England Golf has awarded £22,000 over the next three years to both the Dorset County Golf Partnership and the Worcestershire & Herefordshire County Golf Partnership to support the development of golf within their counties.
The Worcestershire & Herefordshire County Golf Partnership (WHCGP) was formed in December 2006 and is an alliance between the Worcestershire Union of Golf Clubs, Worcestershire & Herefordshire Ladies County Golf Association and the PGA.
The Dorset County Golf Partnership was formed in April 2007 and is an alliance between the Dorset County Golf Union, Dorset Ladies County Golf Association and the PGA.
Both Partnerships aim to promote the game of golf, introduce more people to the game, encourage regular participation in competitive golf and improve the standard of play at all levels.
Over the next year each Partnership will receive the first £10,000 towards the implementation of their countywide development plan, which have ambitious objectives including increasing the overall number of people playing golf in the area and specifically increasing women, boys, girls and 19 to 40 years olds participation.
Other aims for the Partnerships are to promote and assist more golf clubs to become accredited to GolfMark by the end of 2009, to encourage the pilot of flexible membership schemes with golf clubs, which will particularly target 19 to 40 year olds and to implement training programmes to support and recognise volunteers and teaching professionals.
DCGP & WHCGP are among 26 county partnerships that are developing throughout England. Their aim is to bring together the three main golfing organisations, the EGU, ELGA and the PGA, with support from the Golf Foundation, and utilise their combined knowledge, experience and resources to support and expand golf within a county.
County Golf Partnerships are an initiative that have been introduced via England Golf’s ‘Whole Sport Plan’ for golf and are an integral part of England Golf’s vision to ‘Grow the Game’.
More information on County Golf Partnerships can be found on the ‘For Golf Clubs’ section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org , and then click on ‘Info for Counties’
English Ladies‘ Golf Association www.englishladiesgolf.org