Gairloch Golf Club officials and juniors at the opening of the club's new junior practice facility. Image by Colin Robertson.

Gairloch looks to long term with new junior practice facility


Gairloch Golf Club formally opened its new junior golf facility which will help develop and sustain junior golf in the area for the long term.
The new facility, comprising triple bay practice nets, all weather four-hole practice green, chipping area and bunker, was opened by Torquil McInroy, Project Manager of the national junior golf programme, clubgolf.
clubgolf is a partnership between the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association (SLGA), the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA), the Golf Foundation and sportscotland launched to create a legacy to Scotland’s successful bid to host the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Since Gairloch began offering clubgolf coaching its junior membership and volunteer coaching structure have been rising steadily. But, having no practice facilities, the coaching placed increasing demands on the course.
“The course has been here for 112 years and until now we have never had a practice facility,” said the club’s Junior Convenor, John Beck.
“The new facility has been a Godsend. The first year of coaching was straight forward; we just had to close the first three holes of the course to coach the juniors. The second year was also fine, but when we got to year three there simply wasn’t the space on the course to have three coaching groups running at the same time.
“The only way forward was to build a practice facility and it would be impossible to do the three years of coaching without it. We would have to shut the whole course down and given our dependence on visitor income we couldn’t afford to do that.
To afford the facility the club made successful grant bids, obtaining a £7000 Awards for All grant and an additional £3000 award from Highland Council’s Ward Discretionary Fund. Greenkeepers and club members have since put in the groundwork, laying foundations and creating the bunker. Huxley Golf did the fine tuning of the putting area and laid the matting. Hunter Promotions of Wick supplied and erected the nets.
An additional grant from Communities 2014 has made it possible to pay for the travel costs of a professional coach so that its advanced juniors can benefit from professional coaching. PGA professional, Michael Field, now travels to Gairloch on a regular basis to deliver clubgolf Stage 2 coaching.
It has taken Gairloch just three years to build a robust junior coaching infrastructure. In a set up which serves as the perfect model for clubs in remote areas, its qualified volunteer coaches deliver coaching free of charge to junior members.
A vital piece in the jigsaw is the club's bond with its local primary and secondary schools and local Active Schools Co-ordinator, John Shearer, who delivers clubgolf’s introductory game. School golf has opened up a completely new market of youngsters from non golfing families.
“We have five qualified volunteer coaches and parents are becoming involved,” said Mr Beck. “I’m working to make sure we have a group of coaches so that the coaching is self sustaining and it’s not dependent on any one person. We are close to that now.
“We have around 30 children on the clubgolf programme across the three groups. Half of those who come to coaching are from families whose parents are not golfers. So without the formal clubgolf coaching they would have very little prospect of learning the game.”
“Through the clubgolf coaching we are getting more members; we now have 50 junior members, which is double the number we had three years ago before the coaching started and about 20 percent of our total membership. Our new facility can only help those numbers keep growing.”
Said clubgolf Project Manager, Torquil McInroy: “Gairloch Golf Club is a great example of how partnership working can provide a facility solution to meet the needs of a growing junior section.
“clubgolf’s funding advice combined with Highland Council support, plus of course the local drive and enthusiasm to grow the junior section at Gairloch, has enabled the club to develop a coaching facility that gives children access to the whole player pathway.
“We’re already seeing increased participation as a result of good quality coaching, and Michael’s involvement will provide a boost to the volunteer coaches as well as the participating children. We can look forward to continuing growth and development at Gairloch, and perhaps we’ll see one or two youngsters progress through to academy level before too long. I wish the club every success for the future.”
Rob Eyton-Jones
clubgolf Media Manager
t: 07775 746981
e: rob@eyton-jones.co.uk
Official clubgolf website: www.clubgolfscotland.com