Supporters of county golf will be able to take advantage of a more streamlined English Women’s Golf Association (EWGA) grant system in 2010 to encourage more girls and women into the sport.
The grant, which was aimed at girls only last year, has now been opened up to include provision for welcoming new women players of all ages to start and develop their golf at golf clubs. The scheme has the express aim of creating more female players in England and ensuring they stay in the game.
For 2010 the English Golf Union (EGU) and EWGA Development Team is combining two former grants (Development and Subscription Grants) into a single ‘Women & Girls’ Grant. This simpler grant for reaching a wider age group of new golfers will be accessed through the England Golf County Golf Partnership (CGPs) structure.
There are currently 31 CGPs in England and for further details on their specific websites visit www.englishgolfunion.org/CGPs
It is believed that the new streamlined grant will build on some positive achievements last year in girls’ golf development. In 2009, every one of 35 County Golf Associations in England ran girls’ golf coaching thanks to the EWGA grants, which were administered by the EGU and EWGA Development Team.
Coaching activity was directed at junior club members and girls at the early stages of playing the game. In each county there was an average of 90 girls taking part, with over 80 per cent of counties running some form of follow-on activity to sustain the girls’ involvement moving forwards.
County Associations already run a series of very successful junior events and activities, and this combined grant will provide further support for the women’s game to ensure that club membership is healthy in the future.
The EWGA Women & Girls Grant is an initiative jointly provided by the EWGA and EGU in support of the EWGA’s strategy to ‘Drive Women’s Golf’, and forms part of England Golf’s ‘Whole Sport Plan’ for golf and vision to ‘Grow the Game’.