Tour stars back Welsh free golf week

Ladies European Tour stars Breanne Loucks and Rhian Wyn Thomas have backed the launch of free golf and coaching at more than 100 clubs in Wales in the week after the Masters, under the slogan 'Pick it up for the Ryder Cup.'

 

Golf Awareness Week was described as one of the best schemes in Europe at the launch this week. It will tee off from April 12th-18th, with most Welsh clubs offering free tee times and membership special offers to encourage nomadic golfers to try out club facilities with a view to joining - along with free lessons and coaching plans for beginners and families.

 

Children dressed in 1927 golfing gear, the year of the first Ryder Cup, and modern golfing dress, to celebrate this year's Welsh Ryder Cup, gathered to celebrate the official launch of Golf Awareness Week at Radyr golf club in Cardiff this week.

 

Thomas, from Llanwenog near Lampeter, is delighted to see the scheme take off while she starts her professional career less than six years after first trying out the sport at a similar Golf Development Wales opportunity.

 

"It was at the Royal Welsh Show about six years ago and I just went along to the Golf Development tent and had a go at golf for the first time. David Llewellyn, the Welsh coach, was there and it all kicked off from that really," said Thomas, who started her professional career with a top 30 finish in Morocco, following it up with a top 10 in France.

 

"It has been a great journey, playing for Wales, Great Britain and now it starts all over again on the European Tour so I am loving it.

 

"If it had not been for the development work that week in Builth Wells, I probably still would not have tried golf - now it is my career thanks to Golf Development Wales. Hopefully now we will find some more good golfers through Golf Awareness Week."

 

Fellow Ladies European Tour star Breanne Loucks was delighted to support the scheme before flying out to Spain to join Solheim Cup star Becky Brewerton in representing Wales in the European Nations Cup.

 

"This is brilliant," she said. "When I started there were little county things to get involved in, but you see the scale of it now and it is incredible, it has moved on so much and it is really exciting to see how it has all moved on.

 

"Golf is one of those sports anyone can play at any age, any time of your life then just go for it. I would like to hope we are out there to be copied, but if things improve in Wales then that is something we all care about."

 

Andy Morgan is chairman of Golf Development Wales, a past president of the European Golf Association and was also involved in the initial bid to host the Ryder Cup in Wales. He believes Golf Awareness Week is set to be as successful as anything he has come across in European and world golf.

 

"Part of that bid 10 years ago was the Golf Development side because we were not developing young golfers as much as possible. The chance to finance that came through and we had Golf Development Wales up and running within three months of the bid being successful - it has gone from strength to strength since," he said.

 

"This compares very favourably with anything I have seen around Europe and indeed in world golf. Using the experience we have gained from that, we have picked up on the best things that I have seen elsewhere and put them into practice here."

 

Hannah Fitzpatrick, director of golf development at the Golf Union of Wales explained, "People playing golf 12 times a year or more has gone up by about 8 per cent in Wales and we want to convert these to golf club members to secure the future of golf clubs.

 

"Golf Awareness Week is a mass promotional week where we are creating opportunities to encourage people to pick it up for the Ryder Cup.

 

"It is brilliant that the golf clubs have embraced this scheme - this is the biggest Golf Development Wales scheme ever, creating an open environment for people to try golf.

 

"Golf club membership is great with the social element, a place to take the family, the handicap system so you can play against all people.

 

"SWALEC have sponsored the Start Golf beginner scheme with a full programme of golf and a trial membership. To name just two of the many examples of good work by the clubs, Clays, our regional centre of excellence, are running a children's festival and offering 365 memberships of their par three course - one for every day of the year.

 

"Caerphilly golf club have a great offer with 50 per cent off membership in that week and on one day they have opened up the club completely for people to go along and try.

 

Mike Round, chief executive of Golf Foundation, believes this scheme is as good as anything being done in the UK to boost the profile and image of golf.

 

"I think this is very exciting in terms of being a national campaign. We have seen a lot of individual clubs doing a lot to make themselves more accessible, but this is a national campaign with over 100 clubs involved to make golf accessible to the non-golfing population," he said.

 

"We are beginning to see things change significantly. In the past golf has had that elitist image, but now they are looking at bringing on more children and families so that now membership of golf clubs is more accessible than it was in the past."