Across January 9, 10, and 11, junior golfers from Braidwood will be able to take part in one of the most highly-anticipated events on their calender: the school holiday program run by Damon Welsford.
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The opportunity to learn from a professional golfer does not come along every day for most kids, and the holiday program is a great opportunity for players of all experience levels to come along and improve their game under the watchful eye of Welsford.
Program organiser, Rod Coady, said that it is usually a well-attended event, and has run for the last five years.
“Normally we get about 20 kids, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less,” Coady said.
“The ages are from usually about five to 15 or so, so there’s a great variation of abilities there. Most of them would be at the beginner stage, but we get kids coming back for it.”
Welsford has been involved with the program for the last three years, and Coady praised his ability to work with the kids and improve their abilities.
“The last three years we’ve had a professional, who was at Federal Golf Club, but is now at Royal Canberra,” Coady said.
“He’s very skilled at getting the kids interested and so on … so he’s a very useful addition.
“And we also get very much appreciated help from a woman called Sue Harrison, who used to be a Braidwood golfer but who now works for the Jack Newton golf foundation.”
The program primarily focuses on the kids’ short game over the first two days, with Welsford usually emphasising putting and chipping techniques, and on the third day the kids are allowed to get on the course and try their hand at playing a few holes.
Such programs are part of a push by the Braidwood Golf Club to keep kids interested in golf in the long-term.
“We haven’t got a lot who are actually at the point where they can play in regular competition or anything like that, at least not in the seniors,” Coady said.
“We’ve got one fella who’s graduated into that, and we have had another boy … there are a lot of competing [interests], but we are looking at strategies for giving kids who are enthused by the clinic some way of continuing on.”
The golfing school holiday program will take place from January 9 to January 11 at the Braidwood Golf Club, from 8.45am to 12.15pm.
As positions are limited, interested parents are advised to register as soon as possible through mygolf.org.au and going to the Find a Program link. Further information can be obtained by calling Rod Coady on 0410 402 203.
