Golf: Ratho Park is latest member of the clubgolf revolution

A NUDGE from a near neighbour has opened Ratho Park Golf Club members' eyes to the importance of trying to get children from local schools involved in the game.

The club has produced some outstanding young players over the years, including two-time Lothians champion Callum Macphail.

Steven Armstrong, now at Turnhouse, was also a Ratho Park member when he won the Lothians Boys in 1991, with Macphail's younger brother, Alastair, as well as Jay Taylor, also lifting that title as they cut their competitive teeth there.

But the club has considered ways in which to attract more juniors for some time and it took a trip to Turnhouse, which has produced startling results from its clubgolf coaching programme, to convince Ratho to offer something similar.

"What really swung it for us was seeing clubgolf in action at Turnhouse and the advice and support offered by their clubgolf co-ordinator Iain Holt," said Ratho ladies' captain and new clubgolf co-ordinator Liz Robinson.

"There was a real buzz at the club, something we desperately need here, and I decided there and then that this is what we should be doing.

"Clubs are achieving so much through clubgolf and I firmly believe that our club can do just as well as any other club out there."

The result is that Ratho Park, where Jo Dunnett has done a sterling job in encouraging girls to take up the game for many years, has launched an initiative to encourage non-golfing children in nearby Ratho and Dean Park primary schools to play the sport.

Robinson, an ex-school teacher, has recruited five club members to become volunteer coaches and they attended the PGA's two-day Level 1 course earlier this month.

Helping the initiative is a 500 award from clubgolf partner, the Golf Foundation, through its discretionary grant scheme for clubs and facilities signed up to deliver the clubgolf programme.

"Our coaches are as keen as mustard and they all want to put something back into the sport and get more youngsters coming into the club," added Robinson on the first night of coaching, attended by an above-expected 13 local children.

"None of these children tonight are golfers, or have had any formal coaching before. These are exactly the type of children we are aiming to attract, local children whose families have never played golf, or have never considered golf as an option for them.

"Hopefully, giving them this insight and basic coaching will give them the skills which they can take on board for their entire young lives."

Ratho Park's involvement with clubgolf is exciting news for local Bev Anderson, active schools co-ordinator for the Balerno cluster. Through its Active Schools network, sportscotland is working with all 32 local authorities to develop and build on the opportunities for Scottish youngsters to get active.

"Until now the children we have introduced to golf at school have had to go to clubgolf programmes at golf clubs further afield," said Anderson, whose role in the sportscotland and Edinburgh's Active Schools network is to support the link between school and community sport.

"The kids here are quite isolated and they normally have to travel a long distance to play sport. So having Ratho on board will make a huge difference. The club is right on our doorstop, just five minutes away, so it really is their closest sports facility. It's fantastic that they are offering clubgolf coaching and we expect to see a lot of children signing up and enjoying the programme."

Holt has been the driving force behind the clubgolf programme at Turnhouse, which provided two of the 16 qualifiers for last week's Lothians Boys at The Braids. Unfortunately, Lewis Bain and Connor Black faced each other in the first round, with Bain going on to lift the title.