Chichester Golf Club can look forward to a bright future – thanks to a record number of junior golfers.
The south coast club has an astonishing 200 active young players on its books.
And unconfirmed records put that figure as the highest in Britain.
Richard Flint, the golf development manager for the Lincolnshire-based English Golf Union, said: "In all the time I have been working with the golf union, I can’t recall a higher number of junior golfers at any club.
"It’s definitely at the upper end of the scale and is a fantastic number. It’s also extremely encouraging at a time when the average age of golfers in the UK has crept up to around 59 or 60.
"And it’s great news for Chichester Golf Club in the long term."
According to Flint, some 65,000 boys and girls are registered with English Golf Union-affiliated clubs – at an average of around 34 juniors per club.
Flint added: "The weakest profile of golfers is the 18 to 30 age group, so the upshot is that when a club like Chichester has so many active juniors the omens are good that they will continue playing into their 20s and 30s and swell the numbers in that category."
Officials at Chichester Golf Club certainly hope so.
Junior golf at the thriving West Sussex club in Hunston is taken seriously by owner Sally Haygarth, with the golf academy run by PGA professional Richard Kirby cited as one of the major reasons for the boom in junior numbers.
Haygarth said: "It is so important to have a strong junior section at any golf club as these are the players of the future, but we feel privileged to have such a huge number of young golfers at Chichester.
"Our golf academy is hugely successful and Richard Kirby, who was recently named as an advanced professional by the Professional Golfers’ Association, knows the value of a strong junior section.
"The aim of the club is to continue to take full advantage of the facilities and qualified personnel we have in place and to develop junior golf to its full potential. Hopefully then the juniors we have now will feel a strong attachment and continue as adult members at Chichester."
For more details on the academy, or the golfing experience at Chichester, call 01243 533833.
Contact:
David Garlant, Dave Bowers or Pete Simm
08700 330550
david.garlant@prcpr.co.uk, dave@prcpr.co.uk or pete.simm@prcpr.co.uk
