New plan to get more young people into golf

A new plan to encourage more children and young people to play golf and join clubs has been launched by England Golf and developed in partnership with the Golf Foundation and the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA).

'Growing the game for the future - the children and young people’s plan for golf 2017 – 2021' aims to inspire a love of golf which will last a lifetime.

It sets out to change young people’s perception of the game, encourage them to get involved at all levels and builds upon England Golf's strategy of 'Growing the Game of Golf in England'.

The plan, which builds on England Golf’s strategy of Growing the Game of Golf in England, has been developed in partnership with the Professional Golfers’ Association and the Golf Foundation.

Its ambition is to give young people the opportunity to get involved in golf as a player, coach or volunteer; to play and develop their skills at a level that suits them; and to be able to influence decisions which affect their generation.

It highlights that the number of young people who have engaged in a golf activity within the last 12 months is a large as 1.65m.

However, since 2013/14 junior club membership has declined from 54,318 to 45,610. The plan aims to find ways to understand and address the decline and has set a target of increasing junior membership to 67,500 by 2021. This would equal 10% of club membership, compared with 7% at present. Alongside that, the plan targets an increase of 220,500 engaging in golf activity.

An annual delivery plan has been drawn up and immediate priorities include recruiting young volunteers and ambassadors; the introduction of online training for junior organisers; the development of a club based team competition for beginners call Golf 6s Academy and continuing to support clubs to recruit and retain more girls.

Lee Dolby, England Golf Young People Manager said: “This is an exciting development and will give focus and direction to our work to develop opportunities for children and young people.

“By putting the young participant at the heart of our thinking we will ensure our game engages with the next generation of golfer and fits with the lifestyle of young people.”

He added: “By outlining our vision and targets in this way we hope to be able to establish new partnerships with supportive organisations as well as build on the existing ones with The Golf Foundation and the PGA.”