Tredegar Park
Golf Club has warmly welcomed the decision from Ryder Cup
Wales to award funding of £82,128 to develop public
golf facilities at the club.
The development work at
Tredegar Park involves the creation of a 10-bay driving
range/covered teaching facility and a 9 hole beginners’
course, incorporated into the present practice area, which
will provide excellent opportunities for golfers of all
standards to play and improve their game.
The financial boost has
been made available through the Ryder Cup Wales Legacy Fund,
a £2m investment into grassroots golf provided by
the Welsh Assembly Government, following the successful
Ryder Cup bid.
“We are delighted
to be working with partners, including Sports Council for
Wales, to produce a new generation of golfers,” explains
Rob Holt, Chief Executive of Ryder Cup Wales. “Facilities
such as those proposed at Tredegar Park will enable hundreds
of children to be introduced to, or continue enjoying, the
sport of golf and provides an ideal stepping stone in their
development to become fully fledged golfers.”
In order to encourage more
people, especially women and girls, to take up the sport,
the club developed its own Golf Beginners’ Programme
and, with support from Golf Development Wales and the Sports
Council for Wales, this has now been running successfully
for over four years.
Club Professional, Mark
Philips, will shortly be offering new courses of lessons
and, with all equipment provided, anyone that is interested
will be able to try their hand at golf.
A Dragon Sport initiative,
involving visits to local schools, is also due to start
this year and will hopefully result in more young people
taking up golf. Over the years a number of golfers who started
their careers at Tredegar Park have progressed to international
level and, most recently, the achievements of Joe Vickery
and Sahra Hassan have delighted club members.
Club officials are aware
of the need to widen the appeal of golf and believe the
development of open access facilities similar to those planned
at Tredegar Park are definitely the way forward. Club Captain,
Bill Thompson, said, “These are exciting times at
Tredegar Park and we hope that the new facilities, combined
with widespread Ryder Cup publicity for golf in Wales, will
encourage people of all ages to come and try the game.”
Councillor Bob Bright, leader
of Newport City Council, said, “For the city of Newport,
The 2010 Ryder Cup is about much more than hosting the world’s
most prestigious golf tournament – it is about making
the most of the enormous opportunities that come with it.
“We welcome this investment
in new golf facilities at Tredegar Park which will benefit
all the communities of Newport. Projects such as these,
which will help young people in particular to take up the
sport, will ensure that the Ryder Cup will leave a lasting
legacy for all.”
Work on the development,
costing over £100,000 in total, will be starting shortly
and it is hoped that the new facilities will be open for
use in late Spring/early Summer.
