The European Tour welcomed the Golf Foundation’s team of Regional Development Officers to the Tour headquarters at Wentworth Club to discuss the on-going development of grass roots golf in the United Kingdom.
The European Tour is a core sponsor of the Golf Foundation and both bodies are seeking to make golf more accessible for young people and increase playing numbers for the future.
The Golf Foundation will have a strong presence at many of The European Tour’s biggest UK events this season, where they can promote and encourage junior golf.
This summer, the Foundation will welcome youngsters and parents at the BMW PGA Championship and The Quinn Direct British Masters, while the Tour is also supporting Junior Centres at The Celtic Manor Wales Open and The Barclays Scottish Open, which will be run by Golf Development Wales and clubgolf. There will also be a series of Clinics for youngsters staged at European Senior Tour events.
The Golf Foundation’s team of Regional Development Officers are involved in many aspects of growing the game, creating better pathways from schools to golf clubs for first-time golfers, setting up successful learning programmes for youngsters in golf clubs and, through the Foundation’s Golf Roots project (also backed by The European Tour), introducing sustainable community golf programmes in inner city areas, for children from all backgrounds and learning abilities.
The European Tour’s support extends to playing a major part in organising the annual Golf Foundation Pro-Am, including providing a strong field of professionals, overseeing the preparation of the venue and the refereeing and scoring of the event.
Mike Round, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said: “The visit to The European Tour was a highly enjoyable day for our team of Regional Development Officers. Each one is passionate about introducing golf to youngsters and using the attributes of the sport to help instill positive values and life skills to boys and girls. This visit was memorable because a very committed group of people got to meet with staff from The European Tour, a body that is highly supportive of what we are trying to achieve.”
