When she speaks, Charley Hull evokes a sense of quiet confidence in each answer she provides. It’s a rare demeanor, only given off by someone who is so certain of who they are and what they’re capable of.
Self-assured may be the best way to describe the British golfer who sits eighth in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She’s also unwilling to be inauthentic, speaking her mind and sharing aspects of her life that other professional athletes may keep guarded.
Perhaps this is most clearly seen on her social media accounts, where snaps of her glamorous lifestyle sit beside images of trophies and videos of her workout routines. Even in the bio of her Instagram account, which boasts over 860,000 followers, there’s a sign of her openness with the phrase ‘Shy kids don’t get sweets.’
Hull’s rise in popularity in recent years is partially due to that social media image, especially a famous photo of the now-30-year-old walking the golf course with a cigarette in her mouth. In that context, perhaps it’s perfect that she took part in the on!vitational, a nicotine-sponsored celebrity simulator golf tournament hosted at the SoFi Center in South Florida.
In the weeks to come, Hull will make many trips to this temple of modern golf technology to take part in the inaugural season of the WTGL – the female counterpart to the TGL sim league featuring the likes of Hull, Lydia Ko, Rose Zhang, Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson, among others.
Before she got her first swings on the sim, Hull spoke exclusively with the Daily Mail about the competition, her self-image, and the future of women’s sports.
England’s Charley Hull got her first swings at the SoFi Center at last weekend’s on!vitational celebrity golf tournament shortly after speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail
Since this photo went viral in 2024, Hull has risen to international fame for more than golf
Part of that is thanks to her openness on social media, where she shares plenty about her life. (Source: Instagram/@charley.hull)
She can only manage a few minutes to chat, all while getting a bite to eat (even though, to her horror, her order was incorrect) and taking a moment to speak to her fellow Team Malbon competitors.
Even though she will spend many weeks at the indoor golf facility in Florida when WTGL begins in November, Hull plans to be back home in the UK as much as possible.
‘I literally fly home and fly back,’ Hull told the Daily Mail, reinforcing her love for her family and her hometown. ‘I’ve been in America before for a couple days photo shoot. I flew home for 24 hours, then just to come back to America and do the same spot because I miss home that much.’
‘You know what I like?’ she interjected, ‘I just like waking up in my own area, my own bed, knowing that I can go see my mum and my dad, go and see my friends, just do normal things. And I like being around mum and my dad a lot. I have great parents. I couldn’t have asked for a better mum and dad growing up.’
Hull was home recently, where she showed off a series of photos of a party for her friend and fellow pro golfer Georgia Hall.
‘She had a baby and it’s her wedding in a few months’ time, so I took her away,’ Hull said, sharing that they spent time at Estelle Manor.
Hull’s snap where she showed off her toned stomach and legs in a light blue bikini captured the most attention. But there were also images of her in dressing gowns and cocktail attire in a post that gained over 50,000 likes.
‘That was so much fun, we were having mini photo shoots in the room. I thought it was a nice bikini picture, so that’s why I posted it. I’m proud of my body.’
That was made even clearer when, on Thursday, Hull revealed to her fans that she had just shot for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit – putting more of herself on display than ever before.
Alongside the caption, ‘I did a thing…’ Hull posed in only a towel, sending the comments section of her Instagram page into a frenzy. It remains to be seen when the full photo shoot will be released to the world.
Glamorous golfer Hull recently attended a state banquet at Windsor Castle with Donald Trump
Hull recently revealed on social media that she has filmed a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover
The 30-year-old Hull shared a series of glamorous snaps from a party weekend back home. (Source: Instagram/@charley.hull)
On her recent girls’ trip, meanwhile, Hull reveals that she decided to take all her photos on a Canon camera, instead of her phone: ‘I wanted to get that because I thought I want to capture these moments without being on my phone there.’
With her rise to fame within the world of golf and beyond, Hull’s time is more precious than ever: ‘I haven’t got as much time as I’d like to, so I’m looking forward to this offseason just to completely get away and just chill with my friends and family at home.’
The choice to show off as much of her life as she does differs from the norm. Hull’s penchant for posting what some may call behind the scenes content stems less from a naivety but more of how she views herself.
‘I don’t see myself as somebody famous,’ she admitted. ‘I just see myself as just a good golfer, and I just post like my friends post who don’t play golf, who aren’t in the public eye. Yeah, that’s just the way I am.’
In truth, though, her fame has skyrocketed in recent months, and she can even count the president among her biggest fans.
Hull was invited to join Donald Trump for a state banquet at Windsor Castle last month, and she later revealed he had even asked her for a round of golf.
‘I spoke to him last night and he has invited me (to play),’ Hull told BBC Radio 5 Live at the time.
‘He has said he wants to sort a game out. That is pretty cool. Last year he reached out actually to my agent and he wanted to play at the end of the year but I think I was going on holiday.
‘We spoke about it last night and we are really going to try and sort a game out before the end of the year, which will be pretty cool.’
Hull says her approach to social media isn’t any different from her friends who aren’t famous
Hull shares another bikini photo with her 865k fans
Hull will return to the SoFi Center for the inaugural season of WTGL starting in November
The on!vitational marked Hull’s first time hitting on the simulator. While Malbon ended up falling to eventual winners Team Grass League, featuring the likes of Paige Spiranac, Hull will aim to have more success with Atlanta Drive GC in WTGL. Hull is joined by Minjee Lee, Andrea Lee, Yuka Saso and Nataliya Guseva as one of five teams in the league.
There are plans and hopes to expand past the inaugural season, much like their men’s league counterparts. But that’s not the only parallel between the two leagues. Much like how men’s world No 1 Scottie Scheffler is not on a TGL team, women’s world No 1 Nelly Korda is also absent from the WTGL roster.
But Korda’s reasons are specific. In January, she called it a ‘huge and unbelievable miss’ for the stars of the LPGA to compete alongside and against the men in TGL.
‘It would have been the first time that men and women were on the same playing field,’ she told Golfweek at the time. ‘But I also think it’s great that we are getting this opportunity, so those are my mixed feelings.’
TGL co-founder Rory McIlroy disagreed with Korda’s assessment, saying: ‘I think when we talked about WTGL, obviously there were talks of a mixed team… But I do think that it is important to give the women their own platform and encourage them to grow that themselves.’
Hull agrees with McIlroy: ‘I can understand [Nelly], where she’s coming from. But, I do think it’s a great opportunity. You’ve got to start somewhere and the men play here, so now they’ve started the WTGL for us, which is great. But who’s to say that they won’t probably pursue something in the future of us playing together?’
It’s an interesting time to start a women’s professional sports league in the United States. While women’s sports are perhaps more popular than they ever have been, they also have become a lightning rod for controversy – especially the WNBA.
Much of that controversy is less about the players themselves and more about the perception of women athletes from outsiders. Many comments and debates on social media revolve around the shock of some people to find that women are, in fact, very competitive when it comes to professional sports.
Other debates center around the way female athletes look and present themselves compared with their male counterparts.
Hull will lead Atlanta Drive GC in the first season of WTGL, which won’t feature rival Nelly Korda
Hull also says men who are surprised by her competitiveness ‘make me want to do better’
When asking Hull about these discussions, she took a pause before offering her thoughts: ‘I think that women have got an advantage in sports for a whole different audience to what men in sports have.
‘So rather than sexualize it and look down on it and say you’re turning sports backwards, embrace it and also be good at the sport. Like, so what if a pretty girl is playing good? She’s pretty, she looks good and she’s playing good.
‘And then so what if there’s someone else who just loves playing their sport and doesn’t care what they look like, and they’re playing good as well? No one should be frowned upon. I think you should just embrace all of it.’
Later, she added: ‘I think, naturally, if you were to put me against a 30-year-old male that has been playing golf the same time as me, they are naturally stronger. If there’s 100 men and there’s 100 women, the percentage of the men being better than the women are not necessarily more skillful, it’s because they’re more powerful.
‘But then you’ll get a couple women that will beat them, even the top ones. And I think that’s something that’s really cool. I don’t think it should be “the man’s better than the women or the women’s better than the men.” It’s an achievement to get to the top of your sport whether you’re a man or a woman.’
As for the other debate, where men may be shocked to discover how competitive women athletes are, Hull cracked a wry smile when asked if she finds it patronizing.
‘No, I love it,’ she said with a grin. ‘Because it bites them in the butt. I love it because then it’s just like “ha!” you know what I mean? Like it kind of makes me want to strive to do better.’
