Golf could help youngsters

Feb 20 2009

I WRITE in response to the article in last week's Ayrshire Post, foretelling the planned closure of Dalmilling Golf Course due to planned budget cuts.

Dalmilling Golf Club used to have a thriving junior section.

The feeder for the junior club was, of course, the pitch and putt course at Craigie. This gave the youngsters an interest in golf and many of them went on to join the local club. Sadly, the pitch and putt facility at Craigie was axed years ago in previous budget cuts and this has had a negative knock-on effect on the junior club at Dalmilling and the lack of junior golfers now coming through its ranks.

The Scottish Executive officially launched the Clubgolf programme in 2002 with the pledge:

"By 2009, we will have created the opportunity for every child in Scotland to have an introduction to the game of golf by the time they are nine years old."

A Social Inclusion Pilot initiative was conducted at the time to demonstrate how clubgolf can help to meet the challenging objective to increase sports participation in socially deprived communities. Surely the Dalmilling area would be an ideal target area for a real drive to get youngsters off the streets and reduce anti-social behaviour by getting them interested in a healthy activity which would be of life-long benefit to them?

Investment funding of £500,000 a year has been provided annually by the Scottish Government through sportscotland for the clubgolf initiative.

This funding has been approximately matched by direct and indirect contributions from clubgolf's partner agencies - sportscotland itself, SGU, SLGA, PGA, and the Golf Foundation.

So, instead of closing the golf course, why not use some of this funding to deliver subsidised coaching for youngsters in this postcode area?

South Ayrshire Council has, in January this year, appointed a new PGA professional to Dalmilling Golf Course. Ian Robertson is an enthusiastic and talented coach and if Dalmilling could be allocated some of this clubgolf funding,

I am sure he could deliver a coaching programme to rejuvenate the junior golf section at Dalmilling.

After all, I can't think of many other activities available in this area to give youngsters a healthy and constructive use of their leisure time.

G. Henderson

By email