Golf's 'skills for life' message is a winner in Bolton
A community golf project in Bolton which links local schools to golf clubs gave a perfect example recently of how golf’s positive attributes can be promoted to help youngsters in their development
Dunscar Golf Club in Bolton was the venue for a large festival all about Tri-Golf, the Golf Foundation s fun mini version of the game for young children which is now reaching around 700,000 youngsters a year in the school setting.
Dunscar is one of an increasing number of golf clubs and driving ranges which are first helping children to experience an introduction to golf through outreach work by their PGA professional in schools, and then welcoming pupils to the club for group lessons before developing their golf through the Golf Foundation s Junior Golf Passport, the officially recognised learning programme for juniors.
At school level, the Golf Foundation is finding that teachers are becoming increasingly interested in the sport s skills for life messages values like honesty, co-operation, respect, self-motivation, concentration and perseverance and are using elements of Tri-Golf games in the classroom to help instil these attributes.
When Thornleigh school sport partnership in Bolton decided to run a Tri-Golf festival with Dunscar Golf Club s support, a special skills for life award was held alongside the skills challenges. The award went to the team of youngsters who helped each other best within their group, encouraged team mates and showed respect to other teams, teachers and group leaders.
Andy Leigh, Regional Development Officer for the Golf Foundation, said: The Olympic idea of enjoying taking part in sport and conducting yourself well is obviously highly relevant at the moment and the young team of boys who won this award, from Ladybridge Primary School, were clearly thrilled to be recognised for their good sportsmanship. The youngsters exhibited attributes that are fostered by playing golf properly and they had a great day, without winning the event.
Head of PE for Ladybridge Primary, Jim Dickson, said: The team was delighted with their achievement and winning this award, in effect for exhibiting good character, clearly meant a lot to the boys.
The Golf Foundation, founded in 1952, is a charity that works on behalf of the national golf partnerships to give a successful start in golf to youngsters, working in schools and golf clubs and providing structured learning programmes to develop young players.
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The Foundation s logo carries the skills for life message, which stresses a commitment the Golf Foundation has made to pass on all the positive benefits golf can offer to young people who enter the sport.