Juniors School Holiday Golf Week

We have been discussing ideas to get more junior members at our club and one of the suggestions is a golf week along the lines of the weekly soccer schools that are run in the holidays.

Juniors get dropped off at the course between 8 and 8.30. and picked up at 5pm every day for a week.

The pro and assistant pros then take small groups into the visitor centre for etiquette and rules sessions while others are on the putting green, chipping area or driving range being coached to play, they obviously then rotate during the day.

Over the week the juniors will hopefully be able to progress to playing a few holes to get them out onto a proper course or we could use par 3 pitch and putt courses locally to get them ready,

clubs could be provided, sold or hired, the juniors would bring packed lunches with them or could use a private room in the clubhouse and take advantage of the snack bar menus and drinks.

Has any other club run this sort of golf school and what have been the results.

We appreciate all the police checks etc that would be involved for the coaches, but we think it would be a great way to introduce local juniors to our club and to hopefully get a few new mum/dad and junior members.

Any advice on costings as well, we had thought £99 for the week was about right??

any other suggestions?

My club Devere Oulton Hall take kids for 3 hours per bay during school holidays. They go on the driving rage, putting green, the practice chipping and play games (golf related). I think it costs £8 per day.

Although £99 is about right for what you're describing, I don't think you'll get many that aren't already in to golf.  If you're wanting to attract new players to the game, cheaper, shorter sessions may be the way to go.  Maybe £15 for one day?

I work with a lot of youngsters and they love the competitive element, it also gives them something to aim for during the day.  One course my daighter attended last year (aged 7) had three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold.  Bronze was fairly easy to achieve - 10 balls on the range, one of them had to get past the 75 yard marker - silver could be 3 balls, gold 5.  There were similar "challenges" for each discipline, if I remember rightly getting out of a bunker, holing putts, iron play and a rules quiz.  Each discipine took the form of an introduction, demonstration, practice and assessment  It also meant that everyone had a certificate by the end of the day and the kids and their parents all turned up to a presentation night a few weeks later (might encourage a few more social members as well). 

Hope this helps.

Ian,

Go to the Pro and talk to him about 'The Golf Foundation', if set up right they would pay the Pro direct for his time and keep the cost for the kids to a minimum. Get a "Tri-Golf" kit from them and your off and running.

TheLyth