Kate, 13, stages £1000 charity golf marathon

Thirteen year old Leicestershire golfer Kate Frankham (pictured) staged a 12-hour golf marathon in aid of Comic Relief – and has raised in excess of a staggering £1000.

Kate played 54 holes at her home club, Lutterworth, starting at 6.30am and finishing at 6.30pm.

She walked every step of the way and was joined in the morning by fellow members and in the afternoon by the club professionals and her friend Alice Smith, also 13, from Cosby Golf Club. Kate’s parents, Mark and Jill, manned the red nose rescue buggy which ferried food and drink around the course!

Kate, who plays off 17, received a great welcome as she finished in the dusk. Her mum remarked: “She got a tremendous reception, there must have been about 70 people around the green. She had great support at Lutterworth and all the people who joined her for a few ho les helped to keep her going.

“She was very determined – and absolutely delighted by the amount she raised.”

Kate is a member of the Leicestershire and Rutland county girls' squad.

New golfer scores hole-in-one after five weeks

EWGA Press Release

New golfer Colette Hogan (pictured) scored a hole-in-one just FIVE WEEKS after taking up the game.

She was inspired to play by her fiancé, Mark Forrest, a six-handicap member at Fishwick Hall Golf Club in Preston. He’s never had a hole in one – in a golfing career of almost 20 years – but he witnessed Colette’s shot every inch of the way on the 119-yard 18th hole at his home course.

Colette, who used a three-wood, said: “He went white in the face and told me that he thought the ball went into the cup. I thought he was winding me up. We walked up the footpath and I realised that the ball was out of sight and my heart started to beat a lot. I dropped the trolley down and ran to the flag. I looked down into the hole and the ball was there. I shrieked!”

The couple are both deaf gol fers and Mark has represented the English Deaf Golf Association in world championships and other events. Colette has caddied for him over the last two years and has recently had her first golf lesson.

She’s joined a society, Teeside Deaf Golf, and hopes to become a member at Fishwick Hall. Colette has also recently become the women’s officer for the EDGA: www.englishdeafgolfassociation.com

Hampshire’s Katie Mundy scores third US win

EWGA Press Release

Hampshire’s Katie Mundy has continued her superb start in US women’s college golf with her third win from four tournaments.

In her latest event the 18-year-old from Dunwood Manor was 24 shots clear of the field. Her play also helped her team from Western Texas College to reach the national finals of the junior college championships.

The 54-hole event was played on WTC’s home course at Snyder in Texas and the team finished 27 shots ahead of their closest challengers. The field included the 2007 national champions.

Katie, who started college earlier this term, had rounds of 80, level par 72 and 73 during difficult weather conditions.

“The first day, when we played 36 holes, was horrendous. The temperature was zero, the wind chill was 9degF and there were 40mph winds,” said Katie. “The second day was much warmer with winds of 30 mph.”
Katie was in England’s winning team at the 2008 girls’ home internationals and was a member of the English Women’s Golf Association U18 Squad before starting university.

RANFURLY CASTLE WIN JUNIOR CLUB OF THE YEAR AWARD

Ranfurly Castle were crowned the winners of the Junior Club of the Year Award announced at last Friday’s Scottish Golf Dinner in Glasgow after a tight title race with five other short listed clubs.

Launched last year the award is designed to reward clubs for their efforts in promoting junior golf and encouraging more juniors into the game. Alford Golf Club claimed the inaugural title setting a high benchmark for this year’s hopefuls.

Ranfurly Castle proved they were the cream of the crop from a starting field of 29 clubs from across Scotland, finally whittled down to a short list of six clubs. Representatives from Powfoot, Duns, Kirkintilloch, Palacerigg and Stranraer golf clubs were among the audience as the announcement was made at the dinner - held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - and as runners-up received £300 to help continue their fantastic work developing their junior golf programmes.

The Renfrewshire club was rewarded with a cheque for £1,000 from the Scottish Golf Union and clubgolf, the national junior golf programme, to be invested in their junior programme. The winner’s prize also includes two spots in a European Tour pro-am, playing alongside a leading professional golfer.

The club’s pro-active approach was highlighted through their efforts to increase accessibility for juniors coming into the game. A £25,000 Lottery grant was invested in improvements to their 9 hole Clevans course, and as part of the project the club made that facility available to the local community, earning accolades from Renfrewshire District Council and local MSPs and MPs.

Renfrewshire remains the only authority in Scotland that is not rolling out the introductory game “firstclubgolf” in schools, however Ranfurly Castle has embraced the clubgolf programme by putting no fewer than 11 volunteers through the Stage 1 coaching course. That has allowed the club to open up golf coaching to non-members, and positions them well to link to local primary schools should they join up with the national junior golf programme in the future.

For existing junior club members it was recognised that there were insufficient competitions and, as part of an overall strategy of integrating them in the club to give juniors a greater sense of belonging, those with single figure handicaps were allowed to play in the vast majority of senior men’s competitions.

The reward for encouraging that increased competitiveness came when, after a 14 year absence, the club beat the previous year’s winners Greenock in the final of The Junior Newton Shield, the area team championship for the Renfrewshire Golf Union. Of a total of 31 junior boys selected for the Renfrewshire Golf Union coaching squads, six are from Ranfurly Castle, while it also provided five of the nine Renfrewshire junior golfers selected for the SGU Coaching Academy.

clubgolf Project Manager Torquil McInroy said, “Ranfurly Golf Club demonstrated real drive, as well as their ability and desire to promote golf to youngsters in their community.

“They are a great example to other clubs and this award is recognition of the hard work carried out by their volunteers. In establishing the infrastructure which will underpin their continued success in the years ahead, they worked as a team to show what can be achieved.”

McInroy who was on the judging panel added, “The response to the awards in its second year was again very encouraging and I would like to thank all of those who entered this year. Those who were short listed demonstrated just a sample of some of the great work which is being undertaken by clubs across the country. That work is vital for the health and future of the game and long may it continue.”

Ranfurly Castle’s Junior Convenor Michael McCabe and Club Captain Douglas Martin, who received the cheque for £1,000 to contribute to their junior programmes said after the presentation, “We are absolutely delighted to win this award which is great recognition of our activity here and will enable us to continue to deliver great coaching and improved facilities and boost participation numbers among juniors in the game.”

Youth drive for West Lothian Golf Club

West Lothian Golf Club has taken a major step towards improving its junior section after becoming the newest club to join forces with the national junior golf programme, clubgolf.

Emerging out of Scotland’s successful bid to host the Ryder Cup, clubgolf is a partnership between the Scottish Golf Union, the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association, the Professional Golfers' Association, the Golf Foundation and sportscotland. Launched in 2003 by Colin Montgomerie, clubgolf has been developed as a direct result of the Scottish Government’s commitment to introduce every nine-year-old child in Scotland to golf.

Like many golf clubs across Scotland, West Lothian had become acutely aware that its junior section was not what it could be.

“Our junior membership has never been as healthy as it should be,” said the club’s Pro, Alan Reid.

“I saw an opportunity because there were no golf clubs doing clubgolf in the Bo’ness area. We’ve got 60 juniors but only 25 play, and want to get them all on board as well as bringing in new junior members. We want to get a better junior member within the club by training them and teaching them the right way to play.”

Fortunately for the future health of the club, and the area’s children, Mr Reid will be supported by four club members who have become qualified PGA Level 1 volunteer coaches. With Mr Reid being qualified to coach Stage 3 of the programme the club is now fully prepared to coach juniors from complete beginner to advanced levels.

“I am putting everything in place at the moment and during Easter I’m hoping to get the volunteer coaches involved an hour’s coaching of the members to get them up and running,” said Mr Reid. Come the summer it will be full steam ahead.”

The club’s junior plans coincide with clubgolf’s roll out of the introductory game in schools across Scotland - this year 38,000 P5 children will experience the game.

“In Bo’ness around 200 children will be doing clubgolf at school over the next term,” said Kate Wallace, Active Schools Co-ordinator for Bo'ness.

“With West Lothian Golf Club on board this is the first link with a club we have had and it means we can get kids involved in a sport which they wouldn’t have had a shot at themselves. This will be a really good opportunity for the children.

“We are planning to do some work together over the holiday programmes. Alan will be supporting my programme by coming in to deliver some coaching in the schools and I’ll be helping promote his holiday programme at the golf club.”

The club has also identified an area of ground which it plans to develop into a three hole course and practice area for the juniors.

“Now is a great opportunity for youngsters to take up golf,” said Mr Reid. “In conjunction with the local schools we will get a constant trail of youngsters coming to the club.

“I played for Scotland and it’s something I’m passionate about. I want to make sure my juniors get the best start and can progress from club level, through to county and hopefully national level so we can start producing some top quality golfers.”

For further information about junior coaching at West Lothian Golf Club please contact:
Alan Reid on Tel: 01506 825060

In 2009 clubgolf plans to have 260 clubs on board and delivering clubgolf programmes. To accommodate local children clubgolf needs 350 volunteers to become trained on the Level 1 course this year.

For further information about clubgolf, volunteer coach training and how it can benefit local clubs please contact: Mandy Martin, clubgolf Regional Manager, Central Scotland on
Tel: 07956 540587 E-mail: mmartin@clubgolfscotland.co.uk

New Right of Way has been found in St Andrews

Historic Scotland have announced that a Right of Way, originally used by the fishermen of St Andrews between the West Sands and the centre of the town, has been found, and that preparations to restore it are underway.
The discovery was made when ancient records were uncovered by staff at the University of St Andrews, during the Library building's refurbishment which is taking place this year.
The Right of Way was well used in the 15th and 16th centuries but fell into disuse when the harbour near the castle was built. A spokesperson for the St Andrews University Library Special Collections Unit said "We were amazed to discover that this Right of Way existed, but the documents we found conclusively prove that the fishermen used this path to bring their catch from the shore up to Market Street. Although it has not been used for several centuries, we understand from the Land Registry of Scotland that the Right of Way is still in force and can be used by the general public"
The Royal and Ancient Golf club of St Andrews, whose clubhouse straddles the path, are making plans to build a tunnel under the building to allow pedestrians to use the Right of Way.
A spokesperson from the The Ramblers Association said that they welcomed the new path and the initiative of the R&A. An announcement for the re-opening of the path is expected next year.
Further information