Getting started
In 2007 Kilkea Castle golf club in Castledermot, Co. Kildare decided that they wanted to make a big effort to introduce a structured junior section to their club. At the time they only had a handful of junior members and they were not structured in terms of competitions, coaching or club policy. They needed to have a way of recruiting and retaining their junior membership in the coming years.
After seeing a presentation by Junior Golf Ireland at an ILGU District AGM, Ann Kelly contacted JGI for advice about getting the junior section set up. JGI Regional Development Officer,Rory Leonard, went to the club in late 2007 and met with the members who were keen to help Ann in getting things going.
Following on from this meeting with help from John Kissane, the General Manager of the club, the men's and lady's sections, under the guidance of Ann Kelly, incoming Lady Captain for 2008, formed a Junior Committee to look after all matters relating to juniors.
They decided to introduce coaching to try and encourage more young people to become involved in the club. They began the JGI coaching programme with Ian Kerr, PGA Professional from Carlow DR while members of the junior committee took part in the JGI's Leader's Workshop, which gave them practical skills so that they could assist a PGA professional with group lessons.
Members of the junior committee attended a child protection course locally and completed Garda Vetting through Junior Golf Ireland. They also introduced a child protection policy and added the policy statement to the club's constitution.
Step by step!
The club introduced junior tees on the course for the first time which gave smaller children the chance to play golf that had been adapted to suit their needs. They also put up a junior notice board in the main hallway. An 'SOS' went to club members to raid their houses for spare clubs which Ann gathered to make 5 sets of clubs for beginners.
In early 2009 the club became involved with JGI's Girls in Golf programme where the club worked with TY students in a local school. 21 girls took part in a 10 week series of lessons at the club with PGA Professional Stephen Hayes. Ann Kelly and some other female members attended a training day after which they attended each session to help out Stephen with the group coaching. At the end of the series of lessons the girls were invited to attend an evening in the club along with their parents and details of how to become a member were explained to them. 5 girls joined the club and played regularly over the summer and a group of girls attended the Ladies Irish Open at Portmarnock Links to receive coaching at the JGI stand.
Stephen Hayes also coached the junior members on Sunday mornings using the JGI Coaching Programme. Since then Stephen has become the first resident pro at the club. He continues to coach the juniors and now many of their parents.
From their base of only a handful of juniors in 2007 the club has almost 30 juniors members now aged 8 to 18. They run a fixture of events for the juniors throughout the year with competitions being very well supported. The calendar is available to all juniors and parents at the start of the season. The club were able to enter a team into the Fred Daly trophy for the first time in 2009.
A great end to a great season
The club held an open day for juniors during the summer and over 100 boys and girls from several clubs took part. They have had enquiries from some of the visitors on the day about becoming members at Kilkea. They also held a parent and child day.
At the end of August the club held their first junior prize night and they presented all the prizes that had been played for over the summer. Every junior received a prize and the night was very well attended by parents and members - it was standing room only when the main prizes were being given out.
The club hope to continue their association with Junior Golf Ireland in 2010 and they wish to continue their development of junior members. They will be involved again in the Girls'nGolf programme with the local schools in Castledermot but will this time work with 1st and 2nd year girls aged 12-13 years.
Congratulations to all those involved in the development of this junior section, including the club's General Manager, who was of assistance to the Captains, committee and volunteers in this valuable junior programme. We wish them all the best for 2010 and the seasons ahead!
