As part of its ‘Commit to Junior Golf’ fundraising campaign, the Golf Foundation is asking members at all golf clubs, “Will you chip in for junior grass roots golf?” The Foundation is a driving force in the bid to increase the number of young people taking up the game and getting handicaps, which is vital in safeguarding the future of the sport.
‘Commit to Junior Golf’ is urging clubs to introduce an optional £2 donation into their annual member subscriptions, believing this to be the simplest, fairest way to involve the highest possible number of members in grass roots golf development. A promotional poster and advertising campaign has just been launched asking every golf club member: “Will you chip in?” and help fund national programmes that have an impact at a local level.
All golf clubs are being contacted to ask for their support. Promotional material will be seen in the pages of national and regional magazines encouraging all members to find out through their club how they can help.
In order to satisfy the increasing demand for its national initiatives that are encouraging many thousands of children a year to get into golf, the Golf Foundation needs more funding. Money raised is spent on initiatives like ‘Community Links’ that makes it easier for school golfers to get into clubs and provides the structured learning programme the Junior Golf Passport to help them learn the technical skills and also the positive attributes of golf, such as honesty, perseverance and concentration.
Golf Foundation Chief Executive Mike Round said, “Every golf club member we speak to says they would be delighted to set up a system where they can donate £2 for junior grass roots golf. Through this appeal we can now provide the simple mechanics to create no-hassle donations that work brilliantly.”
‘Commit to Junior Golf’ has already received heavyweight support from the Golf Club Manager’s Association, the R&A and the PGA. Crown Golf, Europe’s largest golf course owner/operator, has asked its 20,000 members to get behind the idea and just recently made its first donation of £14,000 as a result. Clubs that have signed up to the campaign include Tiverton Golf Club and Woburn Golf Club.
A recent membership survey conducted by the EGU has shown that clubs in England have welcomed 7,500 new junior members since 2004. At an approximate average membership fee of £100 this equates to more than £750,000 of revenue into golf clubs.
Mike Round added, “Much of this increase is as a result of the work of the Golf Foundation. The more money we raise, the more is ploughed into initiatives that see 500,000 children a year experiencing golf in schools and creating successful pathways that feed these children into clubs. We want to improve these results still further.”
The Golf Foundation www.golf-foundation.org