PRACTICE AREA IMPROVEMENT AT ABERDEENSHIRE CLUB

£9,000 LOTTERY FUND BOOST FOR 

PETERCULTER JUNIOR FACILITIES

NEWS RELEASE
 Peterculter Golf Club has received a boost thanks to the Big Lottery Fund and sportscotland which will enable them to build new facilities for junior members.  
The Aberdeenshire club, near Aberdeen, has been given £9,000 by Awards for All Scotland to improve the practice area which will be used to deliver its ClubGolf coaching programme. 
Club captain Janette Cook, said: “Peterculter Golf Club has successfully provided ClubGolf junior coaching for over eight years.  We have introduced many children to the sport but we always felt we should develop our own ‘short game practice’ area. 
“Until recently, we had the use of a local practice facility but unfortunately this became unavailable.  This was the spur we needed to go ahead with developing our own facility.  An area was identified quite close to the clubhouse and car park which was deemed to be very safe for our juniors to practice.
“Obviously we were financially restrained on how far we could develop the area, but the success of our application to Awards For All Scotland now puts us in a position to progress with the development of a very comprehensive short game practice facility. 
"This will enable Trevor Grose, our Head Coach, and his dedicated team to deliver our junior ClubGolf programme.  
"This facility will encompass all aspects of the all-important short game - chipping, pitching, bunker play and putting.”
The project is expected to cost around £19,000, with the club adding to the Awards for All funding awarded under the category of “improvements or additions to community buildings or play facilities”. The work, which will be carried out by club staff, will begin on the 120 x 60 yard area at the end of October and weather permitting, should be complete in time for next season.
The suggestion to apply for funding came from Audra Booth, ClubGolf Regional Manager for Grampian.  She said:
“I spoke with Janette initially at a meeting I had at the club about another subject and their practice area came up. I told her that there may be funding available to assist what they were looking to do as they have a lot of children attending their sessions.
"This year for example they had 59. It meant that they had to go to another facility or close holes on their course in order to deliver their coaching sessions, which was no longer safe due to numbers. 
“I then met with the club's PGA professional Dean Vannet and Paul Sharp, the head greenkeeper, to find out what they had in mind and asked them to get together the costs and a plan in order to see which funding stream would be most suitable for them to apply to.
“This funding and development will mean that they can deliver the full ClubGolf programme in a safe environment, without having to take their juniors to another facility.
“I have assisted a few clubs in the past although funding is not guaranteed.  Rosehearty, for example, had no practice bunkers and used to take their children onto the beach for those lessons and after a successful Awards For All application they now have two bunkers at their sixth hole.”
Peterculter has a thriving membership with a 122-strong junior section and 14 trained ClubGolf volunteer coaches.
The new area will benefit them and adult members as well as the wider community, with local primary schools being approached to take part in ClubGolf coaching at the club.
Janette added: “We feel as a club it is extremely important to develop and encourage the enthusiasm of our junior members, who, after all, are the future of golf.”