JUNIOR BOOM AT BRORA, THANKS TO BRIAN AND VOLUNTEERS

Bunker lessons from Brian Anderson at Brora. Image by courtesy of Rob Eyton-Jones

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY CLUBGOLF
By ROB EYTON-JONES
Junior numbers are on the up at Brora Golf Club in the Highlands, north of Inverness, the result of the club’s forward-looking PGA Pro Brian Anderson and support of his team of volunteers.
Brian began offering coaching through the national junior programme, ClubGolf, in 2008. His initial intake of five children, for some winter fun golf activity in the clubhouse, has since expanded to over 30 every week in the summer.
“So I'm having a think how we are going to handle these numbers this year,” said Brian. “The great comfort I have is the attitude of Brora Golf Club. They are very open which is terrific.
“And I have a valued team of volunteers, who are a very precious resource and perform a multitude of useful tasks.”
Volunteer coaching is a relatively new concept in Scottish golf. When ClubGolf was unveiled in 2003 as Scotland’s legacy to staging the 2014 Ryder Cup, as a key partner the PGA created the Level 1 course which enabled junior convenors, club golfers, parents, and anyone interested to earn a qualification to coach the basics.
As Scotland’s PGA Coach Education Manager at the time, Brian had a pivotal role in delivering and overseeing the Level 1 training. Nine years later over 1500 coaches and more than 100 PGA pros are delivering ClubGolf coaching in 311 Scottish clubs.
Brian is at pains to stress that the term ‘volunteer’ does not have to mean just ‘coach’. There are plenty of club members that support his junior programme without ever teaching.
“The modern volunteer is a person who is able to go and do a bunch of different things,” he says. “My valued volunteers come and perform a multitude of tasks and I have recruited volunteers with various attributes.
“I have seven or eight that will be on the golf course with the kids and another five or six in the background that do transportation and other administrative work.
“They drive children around, they walk on the course when the children are playing or run competitions.”
Living in a tight knit rural community word gets around very quickly when there is something good happening locally and worth getting involved in, as is the case at Brora Golf Club.
But ClubGolf’s success in cities and towns across Scotland is testament that the programme can work anywhere. At last count some 12,675 children were active in club coaching programmes, which Brian believes is in part due to the “The profile and ethos of ClubGolf, which parents read about in the press that has made golf more attractive and more available for kids.”
Brian has been uniquely placed to watch ClubGolf evolve far beyond the stage where pros anticipated losing their livelihoods to a growing army of volunteer coaches. Well over 100 pros in Scotland are now involved in coaching at different stages of the programme, a growing band are involved as mentors to the volunteers.
“Of course I would recommend ClubGolf to other pros but I don't think they need my recommendation,” he continues. “The new generation and breed of golf professional coming through recognizes the need to create a future market.
"And golf clubs throughout the UK are aware of the fact of diminishing membership so they need to take every chance they can to develop and encourage new members.
“It is something we are all looking at and ClubGolf offers a fabulous avenue for them to walk down and recruit new blood. To help that process volunteers are a very valuable resource.”
What Brian and his volunteers have set up in Brora is good for the club, the village and of course his business. But there’s a lot more to it than that, such as the deep satisfaction of seeing the community embracing the game, and many taking up golf for the first time.
“One of the most satisfying things I've seen in the clubgolf program is parents who have come just to support and watch, observe and help and have actually taken up the game themselves.
“We are now seeing family games going out on the golf course. It’s hugely rewarding to see that happening.”

Rob Eyton-Jones
ClubGolf Media Manager
t: 07775 746981
e: rob@eyton-jones.co.uk
Official clubgolf website: www.clubgolfscotland.com