St Andrews Major Golf Club junior membership continues impressive growth (From Penarth Times)

St Andrews Major Golf Club junior membership continues impressive growth

7:20am Thursday 12th July 2012 in Sport

ST Andrews Major Golf Club junior membership continues its impressive growth rate to the extent where a new juniors organising committee has been set up to ensure that these young golfers, and would-be golfers, have every opportunity to develop and improve.

The initial appeal for juniors at St Andrews Major is the floodlit driving range, which can be used all year round, aided by the expert tuition provided by resident golf professional John Hastings. The next step is to get juniors interested in playing in fun days and eventually, club board competitions where the winner’s name is written in gold leaf on the relevant competition boards for years to come.

The club is achieving this in a variety of ways. Following on from the excellent work accomplished by Alan Bannister, the new juniors organiser Steve Thomas has come on board with an abundance of fresh ideas, hence the need for the juniors organising committee to support him.

To encourage the junior members to take part in friendly competitions, Steve decided that the club must take some of the dread out of ‘competing’ and make it easier for new starters to enjoy learning, whilst at the same time help the already improving players.

This is being achieved by having two sections. The first is the development squad where Juniors who have recently taken up golf, or are on a high handicap, can play shorter nine hole rounds and receive professional tuition and support to help their game develop.

The second is the junior section where their handicaps have come down to a specific level and they want to compete with one another over the full 18 hole course.

To encourage and add to the enjoyment there are a range of fun days, fun competitions and away days planned for both sections, the majority of which are completely free to Junior members.

On Sunday, July 1, the juniors away day was booked for Cottrell Park where they were scheduled to play on the golf simulator before a friendly and enjoyable game of golf on the Button Gwinnett course.

There are also some friendly matches arranged, both home and away, against junior sections from other local clubs. Junior members currently enjoy an hour’s coaching from John Hastings, every Wednesday between 5.30pm and 6.30pm, for £2 per member.

The junior section is heavily supported by both the club and committee who subsidise (and for the most part, pay in full) the costs of golf lessons, fun days and away days. The club has also introduced membership deals for junior golfers which will help to enable any youngster to take up the sport.

For more information, visit the Junior section on the members website www.samgolfclub.com or contact junior organiser Steve Thomas.