Saturday mornings

The junior programme began in 1962 with a handful of members' children and a single professional. It now runs every Saturday of the year, in small groups by age and ability, and has produced two county champions and a great many lifelong golfers, which matters more.

We keep the sessions simple. The youngest play games with soft balls and short clubs, and learn that golf is fun before they learn that it is difficult. Older juniors work on the range and around the short game area, then go out onto the Pine Nine, where they learn to keep score, to repair their pitch marks and to call a penalty on themselves when no one else is looking.

Progress is marked by the Academy colours, from white through to pine. Juniors move up when they are ready rather than by the calendar, and play their first competition only when they want to.

This summer, twelve of our juniors played in the county junior championships, and three of the youngest broke fifty for nine holes on the Pine Nine for the first time. Above all, the groups have grown. There are more girls in the programme than ever before, and the waiting list for Saturday mornings is the longest it has been.

If your children or grandchildren would like to try, we hold taster mornings at the start of each term. Speak to the Academy, or find me on the practice ground on a Saturday.