Clackmannanshire children inspired by tips from Open Champion

July 2010

On Wednesday 14th July a group of Clackmannanshire primary school children paid a visit to St Andrews for final qualifying day at The Open Championship.

The children, all playing golf at school through the national junior golf programme, clubgolf, had planned to spend their day watching the world’s top golfers preparing for The Open, as well as soaking up the atmosphere in the tented village.

But the wild weather meant that only a handful of competitors braved the links, and there was precious little golf to watch, so the highlight of the trip for our young clubgolfers quickly became their scheduled stop for junior golf activities at the R&A Swingzone, jointly staffed by the Golf Foundation and clubgolf.

The Swingzone is always a hub of activity, and all the more on Wednesday with shelter from the elements a welcome bonus.

And that proved to be as true for players as it was for the children, as those that opted out of practice looked for other ways to fill their day. Amongst them was a young South African professional who thought an hour spent in the company of some enthusiastic children would be a good plan.

None of the Clacks kids knew much about Louis Oosthuizen when he joined in with their games on Wednesday, but that quickly changed as he got stuck into some serious competition in the Junior Golf area. Our group of young hopefuls all found a new player to support, and they had good reason to cheer when Louis went on to lift the famous claret jug on Sunday.

Said Marjorie MacFarlane, Sports Development Manager at Clackmannanshire Council “Our children had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the coaching and competitions which were delivered by fantastic enthusiastic staff. My thanks to clubgolf for making this possible.”

“They were thrilled to bits to meet Louis Oosthuizen. He was great with everyone, so confident and relaxed, and he was generous with his time too, having his photo taken and signing autographs.”

“All the children we took to the Open have had an introduction to the game through firstclubgolf in school, and now they are progressing with coaching at local golf clubs”.

“A lot of Clackmannanshire children wouldn’t have the chance to play golf if we didn’t deliver clubgolf in school because many of their parents don’t play the game."

clubgolf is a partnership between the Scottish Golf Union, the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association, the Professional Golfers' Association, the Golf Foundation and sportscotland, developed as a lasting legacy to Scotland’s successful bid to host the 2014 Ryder Cup
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Mandy Martin, clubgolf Regional Manager for Central Scotland is delighted to see golf on the rise in Clackmannanshire:

“With Alloa, Alva, Dollar, Muckhart and Tillicoultry Golf Clubs all now running clubgolf programmes there is a great set up locally so that children can keep progressing.”

“More and more Scottish children are getting an introduction to the game through clubgolf, but the chance to watch top tournament players in action and to rub shoulders with a champion golfer is very special. The Open at St Andrews provided a wonderful opportunity for these children.”