Revised Scottish Golf article
Carnoustie Golf Links is hoping to tap into the buzz ahead of next year’s Open Championship to become the leading junior academy in Scotland.
Led by our new senior PGA assistant, Keir McNicoll, we have taken successful early steps in implementing a new junior coaching programme aligned to ClubGolf.
We will invest 600 hours of FREE coaching with the PGA professional team, including Keir, Sean Fay and Rebecca Tully (pictured), to drive the project forward. They will deliver the ClubGolf programme and also pay 100% of the cost of junior memberships to local clubs and support transition.
The ambitious project couldn’t have been timed better, with The Open rolling into town in 2018 and set to create a sense of anticipation with locals of all ages.
“We looked to Scottish Golf for support and advice in planning and felt getting involved with ClubGolf was the best way to grow our junior numbers,” explained Keir, who has been working closely with Iain Evans, Regional Development Officer. “At my former club, Gullane, we were a ClubGolf facility and I thought it was a great way to get children involved.
“Carnoustie have made a pledge to junior golf and want people in the town to be involved in it as much as they can. We’re trying to reinvigorate things a little as a team, get back into the schools in the winter and try to get the children down to the course from April – October.”
The parent-junior registration evening on 28 April instantly proved popular, and already we have 35 – 40 children attending coaching on both Saturday and Sunday mornings (one group for under-10s and the other for over-10s).
“It’s great, it’s a good start,” adds Keir. “Growing up, I was exposed to massive golf tournaments, like The Open at Carnoustie in 1999, so I’m hoping this Open will do the same for this next generation of juniors coming through Carnoustie. Hopefully it’ll give them that ‘wow’ factor in golf and inspire them to stay in the game. Some of them are aware of the golfers, so it’s about educating them that what is going to be on their doorstep is quite unique. As the Open comes closer, I’m sure they’ll want to understand more.”
No matter what level you are at, the collective goal is for youngsters to enjoy their golf as much as possible and have fun. Keir and his team want “Carnoustie to be the best junior academy in Scotland and will do everything we can to make it that way.”
All group coaching is free of charge and is open to any junior who meets any one of the following criteria: Season Ticket Holder of Carnoustie Golf Links; attends any primary school that acts as a feeder school to Carnoustie High School; attends Carnoustie High School.
We are also looking to become a Scottish Golf Development Academy, again building on Keir’s work at Gullane. “We want to give juniors the chance at Carnoustie Golf Links to come through ClubGolf, Stage 1 and 2, go right through to the Development Academy and onto the national set up if they can,” he says. “The same programme was well received at Gullane, I worked closely with Ailsa Murphy, and hopefully we can replicate that at Carnoustie.”
You can find out more information on our Junior Academy here