The Golf Foundation extends a special thanks to Titleist, the #1 ball in golf, whose encouragement helped make it a memorable Open Championship for grass roots junior golf.
The Golf Foundation was using Open Championship week in St Andrews to raise the profile of its national ‘Golf Roots’ programmes which aim to reach one million youngsters a year by 2013.
By giving access to five tournament stars including Zach Johnson and Robert Karlsson to promote Tri-Golf, and providing souvenir Titleist caps and high quality putters and golf balls as prizes, Titleist helped the Golf Roots cause significantly.
The Golf Roots action, including the Tri-Golf and Golf Xtreme games which are proving such a hit in schools, was all taking place in the ‘R&A Swingzone’. This was provided for the Golf Foundation, clubgolf and the Professional Golfers’ Association, by Open Championship organiser, The R&A.
Throughout the week, Titleist caps and golf balls were won in Golf Xtreme and Tri-Golf chipping games. Titleist also sponsored a unique putting challenge. On every day of the week each child who could hole three successive putts was entered in a daily draw to win an excellent Titleist Scotty Cameron putter. Eight Scotty Camerons were won in all.
As Titleist is the Official Golf Ball Partner to the Golf Foundation for 2010, the Foundation team was able to provide nearly 3,000 Titleist golf balls for the challenges and nearly all of these were won as youngster after youngster enjoyed a go at golf.
In recent years Titleist tour players have helped promote Golf Roots by playing hectic and fun Tri-Golf games with the youngsters. This year, five Titleist players gave up time in their practice schedules to help out. 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson was joined by fellow American Bill Haas, Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, Tano Goya of Argentina and Mark Haastrup of Denmark, and all enjoyed their Tri-Golf games.
Mike Round, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said: “These players were all busy preparing for the Open in its 150th anniversary year. They helped to make it a very special event for us and we are hugely grateful to the Titleist team in assisting us to make these visits happen, inspiring many of our youngsters in the process. This capped a week in which we welcomed hundreds of youngsters to try golf, many for the first time, and Titleist’s backing here really added to the excitement in the R&A Swingzone.
“Titleist has shown excellent support for Golf Roots and we couldn’t ask for a better partner to help us grow the game in support of the national golf partnerships of England, Scotland and Wales.”
Neil Jessiman, Titleist European Marketing Manager, commented: “The Golf Foundation does a fantastic job engaging youngsters into the sport and we’re delighted to be able to support them. The Open Championship is the perfect platform to get children excited about playing golf and is a wonderful opportunity for us to show Titleist’s dedication to supporting the game across all levels, from tour professionals to grass roots.”
Golf Foundation www.golf-foundation.org
Titleist www.titleist.com