Giving Back to the Juniors!

[wholeinwon]

not to take anything away from the other contest lol

Well I'm gonna go ahead and begin to give back to the juniors on this site, because juniors are the future of the industry and I think they should be given the opportunity to have clubs, golf and contribute to the golf industry and pay little or no money doing it.

I have 3 clubs that I will be offering up over the next few weeks...nothing special just some old clubs I don't think I can sell...

First club is a Taylor Made Rescue Dual 22* with no weight, steel Stiff shaft.



For this club I would like you to write a little something about how the golf industry and more specifically Head Professionals can attempt to have more juniors get involved in golf.


This can be at any level of course, private, semi or public and can be anywhere in the world. All I want to know is what you think is the best way a golf facility can increase the junior presence at their course.

Being a CPGA Professional and coming up through the junior ranks I am curious to hear some of the ideas the juniors of today have.

I will have this contest open for a full week...close Wednesday Jan. 23 at 12:01am...and then choose a winner from the entries.

Again the club is a normal rescue, nothing special, not tour issued just a club that I am offering for your insight into junior golf.

So let me hear it juniors tell me what you think, I and others can do as golf professionals to get you more involved in the game...


Mike

[GOLF FTW]

SOMETHINGS THAT WOULD GET JUNIORS MORE INVOLVED. would probably be something along the lines of, more junior only events. Maybe a special day when juniors can get some free lessons. Being a junior myself, i think those ideas are cool.



Paul

[nuffy12]

Thanks for the opportunity Matuch, hopefully available to UK members also but if not heres my idea anyway:

It would be to devise some sort of plan for juniors, where the club and pro sell a membership for the year, and also include a scheme which will help them progress, Something like an initial analysis to find the areas which need work on. Then a schedule of lessons in a package at a reduced rate. This would ideally include all aspects like short game, full swing (with camera) and importantly course management. I think that course management is vital at to the juniors who are young and just starting. So it would mean that 9 hole playing lessons would be in the package which would the pro would also play and talk through why he wit those shots, and basically let the junior see their course management along with the help of the pro, who teaches throughout the 9 holes. It would be capped with another analysis which looks at the improvements if they haven't been shown in their handicap reduction.

This is my idea anyway
Thanks Nathan

[The Chicken Connoisseur]

First off, I'd like to give a big thank you to you for being so generous to us juniors who sometimes don't get alot of new golf things.

I'm 15 years old and I'm a 0.8 handicap right now. I started playing golf two years ago, and I am primarily self taught. I've taken a total of three lessons in my life. Two begginer ones, and one refresher. As you can tell, I work really hard you might have seen in some other threads. It's pretty difficult to get better when you can't really afford lessons all the time like other juniors. In the summers, I practice for 6-7 hours a day to improve my game.

This is what i think can get more juniors involved:

- Have a day when you can get a free, 30 minute lesson from the pro at any course.
- Make the regular lesson price be cheaper and also during the lesson, the child's parent should be watching so they can help the kids later with their games.
- Head professionals could hold a junior tournament at their course.
- Give free clinics where you just watch the pro
- Golf industry should make kids clubs of very high quality as Ping and Callaway are, and make them in like 4-5 different sizes. And when you buy one, you should be able to buy the next biggest size for a small fee like $50 rather than like $250 like usual.


Thank you so much for a great oppurtunity to get a new hybrid and improve so much in our games. You are really doing a great thing here, and it is definitely much appreciated from all of us juniors on Golfwrx.

Thanks!

[Top Dog]

To get juniors involved in golf you have to make it fun. You have to get rid of the image that golf is un-cool and even boring. Group lessons are great for kids who are learning golf. They can socialize with other kids, play games with each other and get lessons at the same time.

Make golf cheaper as well. At my course our membership is extortionate which is one of the reasons we have lost a lot of good juniors (5-scratch) over the past few years. It may be that people can afford the fees but can't justify gettting a membership for the amount they play. Maybe offer some sort of flexible membership deal. Also you could give them a discount on range balls.

It is a good idea to have separate tees for younger juniors. It is no fun if you are 8 and standing on the tee of a monster par 5. That just gets you down.

Get involved in the schools.Go along and give a talk or a demo. If you can, get a well known person to come in. Show the kids some shots and let them try.Have a putting competiton or similar and have a small prize. I bet not many of them will have tried golf before. Even putting an advert in the local paper advertising some sort of "Golf learning day" should work.

Make amateur tours (Eg Jamega tour, may depend on you area) cheaper to play in. for example the Jamega tour cost $500 to play in. A bit much to "just have a go at".I understand that they only want good golfers to play but surely some are being discouraged. Enterance fees shouldn't be made too high for any tournament.

Lessons are the way forward. Free, preferably, at least for a few occasions. The pro should teach things such as etiquette, short game, swing and course management.I would start with the short game to get confidence up and for them to trust their ability. Maybe have Some sort of "bring a mate" free coaching day to get more people involved.More competitions for younger juniors and have age limits on bigger tournaments.(May not apply,depending on your area)

They should be allowed to play as well. On some courses juniors, such as myself are only allowed on at inconvenient times. For example, at weekdays we are not allowed to tee off after 5 if it is busy. Bearing in mind that school finishes at 3.45 and we have to get home first before getting a lift.That leads to crowding and a less relaxed atmosphere as we are all jostling for times.
Bigger manufacturers should get more involved and make clubs and perhaps the PGA/LPGA or someone could give grants to help the pros who are helping juniors. Having fun is the key, if they have fun, they’re hooked.

You have to remember though golf is played by girls and boys. The is often very little emphasis on the girls game. Maybe you could have seperate coaching for them or encourage them seperately. There may not be as many girls as boys and if this is the case group lessons with boys may be strange for them.

Thanks very much for this oppertunity MatucH.

[emc]

I think Head Professionals of clubs can introduce young people to golf at different levels

Juvenile (3-8 years old): Advertise to male members of the club to bring along their children to a specific time, say, Saturday 2-3 for a free lesson for the children and a free cup of coffee for the father. Provide a few putters with graphite cut down shafts. Have the lessons on the putting green with easily achievable targets like a bigger cup or hitting between tees 2 feet apart etc so that the kids will experience 'winning' as such, and perhaps have little competitions for the better children with prizes as a sleeve of balls or something nominal

Junior (8-12 years old): Get the local schools to send the message around that you will be conducting lessons at the weekends and during the summer for people who "Want to be like Tiger Woods" and offer a free drink or soft drink of their choice at the end. Again spend the lessons around the green where the children can get used to the scoring elements of the game, while also being the part of the game where you can be most creative and keep the audience's imagination. Again have mini-competitions with small nominal prizes for the winners to keep things slightly competitive

12-18 years old: Offer existing junior members a free range credit to bring along a friend to a coaching clinic. That way, not only does the beginner have a friend to be there with and joke about with, they see their golfer friend hitting good shots and maybe want to come back. This is also an incentive for the members because they'll get a free range credit, and it gives them an opportunity to bring an existing friend into the game and spend more time together.

I have to say Matt, this is mighty generous of you and I hope the above will help you bring new juniors into the game of golf.

[M-Grind]

Great gesture there!

Good luck to everyone

[wholeinwon]

Great answers so far...

And yes I can pony up the coin to make the available to anyone in the world.

[claytonstoker21]

i should try to have their own tournements and a program where they give aways clubs. IF a kid has a club he wil play with it and practice and get good. I think that would be good.

[Brando5105]

golf courses need to bring back the junior membership programs and the great rate that I grew up playing (150 for unlimited golf for 3 months during the summer) and make this avaible to the poor college students like myself also.

Head Pros should charge a discount rate to golfers with the junior membership and maybe even sponsor a few up and coming juniors for local and statewide tournaments. I know plenty of juniors who could have competed but could not afford the $200 entry fee.


Thanks for the contest

[emc]

So, who won?

[The Chicken Connoisseur]

[quote name='emc' post='880282' date='Jan 24 2008, 09:57 AM']So, who won?[/quote]

I did!

He gave me the choice to either take the club, or get 2 sleeves of new ProV1's. I chose the ProV1's because I already have this hybrid as a Taylormade Rescue Dual sitting at home and this one is beat up so it'd be hard to sell.

[M-Grind]

[quote name='Kurren' post='880456' date='Jan 24 2008, 07:41 PM'][quote name='emc' post='880282' date='Jan 24 2008, 09:57 AM']So, who won?[/quote]

I did!

He gave me the choice to either take the club, or get 2 sleeves of new ProV1's. I chose the ProV1's because I already have this hybrid as a Taylormade Rescue Dual sitting at home and this one is beat up so it'd be hard to sell.
[/quote]

You've won the competition but was going to sell on the rescue if you hadn't of been offered the choice?

That's pretty low to be honest.

I didn't enter as i feel someone else deserved it more then me, even if i did win it i would have kept it.

[Top Dog]

Well done mate! So MatucH, is the next comp going to be in this thread or in a seperate one?

[The Chicken Connoisseur]

[quote name='Nikey Mikey' post='880483' date='Jan 24 2008, 11:55 AM'][quote name='Kurren' post='880456' date='Jan 24 2008, 07:41 PM'][quote name='emc' post='880282' date='Jan 24 2008, 09:57 AM']So, who won?[/quote]

I did!

He gave me the choice to either take the club, or get 2 sleeves of new ProV1's. I chose the ProV1's because I already have this hybrid as a Taylormade Rescue Dual sitting at home and this one is beat up so it'd be hard to sell.
[/quote]

You've won the competition but was going to sell on the rescue if you hadn't of been offered the choice?

That's pretty low to be honest.

I didn't enter as i feel someone else deserved it more then me, even if i did win it i would have kept it.
[/quote]

No, actually I was going to shaft it up for my little bro, but se said he didn't really want it.

[wholeinwon]

I'll start a new thread...I gave Kurren the choice of club or balls, once the club is his, he is free to do what he wants with it...the fact that it is on the BST on this site right now for $20 tells you it's not gonna get sold for much anyways.


Kurren I sent the balls yesterday (Friday) so since they are coming from Canada I think it said 8-14 days...let me know when you get them.

[The Chicken Connoisseur]

[quote name='MatucH' post='884120' date='Jan 26 2008, 02:10 PM']I'll start a new thread...I gave Kurren the choice of club or balls, once the club is his, he is free to do what he wants with it...the fact that it is on the BST on this site right now for $20 tells you it's not gonna get sold for much anyways.


Kurren I sent the balls yesterday (Friday) so since they are coming from Canada I think it said 8-14 days...let me know when you get them.[/quote]

Cool, I'll let you know.

[Top Dog]

Is there going to be another 2 competitions?