Royal
opening for Orkney Golf Club facility development
September
2009
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.”
Said Club Captain, Andy Bonner: "The
enthusiastic Junior section of the Orkney Golf Club has brought a new lease of
life to the Club and the members are delighted to see so many enthusiastic junior
members on the course and in the clubhouse.
“They all seem blessed with beautiful swings thanks to our group of clubgolf
coaches and are most definitely our future. Several have also tasted competition
on the Scottish mainland and are quick to pass on the stories of tree lined holes,
deep bunkers and massive greens, this we hope will encourage them all to practice
and improve so when they have a chance to compete south they will be at their
best.
“I am delighted that those who have put so much into this project have
been rewarded with HRH Princess Royal performing the ceremony with all the juniors
attending."
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
