Tim Henman and Jonathan Davies swapped tennis rackets and rugby balls to enjoy a Tri-Golf shoot-out during The Open Championship. The sporting stars played against a team of youngsters to raise the profile of the Golf Foundation’s HSBC Golf Roots programme.
HSBC Golf Roots reaches hundreds of thousands of youngsters in schools and creates stronger links between schools and golf clubs. The initiative also seeks to offer youngsters the ‘Skills for Life’ benefits for which golf is known, attributes such as respect, honesty, perseverance and good sportsmanship.
Henman and Davies are HSBC Ambassadors and are both highly respected for the way they combine a competitive spirit with the best sporting values.
The pair played Tri-Golf with the children in a specially designed skills challenge. Tri-Golf is a fun, colourful, high-energy golf game which enables youngsters to learn the basics of the game in an easy format.
Brendon Pyle, National Development Manager for the Golf Foundation, said: “Jonathan and Tim were brilliant with the youngsters today and it was inspiring for our Foundation team to meet two British sporting greats. There was a lot of laughter and more than a few shanks and slices, mostly from Tim and Jonathan as the youngsters won the day! However, their clear competitiveness allied to a sense of fun provided a great example to the youngsters.”
More than 9,000 schools now offer golf linked to the HSBC Golf Roots project. Over 10,000 teachers, volunteers and PGA coaches have been trained over the last five years by the Golf Foundation and its partners.
Davies and Henman were playing their golf in the ‘R&A Swingzone’ at Muirfield, a facility provided by The R&A to grow the game and encourage the next generation. Here, apart from enjoying Golf Foundation Tri-Golf and Street Golf games, many youngsters have also been taking advantage of the free lessons given by PGA Professionals throughout the week. The pros are present thanks to the Professional Golfers’ Association, who sponsor the professionals to teach the young golfers as part of the organisation’s commitment to junior golf.
HSBC Golf Roots is supported by The R&A, The European Tour, the Professional Golfers’ Association, the Ryder Cup Committee and Trust, the British Golf Industry Association’s ‘Grow Golf’ Fund, Sport England and headline sponsor HSBC.
Golf Foundation www.golf-foundation.org