Reference Martin Dempster's article about clubgolf
(scroll down to read it)

Response from Jenny Louden

I think this subject is long overdue a little perspective.
Clubgolf is a politically-driven initiative introduced off the back of the Ryder Cup Gleneagles announcement: a political wheeze turned quango. ushered in to give Scotland the appearance of being a forward-looking golf nation.
The Player Pathway is plausible alright but in practice is fundamentally flawed because, ultimately, its success or failure was always going to hinge on whether or not clubs fully embraced clubgolf in the transition from school playground to golf course.
Indeed, was there ever any meaningful consultation between government and clubs before such a scheme involving public money was announced?
The Golf Foundation's earliest schemes involved introducing children to the game via schools as far back as the middle of the last century and yet, with clubs today struggling to survive as the result of falling memberships, can its efforts truly be deemed successful?
For me, the litmus test for the success of any such scheme depends on whether or not the number of girls staying in golf dramatically increases.
Fifty-eight and seven years on respectively, I'm still waiting ...
Jenny Louden, Inverness
PS Is this 'initiative' going to be publicly funded indefinitely or will be it sink without trace once the Ryder Cup has been and gone? Just askin'.

Response from Ian Muir, PGA professional, Elie Sports Club.

Well done, Jenny, in highlighting the fact that clubgolf is nothing more than a smokescreen for political purposes.
I think that we are all disappointed that the clubgolf scheme has failed to deliver more juniors into our clubs and I would like to throw in a few points for discussion.
Out of the thousands of children given the opportunity to play classroom golf, how many actually got to play at a golf club or were even given the chance to try "real" golf?
Where is the the link from the classroom to the golf club?
What happens to wee Johnny who tries 1st clubgolf in primary 5 and decides not to try golf at the time but in primary 6 he wants to play? A nine years of age - is that the one and only chance you get to be introduced to golf? Who follows this up?
One of the reasons I agree with the comments from Jenny is that my assistants and I have been delivering 1st clubgolf into primary schools for the last two years and have had little or no return.
My stats for 2009 - We taught 284 pupils 1st clubgolf in school ... 32 people came to the Sports Club for a free taster ... 12 attended a six-week block for £25 and four joined at a reduced rate of £25 for the year.
Feedback from the 2008 pupils who didn't come to the club: ''I would have liked to try golf again but I didn't know how to.'' Also: ''I would loved to try real golf.''
If the general consensus is that it's not working, surely we must change the strategy. All we read about is that X amount of children try golf.
I have yet to see any stats to prove that its working, and they are joining clubs.

Ian Muir
PGA Professional
Elie Sports Club

PS What ever happened to the clubgolf style programme to introduce adults to the game? Maybe for another day.

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