Member Article

Golf stars of the future tee off success thanks to community partnership

A popular North Yorkshire golf club is continuing to attract young people into the game thanks to a long-running community partnership with a local car dealership.

Romanby Golf Club Juniors and Simon Bailes Peugeot are now entering their 11th year as partners in working to introduce local young people to golf and, this year, the club has received England Golf’s GolfMark in recognition of its commitment to junior golf.

Simon Bailes Peugeot is Romanby Golf Club’s main sponsor of its successful junior section which is helping dozens of young people to excel in the sport.

The sponsorship, which started in 2002, allows young golfers across the Northallerton area to receive some of the best coaching in the UK and individual lessons from top PGA professionals to help them compete in a wider range of fixtures.

In addition, this year’s sponsorship has been used to buy some new ‘Golf Extreme’ equipment to make the introduction to the game fun with set targets and team games to work towards.

Romanby Golf Club works extensively in its local community to attract more young people to the game, running coaching courses for eight to 13 year olds with plans to lower the age to five to seven year olds. In addition, the club runs taster sessions for local organisations including schools, scouts and girl guides groups.

Thanks to the sponsorship programme between Simon Bailes Peugeot and Romanby Golf Club, the young golfers are now reaching regional and national competitions.

Notable achievements include 16-year old Lily Downs who has been chosen to play for Yorkshire Ladies second team and recently won Pannal Golf Club’s Junior Rosebowl for the best gross score in their annual open competition - beating several very low handicap boys in the process; 17-year old Sean Naylor who recently won Stockton’s Golf Week despite being the youngest entrant; 12-year old Harrison Downs who has beaten off competition to be selected to receive Yorkshire coaching at Ganton Golf Club; and Glen Lent, 16, who is now a regular player in Harrogate Union’s junior team.

Around 30 to 40 eight to 18 year olds play at Romanby Golf Club and many go on to play for the team which competes in the Harrogate and District Union Union of Golf Clubs Junior League. As one of the best leagues in the North of England, Romanby competes against many larger squads from around Yorkshire.

Dorothy Edwards, junior co-ordinator at Romanby Golf Club, said: “We really do have some of the stars of the future here Romanby Golf Club Juniors. Competition in Yorkshire is fierce as it is a large region to be in but we have so many high achievers. Our partnership with Simon Bailes Peugeot is vital to help us to introduce golf to young players and to provide our young stars with expert coaching which is allowing the youngsters to compete in more competitions and at higher levels.”

Simon Bailes, managing director of Simon Bailes Peugeot, said: “The overall aim of the sponsorship is to offer young people the chance to try a new sport, improve their existing skills and meet new people. It’s great to see that Romanby Golf Club Juniors attracts golfers from such a young age and then helps them to progress successfully. The juniors do the club proud and really put North Yorkshire on the golfing map.”

Any young person wanting to try out golf or join Romanby Golf Club, can contact 01609 778855.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison Associates .