New Wales Golf development officer Daniel Jakeway is ready to put theory into practice after completing a university dissertation on golf participation in Wales.
Business Management in Golf graduate Jakeway, from Bridgend, has joined Wales Golf as a community development officer for West and Mid Wales clubs to take his knowledge from the classroom to the course.
The 22-year-old is also a county standard golfer with a handicap of 1.5 who switched from wanting to be a professional player to looking to have a positive impact on the sport in other ways.
“I handed in my dissertation in July, focussing on participation levels of golf in Wales along with the key areas and factors within that, without realising how relevant it would be to the job I am in now,” said the Plymouth University graduate. “Just after I had finished, this job came up and it felt as though it was the perfect job waiting for me. The dissertation looked at the under-represented groups in Welsh golf, looking at where the participation levels were not as high as in other areas.
“What I wrote about in the dissertation is very similar to what Wales Golf are doing, the schemes they run are all of what I believe in for getting people interested in golf.”
Southerndown member Jakeway has just started the role helping the clubs in West and Mid Wales after finishing the golf course at Plymouth University, which was also based at the St Mellion golf course and resort.
“West and Mid Wales are so lovely with so many great courses and clubs, I know a lot of them from playing socially or with Glamorgan County,” he said. “I am looking forward to getting to know them a lot better and working with the clubs to increase participation, particularly with females and juniors – both boys and girls.
“From my own experiences of junior golf it is very easy to get people interested, but keeping them in golf is harder. The key to getting people more engaged in golf is to make sure they are having fun, so increasing the number of juniors is definitely one of my aims.”