At High Post Golf Club, just north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, where the 9th rates as one of Peter Alliss’s dream 18 holes, junior golf has always been taken seriously; now it is to receive an exciting boost from novel golfing technology.
In early 2010 in the first of several steps, High Post launched its unique Junior Scholarship Scheme, designed to encourage and develop the enthusiastic junior members of the club.
In parallel with the launch, they initiated discussions with a Finnish company, Viherio, in the hope of using their innovative GREENi technology to aid their scholars’ development. GREENi was so impressed with the Scholarship Scheme that it is to sponsor the Scheme by providing the technology free of charge for the juniors.
GREENi‘s system, uses a GPS module to track a golfer on the course; the player presses its single button to record the position of the ball after each shot and this is transmitted to a service on the Internet. Back in the clubhouse, and from home, the player has a bird’s eye view of the round on the Internet, following every shot and every club choice, including the history of previous rounds.
High Post’s two PGA qualified coaches, Tony Isaacs and Chris Pedder, will review every round with the Junior Scholars giving them a unique ability to improve their play through better choice of shot and choice of club. Shot by shot comparisons can be made with peers, helping them to understand any skills gaps and injecting higher levels of drive for improvement, enabling the Pros to focus on the areas of greatest need and ensuring players are realistic in their self assessments.
As well as individual player benefits, GREENi also tracks player groups on the course as moving markers on a live on-screen course map, so pace of play problems can be nipped in the bud. It can also integrate live information from the course into a personalised wide screen information channel in the clubhouse, so members and guests can see what is happening on the course, as well as providing clubhouse information and advertising possibilities.
Mike Hurst of Hurst Financial Consultancy, who is the club’s primary sponsor and joint sponsor of the scholarship scheme with the club commented, “State of the art technology was one of the keys to the growth and development of my company, the other being the skill and dedication of my team of people. GREENi technology provides a similar foundation our talented junior golfers with a great opportunity to analyse their on-course performance with their coach and to rapidly improve results. I am delighted to be supporting such a worthwhile initiative.
Tony Isaacs, the club’s head professional is looking forward to the benefits this will bring to his junior scholars “After my coaching sessions I rarely get to see players’ performance on the course, however GREENi will bring vital information about actual execution of shots on the course. That will tell me a great deal about players strengths and areas for improvement.
Timo Parkka of GREENi added, “We are delighted to be able to sponsor High Post’s juniors. The Club’s progressive approach fits ideally with our company’s philosophy, which is “know your golf,” so you can manage the course more effectively and provide a better golfing experience for your members and guests.”
GREENi www.greeni.com
High Post Golf Club www.highpostgolf.co.uk