The Golf Foundation is launching a new ‘Skills for Life’ trophy and awards scheme for golf clubs in England, Scotland and Wales that will help to champion the good values of the sport.
The scheme, which is free for clubs to take part in, seeks to reward young golfers of all abilities who demonstrate the personal skills that golf can help foster. The Golf Foundation calls these ‘Skills for Life’; some examples being honesty, respect, co-operation and resilience, while many club members might also suggest ‘sportsmanship’ or ‘fair-play’.
Part of the Golf Foundation’s HSBC Golf Roots programme, this project will see the first 600 golf clubs that sign up being able to reward and acknowledge juniors who show these key personal and social skills. These young people might not be scoring winners every week but the Skills for Life prize can really help their confidence and self-esteem, encouraging them to develop a love for the sport.
Each club will receive a specially-created Skills for Life trophy to be awarded once a year at their junior awards event, while an attractive medal is also provided as a returnable weekly prize (all trophies are supplied by Burridge of London). Each club can decide its own rules and format for how the prizes are awarded, provided the Skills for Life spirit is central to the process.
All clubs taking part will also be able to enter a prestigious Skills for Life award (the Burroughs Award), as part of the charity’s Presidents’ Awards in May, 2018, an event held at Wentworth Club for more than a decade. The Golf Foundation would like to thank the 80-20 Trust for funding the scheme and Golf Monthly for helping to promote it to golf clubs across the country.
A ‘Golf for All’ message
Brendon Pyle, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said: “The Skills for Life trophy and medals are all about recognising the boys and girls at the club who may not win every week but who contribute positively to the club and who respect and support others, playing with a healthy attitude and a smile. Every junior can win the Skills for Life award and we believe this can be a great help with self-confidence and their feeling of belonging. This is at least as important as scoring well and should be more recognised.”
The Golf Foundation is the child-centred golf charity which aims to provide any young person, regardless of background or ability, with the opportunity to enjoy the playing and personal benefits of golf. Working with its national partners, all of the Foundation’s HSBC Golf Roots programme is underpinned by a ‘Golf for All’ message that values greatly how the learning of life skills through the game can help in the development of young people.
How clubs can get involved
If your golf club would like to present the Skills for Life trophy to your juniors, please register your interest now at marketing@golf-foundation.org
HSBC Golf Roots and the Golf Foundation www.golf-foundation.org