LOCH NESS GOLF CLUB HAS

MONSTER JOB ON ITS HANDS

Loch Ness Golf Club which is part of the Fairways complex on the south side of Inverness has a huge success story that just gets better and better. Their junior golf section now totals over 200 members and nearly 150 are actively involved in the weekly coaching provided by the Club.
From fledgling beginnings when the Club was formed at the same time at the Loch Ness Golf Course was opened merely a dozen years ago in 1996 they have taken the junior membership to epic proportions through regular coaching and competitions with a recognised pathway for each junior golfer to work their way to obtaining a senior handicap and competing against the adults.

Such is the popularity of the work that the club does with children that each year a waiting list starts but the wait isn’t for long as the club devises more ways of including more children in the programme.

Richard Treasurer the Junior Convenor of Loch Ness Golf Club said

“When I took over back in 2000 there were only about 30 juniors playing a handful of medals but I realised that if the club was going to progress and the juniors were to have some benefit of being members then giving them as much coaching as we could was vital.

"In the beginning we started with Martin Piggot, our Head Professional, taking them all once a week but as word started to spread we found ourselves dealing with more and more interested children so we had to move on from one coach and now we have six people giving coaching while we have another half dozen helpers out on the course with the more advanced children.

"Each year we say that this will be our maximum but we capped it at 100, then 150, now 200 and I am sure that if the kids keep coming we will keep coaching them. We have developed a timetable that lets almost all the children come to us each week and they are giving technical coaching by Martin and his staff, putting, chipping, bunker play, rules and etiquette from our amateur coaches and organised medal competitions that allow them to obtain handicaps and win prizes.

"It has been very fulfilling to watch the children grow from raw beginners into some very capable golfers and I hope that they will look back on Loch Ness Golf Club with good memories and in time help coach our next batch of aspiring players.”

Tom Smith, Captain of Loch Ness Golf Club, said “I have nothing but admiration for what Richard and his team have done at the Club. I try to come along every week to help out with the Juniors. It is great to see how keen they all are to get out on the course, and how quickly their play improves. I know there will be other sporting and leisure pursuits open to them in the future but I hope that many of them will be become future Loch Ness Golf Club Men and Ladies members.”

Willie Mackay the Area Development Manager of clubgolf commented “I have watched the junior section at Loch Ness grow over the years and the success that the older boys have in competitions around the Highlands is down to the time and effort that Richard and his team have put in. They are willing to give up their time to help the kids to improve and examples like this should be shown around the country and held up as a model for other clubs to copy.”

Picture – Richard Treasurer with some of the many juniors at Loch Ness Golf Club.

Fairways, the home of Loch Ness Golf Club, is a golf and leisure business situated in the south west edge of Inverness. Opened in 1989 it has a host of facilities open to the public 7 days a week including 9 and 18 hole golf courses, lounge bar, restaurant, sports bar, function/conference suite, driving range, golf shop, forest walks and petanque.