CLUB HIRE SCHEME PROVES TO BE A MASTER STROKE
What a great idea from Iain Butchart of Strathmore Golf Club.......
I thought you might be interested in a unique Scheme I set up 4 years ago which is making Golf more affordable for Juniors. Last year we attracted 15 New Junior Members
I have been Junior Convenor at Strathmore Golf Club for the past 8 years and over that time have seen some of our youngsters progress beyond my wildest expectations - 2 PGA Assistant Professionals, 2 current Scottish Junior Internationalists, 3 American University Scholarships, 3 current Scottish Academy players and various County Champions at both junior and adult County level.
Strathmore Golf Centre supports the Junior Section by paying a PGA Professional to provide 17 hours of free coaching to our Juniors over the season and annual fees have been kept affordable to encourage membership.
The other cost parents face is buying clubs. I have watched them arrive with adult cut down, ill fitting and heavy clubs and kids growing up so quick that between the ages of 5 and 15 they may need to replace their sets on average 5 times at an average cost of £750 over 10 years. Bearing this in mind and trying to think of a way to assist parents with this expenditure and to make sure Juniors were using appropriate equipment 5 years ago I had a brainwave and it appeared feasible as long as I could raise some capital to fund the scheme. SSE Drumderg Wind Farm Community Fund Scheme were looking for local projects to sponsor so I completed their application form and was delighted when they agreed to invest and so I set up the scheme and waited to see what would happen.
Initial Investment
Drumderg £1,500
Quiz League. £225
Junior Section £75
Total £1,800
Initially I bought 12 Junior sets for ages 5 to 7, 8 to 10 and 11 and over for £660.60 and 2 Ladies sets for £438.05. Then 2 years later had to add another 3 Ladies sets at £178.56, £134.98 and £229.99. And last year added £60 for 4 trolleys and £25 for re-gripping repairs being a total expenditure to date of £1,727.18. I set hire charges at £25 per annum per set and recently added trolley hire at £5 per annum
In year 1 - 2 joined £50
2 - 4 joined £100
3 - 9 joined £225
4 - 17 joined £430
Income to date £805
Current Balance £877.82 - plus we have the original 17 sets and another 10 sets which have been donated.
What an amazing success, my dream has come true, the Scheme will self perpetuate ad infinitum, meaning juniors can try Golf with a minimum cost by hiring and not buying clubs and if they continue playing they can potentially save themselves at least £500 over 10 years. Last year of the 15 new members (9 boys and 6 girls) 8 of them joined the Club Hire Scheme. Also we now have a total of 15 girls at Strathmore which certainly bucks the trend as many clubs throughout the Country don’t have any.
Iain Butchart – Junior Convenor – Strathmore Golf Club
[Editor: Maybe other clubs could do the same... it certainly seems to work at Strathmore]
I thought you might be interested in a unique Scheme I set up 4 years ago which is making Golf more affordable for Juniors. Last year we attracted 15 New Junior Members
I have been Junior Convenor at Strathmore Golf Club for the past 8 years and over that time have seen some of our youngsters progress beyond my wildest expectations - 2 PGA Assistant Professionals, 2 current Scottish Junior Internationalists, 3 American University Scholarships, 3 current Scottish Academy players and various County Champions at both junior and adult County level.
Strathmore Golf Centre supports the Junior Section by paying a PGA Professional to provide 17 hours of free coaching to our Juniors over the season and annual fees have been kept affordable to encourage membership.
The other cost parents face is buying clubs. I have watched them arrive with adult cut down, ill fitting and heavy clubs and kids growing up so quick that between the ages of 5 and 15 they may need to replace their sets on average 5 times at an average cost of £750 over 10 years. Bearing this in mind and trying to think of a way to assist parents with this expenditure and to make sure Juniors were using appropriate equipment 5 years ago I had a brainwave and it appeared feasible as long as I could raise some capital to fund the scheme. SSE Drumderg Wind Farm Community Fund Scheme were looking for local projects to sponsor so I completed their application form and was delighted when they agreed to invest and so I set up the scheme and waited to see what would happen.
Initial Investment
Drumderg £1,500
Quiz League. £225
Junior Section £75
Total £1,800
Initially I bought 12 Junior sets for ages 5 to 7, 8 to 10 and 11 and over for £660.60 and 2 Ladies sets for £438.05. Then 2 years later had to add another 3 Ladies sets at £178.56, £134.98 and £229.99. And last year added £60 for 4 trolleys and £25 for re-gripping repairs being a total expenditure to date of £1,727.18. I set hire charges at £25 per annum per set and recently added trolley hire at £5 per annum
In year 1 - 2 joined £50
2 - 4 joined £100
3 - 9 joined £225
4 - 17 joined £430
Income to date £805
Current Balance £877.82 - plus we have the original 17 sets and another 10 sets which have been donated.
What an amazing success, my dream has come true, the Scheme will self perpetuate ad infinitum, meaning juniors can try Golf with a minimum cost by hiring and not buying clubs and if they continue playing they can potentially save themselves at least £500 over 10 years. Last year of the 15 new members (9 boys and 6 girls) 8 of them joined the Club Hire Scheme. Also we now have a total of 15 girls at Strathmore which certainly bucks the trend as many clubs throughout the Country don’t have any.
Iain Butchart – Junior Convenor – Strathmore Golf Club
[Editor: Maybe other clubs could do the same... it certainly seems to work at Strathmore]
Labels: juniors
posted by Gillian |
See story on its own page | 4:04:00 pm
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