A festival of golf, to be held this week at six centres across England, is set to inspire hundreds of new players to try the game.
The festival, from 7-13 August, is the third annual event to be organised by Glendale Golf and last year it attracted over 700 new players.
Glendale’s initiatives to encourage more people to play the sport, particularly families, are supported by England Golf’s successful Get into golf campaign. Festival activities are listed on getintogolf.org in addition to glendalegolf.co.uk/Festival-of-Golf
The Get into golf website offers great value coaching from PGA professionals for beginners and improvers at clubs and centres across the country. In the year to the end of March over 40,000 people took part in Get into golf activities.
Glendale’s festival follows England Golf’s ‘Family Golf Month’ which highlighted golfing activities that all the generations can enjoy together. Clubs offered – and continue to offer – family golf opportunities on getintogolf.org, supported by social media activity and digital advertising.
Glendale’s festival activities include sending staff and PGA coaches to local community events and local parks to give people the chance to try golf for the first time without even visiting a golf centre
Glendale is also offering free group golf lessons for children, women and beginners; discounted offers to play FootGolf at Castle Point, Essex; Tilgate Forest, Sussex; and Edwalton, Nottingham and family tickets for the Fun Courses at Tilgate Forest, Edwalton and Duxbury Park, Lancashire. There will also be family fun days when golf is combined with bouncy castles, live music and family entertainment.
Managing director Tom Brooke commented: “During last year’s event, we were delighted to welcome over 700 new participants to our centres. This year we’re aiming to do the same but also to do more to encourage our new participants to keep coming back to our centres after the event and to continue playing golf for the longer term.
“We’re aiming to do this by offering more for the new golfer and for families. We want our golf centres to be the most welcoming and family friendly in our local areas, offering more opportunity to play golf in an accessible, enjoyable and relaxed environment.”
Claire Hodgson, England Golf Head of Participation, commented: “This is a great way to introduce people to golf and to show them that it’s a fun game which can be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities.”
England Golf has also been providing support to Glendale Golf to help them understand their market and to create offers which will appeal to existing and new customers. Resources include mapping tools, which show where to find potential customers, together with insight on their wants and needs from a golf club.
England Golf www.englandgolf.org
Glendale Golf Ltd www.glendalegolf.co.uk