Orkney children in front of the new practice facility (image by Rob Eyton-Jones)

Royal opening for Orkney Golf Club facility development

NEWS RELEASE FROM CLUBGOLF
HRH The Princess Royal (on Wednesday 14 Oct 2009) will officially open a new practice facility at Orkney Golf Club which will transform junior coaching on the Islands.
Last autumn the Kirkwall based Club was awarded a £44,960 grant from sportscotland’s Building for Sport programme for an indoor practice facility. As a result of this funding further grants followed from HIE Orkney and Orkney Island Council. Extra funds in excess of £12,000 have been generated by members and parents of the junior members. Generous donations totalling over £10,000 have come from The R & A, OGC Ladies section and The Auld Boys.
Work on the new facility began in March, progressed seamlessly through the summer months and, bar a carpet which has to be laid is now complete. The new facility incorporates a covered three bay practice area, a two bay outdoor practice area and nets, four all weather tees and a Huxley putting green.
As an exciting extra the indoor practice area will house a Highland Institute of Sport Strength & Conditioning unit which will benefit the Islands’ Institute Network athletes.
Despite a short season and notoriously wet summers, the Club has, in less than four years, completely transformed its junior section. The catalyst for the junior drive is the national junior golf programme, clubgolf, a partnership between the Scottish Golf Union, the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association, the Professional Golfers' Association, the Golf Foundation and sportscotland, which emerged from Scotland’s successful bid to host the Ryder Cup in 2014.
In 2005 the Club put five members through clubgolf’s volunteer training course and opened for junior coaching. Within weeks junior coaching numbers had doubled from 20 to 40. This year 75 children registered for coaching. The number of qualified volunteer coaches now stands at 12.
Over the same time period the numbers of children involved in the Club’s weekly competitions has shot up from three to as many as 60. The Club’s third Junior Open in August attracted 88 children, 14 of them girls, from as far afield as Wick, South Ronaldsay and Stromness.
Now, at the point where the season has reached its traditional wind-down, the new facility means that coaching can now keep growing and developing through the winter.
“We are absolutely delighted that HRH The Princess Royal has agreed to support us by opening our new facility,” said Janette Mackie, who with Alistair Learmonth and Stewart Fotheringhame took over the running of the junior section in 2006.
“The facility will be a tremendous boost to the junior section, giving them the opportunity to have coaching all year round. It will develop the children’s quality of golf, which will in turn increase their enjoyment on the course.
“It is the enthusiasm of our children, and their eagerness to learn and improve, that spurred us on to provide this facility for them.
“This has been a fantastic project from which so many juniors and adults will reap the benefits. We would like to thank everyone – our sponsors, supporters, members, children and families - who have all contributed to its development.”
“Casey Construction has done fantastically well in bringing the indoor facility to completion. The finish is outstanding and has blended in with the rest of the Club. The volunteers have also worked extremely hard to help with the building’s interior finish and the external course work. Their team spirit and efforts are very much appreciated and we can’t thank them enough.”
sportscotland Chief Executive Stewart Harris said: "As we build towards the Ryder Cup in Scotland in 2014, it is fantastic to see clubs such as Orkney Golf Club embracing the clubgolf programme and putting junior golf at the very heart of the club.
"We are delighted that our investment of £44,960 enabled this important project to go ahead. The numbers of young golfers already lined up to use the practice areas and strength and conditioning unit demonstrates that providing the right facilities in the right location is instrumental in driving sports participation. Orkney Golf Club has created a fantastic facility which I'm sure will serve the needs of the community for many years to come."
Many are the examples of how the resourceful islanders have overcome every obstacle in their way. Their solution to the lack of a PGA Professional on the Islands has been to bring in Professionals to teach highly popular summer schools for the past two seasons.
A spin off of the new facility is that there is now the capacity to install a remote coaching video link. The Scottish Golf Union is providing a lap top and a video camera to enable Orkney volunteer coaches to send action footage of their juniors to the SGU Academy and North Talent ID centres.
One final development – extending the Club’s practice putting green from four to nine holes – should be complete by the spring. The Club is planning a “major binge” of fund raising efforts through the winter to bolster its junior funds.
In the meantime, following its royal seal of approval, the indoor facility will be open and be ready for coaching and practice in just three weeks time.
If anyone would like to find out more about the new practice facility (which will be open to anyone interested in trying out golf and non Orkney GC members are welcome) please contact:
Janette Mackie, Orkney Golf Club Junior Administrator on: 01856 870798
Andrew Bonner, Orkney Golf Club Captain on: 01856 741317

Rob Eyton-Jones
clubgolf Media Manager