East Kilbride 10 year old Cameron Graham and his father, John at Gleneagles

Gleneagles dream for East Kilbride junior

East Kilbride 10 year old, Cameron Graham described his invitation to play a round of golf at Gleneagles Hotel last month as ‘one of the best experiences of my life’.

Cameron won the day for himself and his father, John, hosted by Colin Girvan, South Lanarkshire Leisure’s Golf Development Officer, after helping clubgolf with its research into the programme’s progress.

“It was a brilliant day and the way clubgolf has been for Cameron, it’s been one of the best things that happened to him,” said John Graham.

Until a year ago, Cameron had never swung a golf club.  But when he showed interest, his father, a keen golfer, contacted clubgolf to see how the youngster could get involved.  He was quickly snapped up by a group of clubgolf PGA Level 1 volunteer coaches at Torrance House and Brancumhall Golf Development Centre.

“The coaches in East Kilbride have been great to him and the other kids and now he wants to play all the time,” said Mr Graham. “When the coaching finished in August he came third in a tournament at Brancumhall and won a lovely glass trophy which is sitting pride of place in the living room.

“Grace Jardine was his coach at first then we met John Dunlop, former PGA Pro at Torrance House and Ann Lang from clubgolf and they’ve continued it at Torrance House and Broadlees Driving Range. He’s at the driving range three times a week and we want to get him on the course now.

“His game’s come on enormously. I can’t praise clubgolf high enough for what it’s done for Cameron.”

Cameron, who completed the Gleneagles Wee Course in a respectable 45 before having lunch at the Hotel, said:  “To play on the course was amazing. It was a great day, one of the best experiences of my life.”

South Lanarkshire was one of the first authorities to sign up for clubgolf, a partnership between the Scottish Golf Union, Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association, Professional Golfers’ Association, sportscotland and the Golf Foundation, born out of Scotland’s successful bid to host the Ryder Cup.

Since 2005 over 2800 South Lanarkshire Primary 5 children have enjoyed an introduction to clubgolf at school.  This year, 2950 children will experience clubgolf on the curriculum.  Over a tenth of these children are expected to progress their golf skills at a nearby club - Biggar Golf Club has had 77 children through its clubgolf Stage 1 programme and 128 have
attended coaching at Torrance House ­ and by the end of this golf season 57