The future of the game - Junior Golf

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

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WHAT are the three biggest issues facing the sport of golf? The decline in the numbers of people playing this wonderful game. And the decline in the numbers of people playing this wonderful game. Oh yes, and and the decline in the numbers of people playing this wonderful game. Solve that, and you safeguard the sport's future for a generation.

The key, of course, is to catch them young and to keep them. So why, with a super-rich role model like Rory McIlroy to inspire them, are kids not queueing up to take up the game?

The reasons are many and varied. We all talk a good game when it comes to encouraging children, kids, young people, teenagers - or whatever other name you have for them - to get out there and give golf a go. But when it comes right down to it, do we want spotty-faced youths digging up our fairways? Well, yes, we do.

But why would they be attracted to a sport with so many daft rules? Why would they play a sport that bans them from using their mobile phones and insists that they wear polo shirts and "proper" trousers? When was the last time you saw a self-respecting teenager wearing a polo shirt and "proper" trousers? Or wearing a baseball cap the right way?

They wear jeans. My God,  they even wear jeans with holes in the legs. Holes that are meant to be there. And t-shirts with racy slogans. And images of semi-naked women. Aaaarrrggggghhhhhh. Some of them even use something called hair gel - to be clear, we are talking about boys. Hair gel. Whatever next? How about girls who wouldn't be seen dead in some of golf's so-called fashions and would run a mile if you asked them to don a sun visor.

So we tell them what they have to wear, give them a copy of the rules of golf, tell them when they can get on our courses, which part of the clubhouse they can and can't use, which competitions they can enter, and we give them a huge list of what they can and can't do. And right at the very top of that list is a ban on mobile phones.

Answer me something. Have you ever seen anybody under the age of 18 without a mobile phone stuck to their ear? Or without headphones as they listen to that dreadful popular music performed by the latest four-man popular beat combination?

So do you really think they are going to stand for being told that they can't use their mobile on a golf course?

Here's a radical thought. Let them use their phones. Who knows, they may even have such a good time (sorry, 'cool time') that they will use the damn thing to contact their mates and tell them they are missing out on something special. If they want to wear jeans, let them do so. Don't worry, they will grow out of it eventually. And let them wear their baseball caps back to front, sideways or upside down. Does it really matter? Of course not.

As long as they understand basic etiquette, they will soon get the hang of it. Oh yes, and please, please, please DON'T price them out of the game. I have this radical idea that anybody under the age of 16 should get free membership if either one of their parents is already a member of a golf club. Mum and Dad don't play? Then offer them an incentive to take up the game - give free membership to junior and Mum half-price fees. And then get the club pro to give them six free lessons, just to teach them the basics.

Thankfully, there are some great initiatives and individuals out there trying to make a difference. Mark Timlett runs the Srixon Junior 4somes League, which is the only one of its kind in the UK. Based in the West Kent/SE London area, the league offers competitive matchplay experience to current and aspiring county junior players.
Kent has four junior leagues, allowing youngsters to develop their games in a variety of matchplay formats. The experience gained in the leagues with their clubs is being reflected at county level with Kent enjoying consistent junior success.

Mark can be contacted on 07764 474952 or at [email protected]

Pete Cowen, one of the best coaches in the game, also does a huge amount to promote junior golf. His academy in Rotherham has produced the likes of Danny Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick, and he has worked with some of the best players on the planet, including Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen. It would be easy for him to rest on his laurels, but Cowen is not that kind of man.

He works with disabled children and regularly puts groups of about 100 youngsters through their paces at his academy in Rotherham, and he keeps going despite the fact that the place has been broken into six times in six months. On the last occasion, the burglars trashed the place.

We should thank our lucky stars for the likes of Timlett and Cowen and pray for further enlightenment for the powers-that-be, for the club secretaries, for the committees, for the club pros and for those old farts who believe youngsters have no right to be on their courses. One day they will all get the message - we must hope that it happens before it is too late.

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