Hepburn Springs Golf Club has received a $3000 Active Clubs Grant through VicHealth for increasing its participation of junior players.
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Club president Patrick Baird said the grant was a result of rebooting the club’s junior golf program.
“Its going really well although its in hiatus during the winter months. If we are not playing in this kind of weather we don’t expect the kids to come out either. The program will start again next term.
“The grant is to purchase sets of junior golf clubs… clubs are a big investment for kids if they’re not sure whether they will be golfers or not, so hopefully it will be enough to get them interested to keep playing,” Mr Baird said.
Club member Joy Nunn said it was difficult to recruit junior members to a golf club.
“For quite a few years, members of the golf club have had a session with juniors. Golf competes at a low rate with other sports like netball, football and basketball. Our follow on has always been only a couple of kids from each of the junior clinics we’ve run,” she said.
“About two or three years ago, Golf Victoria had a program called My Golf which was well thought out for juniors. So Daylesford and District Bendigo Bank Community Bank provided us with the funds to purchase equipment for the kids to use during the clinics,” she said.
“It was really successful and the equipment allowed us to run the clinic. What this will do, will allow the kids who will follow on from the junior golf program run during summer as they will be able to use their own equipment, full sets of golf clubs,” Ms Nunn said.
The clinics were essentially skills training or start up sessions.
Peter Burke, from Daylesford Primary School, also supported the program.
He put in a lot of time coaching some of his students in golf on Friday afternoons.
Last term, there were around 18 children participating in the program.
“The participation did vary. It probably ranged from about 10 to 18 participants each week,” Mr Baird said.
“They were aged from about seven or eight years old to their early to mid teens.
“We are more than happy to really encourage anyone to participate. Golf is in a really tough spot at the moment. All golf. The demographic is aging and it has a lot to do with the fact that the role of the father has changed.
“Dad was the bread winner and he got to play golf on the weekend but that’s a different world now- both parents are very involved.
“And kids are not only participating in one sports activity but two or three,” Mr Baird said.
