The Pioneering 24-year-old Golf Club Captain Aiming To Encourage More Juniors

Golf club captain Joey Grogan — (Image credit: The Burstead Golf Club)

The club captain. Generally, it’s a role for someone who’s been at the club for many years. Often, if they’re not retired and on a decent pension, they’re your CEO types. Deep pockets, basically, which you need when you’re voted in to be the face of the club for a whole year.

This is not always the case, though. Why should it be this way? Why not have a younger face in the position, someone eager and full of energy to represent the club and take it forward? This is what's happened at The Burstead Golf Club in Billericay.

Joey Grogan is just 24 years old. He looks more than ready to play golf for 365 consecutive days if required. Despite being a member of the Essex club for just three years, in January, 200 of his fellow members surrounded the 1st tee and lined the fairways to watch him get the traditional Captain’s Drive-In underway.

“There was a big roar when I got on the tee,” laughs Joey. “Everyone was shouting my name and whatnot. I was absolutely bricking it. Fortunately I sent one down the left side. I had these nightmares leading up to the event that I was going to top one off the tee and never hear the end of it.”

Joey Grogan club captain The Burstead Golf Club — Joey holds himself together at the Captain's Drive-In in January

He’ll need to get used to the attention, of course, for everyone wants to play with the captain. This is going to be extremely busy for the young commercial banker, especially with a few big county competitions in the diary, not to mention a packed social events calendar.

So, how does a 24-year-old, who only took up the game in his late teens, find himself golf club captain, a role that is traditionally occupied by longstanding members at least twice his age?

“I used to think golf was a boring, an old man’s sport,” he says. “I’d never even set eyes on a golf club. In fact, I was very much on the side of that argument that golf was not even a sport.

“Then I had a couple of concussions playing rugby and therefore had to look for another vice. My grandmother gifted me my own set of clubs when I turned 21, which enabled me to become absolutely obsessed with golf.

“After finishing university, I had a full year on my hands before I had to start a graduate scheme. I think I played something like 382 rounds that year. Sometimes I’d play 54 holes in a day.”

It takes more than an obsession with golf, though, to catch the attention of the committee. Golfers in their 20s don’t tend to come into the conversation so far as the captaincy role is concerned. Usually it's just the junior captain who gets to wear that special jacket.

Joey Grogan club captain The Burstead Golf Club in Essex — Joey has his own 'Green Jacket'

Legs like jelly

Not at Burstead, where Joey will be wearing a velvet green one for most of the year (his choice, he says). “I just heard they were looking for a captain, and I said I'd be interested. They took it to vote. Because I played with everyone and everyone knew who I was, they were happy to give me the opportunity to do it.”

The huge turnout for the Captain’s Drive-In is proof that his appointment has gone down well. Joey accepts that some members will feel it would have been wiser to appoint a more experienced member, but the support he’s received has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I obviously had to do a speech,” he says. “I usually pride myself on being a decent public speaker, but my legs were like jelly. I got a lovely, lovely reception. I probably had about 80 or 90 people come up to me afterwards saying how excited they were for me.”

Club captain Joey Grogan and his girlfriend — Joey shares the proud moment with his girlfriend

It’s early days, but Joey is managing to balance club duties with work. A typical week involves a couple of days in London, and the rest of his time he’s able to work from home. Catching up with the committee and attending to club matters doesn’t present a problem.

He’s very switched on is Joey, and it makes you wonder why most clubs wouldn't even consider opting for a younger captain. Perhaps it’s because the role tends to be reserved for those members who have ‘served their time’. In a way, it’s a reward for supporting the club over a long period of time.

However, you could say The Burstead Golf Club has made a more progressive move. “The club is trying to give younger members a few more opportunities,” says Joey. “Our treasurer, for example, is 31 years old and the competition handicap secretary is 40. We’re got terrific owners, the Mence family, who are open to new ideas and changing the club a little bit.”

Joey Grogan is welcomed in as captain at The Burstead Golf Club in Essex — Joey receives a warm welcome as the new club captain

Often a golf club captain will have a goal in mind for their year as captain, or something to implement at the club as part of their legacy. Joey’s passion is to grow the junior membership. He doesn’t have children himself, but he wants kids to get off their screens and discover the joys of golf and all the benefits it can bring.

“Life isn’t as social as it used to be, what with the screens and social media,” he says. “Everyone would rather be inside on this and that. It's made a fundamental change on the social abilities of youngsters.

“The 14 and 15-year-olds that play golf are spending their time with older guys. That exposes you to a bit more maturity, which is good. It has a massive impact on their social ability and that sort of thing. It’s one of the only sports where you see that happening.”

Joey Grogan at the captain's drive-in — The Captain's Drive-In drew a big crowd

The big question, though, is how, at the age of 24, with rent to pay and the financial challenges of the cost of living crisis, are you going to pay for all those social events, many of which the captain is obliged to settle?

“I got a nice little £1,500 bonus from the club on my bar card,” he laughs. “I’ll be making the most of that come the summer, but that probably won’t go very far. I don’t think it’s something I could manage three years in a row, but it’ll all be OK this year. It’s going to be fun.”

Michael has been with Golf Monthly since 2008. A multimedia journalist, he has also worked for The Football Association, where he created content to support the England football team, The FA Cup, London 2012, and FA Women's Super League. As content editor at Foremost Golf, Michael worked closely with golf's biggest equipment manufacturers and has developed an in-depth knowledge of this side of the industry. He's a regular contributor, covering instruction, equipment, travel and feature content. Michael has interviewed many of the game's biggest stars, including seven World No.1s, and has attended and reported on numerous Major Championships and Ryder Cups around the world. He's a member of Formby Golf Club in Merseyside, UK.

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