Annika Sörenstam on the Parallels Between Golf and Business

“I'm a big proponent of having girls and women in sport, because the things that you use in business, whether it's patience, perseverance or due diligence are really what you need on the golf course.”

Annika Sörenstam is speaking to me recently at Cannes Lions, specifically on Stagwell’s uber-popular Sports Beach, where she was a guest speaking about topics such as mentorship - as well as offering putting lessons to festival goers. 

And how lucky they were too, for there are few people better placed to aid in improving a golf swing. Annika is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf in 2008, she had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. After turning 50, she came back from her retirement and very casually added a win in the 2021 US Senior Women's Open some 13 years after her initial retirement. 

When Annika stepped away from golf that first time around, she knew she wanted to do something that allowed her to stay involved in the game, but also to say thank you and offer something to the next generation, girls specifically. She launched ANNIKA Foundation, whose focus is not just to unearth the world’s next best female golfer, but to develop and empower the next generation of women in general around the world through the game of golf.

The ANNIKA Foundation hosts tournaments all around the world in which over 600 girls play every year. Its ‘Share My Passion’ event invites girls aged 6-16 to write an open letter to other girls their age telling them why they love golf. Of the letters submitted, 30-40 finalists are chosen to attend an inspiration clinic in which Annika will teach them the fundamentals of driving, putting and the importance of fitness. But during the clinic, Annika fields many questions that allow them to learn about life as well as golf. 

“Golf really is a sport for everyone,” says Annika. “It teaches you so many things about life, and there are so many synergies between the two… So we feel like teaching those fundamentals is really helping young girls to build up confidence for their lives, whether they turn professional, or whether they go into business, or whatever they do - but they have a tool like golf to help them along the way.”

Since launching in 2007, The ANNIKA Foundation has grown globally and gradually got more and more young girls involved in the sport. 15 years ago, only 17% of all juniors in the US were female, whereas today it’s around 33-34%. But there’s still room for more growth. What’s more, six years ago it launched a competition in Argentina. At the time it was the only competitive girls event for golf in South America - and it still is today. As such, Annika feels like the foundation still has a lot to offer and recently engaged the help of Minneapolis agency Colle McVoy to boost brand awareness, engagement and funds.  

“The foundation has done a really solid job of launching this, but we're very excited to partner and take it into a more modern, integrated communications approach to really getting the word out,” says Christine Fruechte, CEO of Colle McVoy. I hope brand marketers really engage with this because they share the same dreams and hopes of aspiring young women to go on and do amazing things.”

Outside of inspiring the next generation of young females, Annika is also in the throes of building another brand - this time in the alcohol industry. ‘Fizzy Beez’ is a low calorie, honey-based, ready-to-go canned cocktail that Annika is proud to say “has flavour”. It was somewhat of a covid baby, born out of her and her husband being stuck at home and getting creative with the drinks cupboard. 

After some surprisingly complicated steps of transforming their kitchen creation to a commercially produced beverage, Fizzy Beez is now selling in Ohio, Tennessee, Nevada and Michigan, and has been on the receiving end of prestigious drinks awards, such as SIP. It is female owned and gives back money it makes on merchandising to small, passionate honey farmers that care and nurture the bees that are so important to Fizzy Beez and the planet. 

Despite the slight coincidental events that led to Fizzy Beez, the launch of this brand is also rooted in Annika’s belief to only partner with companies and products that she actively enjoys and feels aligned with. “My husband's best friend owns a big distributor and would bring these ready-to-go canned drinks,” Annika says. “Honestly, I didn't like any of them. My husband is also my agent, and he was about to put one of them on the side of my hat [which she is wearing while we chat]. We had the people [from the brand] over for dinner, had a lot of fun, and they were going to touch base on Monday with lawyers and all this. We closed the door, and I told my husband, I hate it [the drink]! It has no flavour.”

Annika tells me that she’s a picky eater and drinker. She loves to cook and has studied nutrition, so knows what’s good for her body if there’s such a thing as ‘good’ alcohol. “We couldn't find anything,” she says. “It was either no calories and no flavour or a tonne of flavour and a tonne of calories. I thought, there has to be something in the middle, so we actually made it because I think there was a void in that market. 

“Everything that I partner with are products I like and use or the company has things that I stand for. I would say that early on, I wasn't so picky, because you never know, I could stop playing tomorrow. But now, through time, I want to be aligned with companies that I feel  I have a future with, and that we stand for the same thing, so it's authentic. That's important to me.”