, right? People know like... what did they can expect. They feel more open to that. Whereas the golf course is just super intimidating.

People don't know, right? You're intimidated by the fact that you don't know that it's 18 holes. A lot of women don't know that it's 18 holes or nine holes, or a lot of women don't know that they're the maximum amount of people is a foursome. These are the things that, because there's that lack of knowledge, it brings on a lot of insecurity. Whereas if you show up to a place, you can choose to engage or you can choose to disengage. And so that just makes it that much easier and simpler. Whereas you arrive on a golf course, you're like, "wait, do I get a cart? Do I push the clubs?" You just don't know. So I think that virtual environment just makes it that much easier. It takes away a lot of the factors that the green environment has.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 20:26

I want to ask you this. For your Tuesday night tee time sessions at Meadow Park Golf. Is it just show up for the golf and then you leave or is there another element? Is there that social experience afterwards? Do you stick around because I've seen some photos and everybody's having a good time and sometimes on the golf course but quite often it's not. It's afterwards. So talk about that. I'm sure you want that stickiness that it's more than just swinging a club, that you want to connect on a social level and have some fun once you've finished up. Is that what you get get up to?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 20:59

Yeah, definitely. We try to sit around. It really depends. Like some weeks, everybody has something to do. Everybody has somewhere to go. But oftentimes we'll go right into the restaurant and we'll have a bite to eat or a drink after our round. And one of the things that we try to instil in our golf etiquette is to arrive early. So not when the tee time starts, we want folks to arrive 30 minutes early, if not 40 minutes or 45 minutes early. So that's enough time also for us to stand around, take our pictures, have a drink, have a good time. But we try to instil this golf etiquette that is super duper important because we don't come from this environment.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 21:37

Yeah, yeah

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 21:44

And so if we can learn this early, it can save us from embarrassment, but also helps us to be that professional golfer. Like we are golfers now too. We're not just out here playing around, but this is how we become professional or not so much professional but real golfers by understanding the rules of golf and seeing the pictures of you and your crew there.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 22:15

You all embrace and love your golf fashion on the course and that's part of the multi-billion dollar Golf business opportunity is this expansion with women having way more disposable income than a generation earlier. Way more independence, way more decision-making. You just do what you want to do and you've got the cash. So tell us about that. What do you love about the apparel and the fashion side, because I know that you certainly love to rock a good look out on the golf course.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 22:38

You're right about that. One thing though I will say is there is a lack of plus size in women's golf. A lot of plus size women have to wear men's clothes, which is not really cute on us, right?

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 22:50

Ah no.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 22:50

So there is a serious gap there. A lot of these outfits are put for petite, skinny, no curves. So when it comes to the fashion, anything can be made into a golf outfit, right? We'll say, "Hey, let's all wear green. Let's all wear orange. let's all wear pink" and so we'll find an outfit that becomes a golf outfit per se. But as far as golf fashion is concerned, I think it's made for a certain demographic of people. A lot of those women are very petite, very small, and not a lot of curves. So it's hard to find attire for women who are bigger up top, right? Some curves on the bottom. So there's a gap there and hopefully somebody's feeling that. I did find some golf where recently i think it was called four F-O-R-E by a Black woman, and she's a Black queer woman and so a lot of her outfits still look a little masculine. There is definitely an opportunity to have some really nice, beautiful outfits for the plus size female golfer.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 24:10

Well, over the past almost 10 years I've had plenty of women's golf apparel founders and people working on that side of the industry so any of you that are listening out there right now listening, there's this massive opportunity that Jenefeness has put it out there. She's desperate to buy some clothes that are way more aligned with what she wants. Obviously, you're not going to be shopping in the same aisle as Nelly Korda, that's for sure.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 24:37

No. No.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 24:38

Yeah, little string bean there.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 24:40

No. And that's the thing. Even when you find things, it's like, "oh, my goodness, I find the bottom, but I can't find the top", because I'm heavier on top. So I want something that feels good, that doesn't ride up, that doesn't feel restricted and also cute. So definitely we need somebody to pay attention to that.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 24:58

Right? All right. Well, there you go. We put the call out there. Now we need the response.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 25:07

Yes.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 25:08

So, okay, I want to hear about the future of what you're doing for 2027 and beyond, but my understanding here is this is something you're doing as a grassroots side hustle. You're just doing it from a place of love that you do. This is not a business. I don't think you're registered as a nonprofit. It's something that you do because you love it. It's taking on this organic life force of its own and you just love it, right. Is that the case?

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 25:32

You're absolutely right. And that's something that we're talking about right now. What does this look like for 2027? Right now we are starting to create our lessons for the fall. We reached out to the golf pro so we're going to take some more lessons. And what does it look like when spring rolls around for 2027? We'll definitely have our Tuesday tee time because it's been a ton of fun. How do we reach more women? How do we make access kinder? How do we continue to do what we're doing and do it on a broader scale? Maybe even doing some not just in Tacoma, but also in Seattle. We get a lot of women that come to Tacoma and that drive is cumbersome for them. How do we reach those women over in Seattle versus making them come to Tacoma. Maybe there's a Thursday tee time for them and a Tuesday tee time for Tacoma, so trying to figure that out. Doing a lot of surveying of the women that we want to serve, not just guessing or having a lot of guesswork but having these conversations and building something around the actual need.

And the actual need is to eliminate some of the barriers to golf, to having that kinder access point, to be able to come out. We invite women, hey, if you don't have clubs, don't worry about it. You don't have to play, just come out and watch. Or just come out and use these two clubs get used to these two clubs don't worry about 14 clubs that's just too much. I always laugh and joke and say half of them don't work anyways!

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 27:03

Not wrong.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 27:06

Eliminating those barriers or those mindsets around golf, just helping women to understand that it's easier than what we think and it's so much fun once we get out there and and play with the right folks.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 27:23

So as we finish up here, what words of advice can you give to women all over the United States? I'm up here in Canada i'm 90 minutes north of you in beautiful Vancouver British Columbia. So also in Canada, across North America there are hundreds and hundreds of communities like yours and in Greater Tacoma, that have a need like you're filling here with Soft Life Swing Society. So what encouragement or advice can you give to people out there, women out there who are perhaps where you were three four five six seven years ago? So they can start building a community also from a place of kindness and fun.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 28:08

I think the first thing I would say is just get out there. Even if you have to sign up to be a part of someone else's golf event and just watch for a little while, and just ask a lot of questions. That was one thing that I did. I'm just a lifelong learner, but I asked a lot of questions. Like, why did we do this? Why is this important? Is this a matter of golf etiquette or is this just something you do? Why do you take off your glove when you putt, is that really serious? Is that necessary? Just ask lots of questions and be okay with the answers, but actually get out there. Don't be afraid. If somebody invites you to golf and they have some clubs for you, the one thing I learned too is a lot of the golf courses, you can borrow clubs from them. You don't have to have your own clubs. You can get to the place where you purchase your own clubs. But in the meantime, just borrow some. Just be don't be afraid to learn, to make mistakes, and to have fun along the way.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 29:05

I love that. I love that. I think there's a mic drop moment right there So, hey, as we finish up here Jenefeness, why don't you let all of our listeners know where they can contact you how they can learn more about Soft Life Swing Society. I know both on Facebook and Instagram you're there. So yeah, let us know how people can get a hold of you and learn about all the good things that you're doing.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 29:28

Yeah. So all of our events, we normally post on our social media and we use a couple apps. But you can find us on social media, anything that we're doing. It is Soft Life Swing Society and we also have a Facebook group, we're on Facebook and Instagram. So super excited about that. And thank you so much, Colin.

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 29:49

Absolutely! It is absolutely my pleasure, as I always do in the show notes, to make it nice and easy for you listeners. You don't have to write things down while you're doing all your other things. I will include the links that Jenefeness had just mentioned. So it's nice and simple for you to get in touch with her and Soft Life Swing Society. There we go. But hey, we're not done yet because you and I are now going to jump over for a quick video call to have a slightly different conversation extend all this for the ModGolf YouTube channel. I'm looking forward to that. I'll also include the link for that in the show notes for everybody here. So, hey. I wanna encourage our listeners to also become viewers because there's more goodness and kindness still to come. It's not done yet. We haven't squeezed all the juice out of it yet.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 30:37

I love it!

COLIN WESTON - Host of The ModGolf Podcast 30:38

There we go. Okay. With that Jenefeness, thank you so much for joining us on ModGolf. I love your story. I love what you're doing. And it's been an absolute pleasure to have a conversation with you today.

Jenefeness Franke - Founder of Soft Life Swing Society 31:12

Thank you so much, Colin for having us, for supporting women in golf and for promoting women having a kinder access into golf. We really appreciate being on the ModGolf Podcast and your listeners, your viewers, and your supporters, your partners. So thank you for that.