Open Inspiration for local youngsters

by Ben Evans

Only when the last putt has rolled into the cup to win The Open is the winner’s name handed in a note to the engraver of the Claret Jug, who then writes this name in silver and the new Champion Golfer of the Year is recorded in perpetuity.?

Legacy is a much bandied word in sport at present but there are a few international events, which exude history and are loved by enough people, that can play a natural role in linking the tradition of the past to the exciting potential of the future. They stand for their sport.

The Open is a rare example of this: the 151st edition of golf’s greatest championship (founded in 1860) started at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 20.

While national children’s charity the Golf Foundation are on site at The Open all week to help grow the game as guests of its strongest supporter The R&A, both bodies are partnering with home nation England Golf, The PGA and EDGA on a legacy project to complement the lasting appeal of the iconic championship itself.

“It’s not just about celebrating the Merseyside area for the year, but building the game for the future,” says Angela Dale, founder of the Wirral Golf Academy, which is part of the fabric in supporting youngsters through golf in this area.

Royal Liverpool is one of ten current venues that stage The Open throughout the UK and it has become a new tradition, if you like, to support the region around each venue when and where The Open is held, leaving both a physical and emotional imprint in the community, while each of these annual projects – called ‘The Road to The Open’ – also highlights the best work to introduce golf to a new generation all over the UK, aiming to inspire children and young people from all backgrounds to enjoy?the benefits of golf.

A fortnight to the day before the first shot of The Open this year, our Golf Foundation team was checking out the project’s progress, which has reached more than 40 school and community groups in Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside since April, including five special educational needs schools, five secondary schools, and more than 20 primary schools.

Gavin Forsyth, Golf Foundation RDO for the area, said: “The aim is to create an environment where juniors can have fun whilst still learning the basic skills to help them develop their game, but we also look to offer them valuable life skills through golf that they can use in their wider activities, promoting confidence and resilience, assisting in their wellbeing.” (The Golf Foundation’s own mental toughness programme is called Unleash Your Drive.)

First stop for this writer was West Kirby School and College, where in Reception, among the school’s stated values, its staff want the students to “feel pride in themselves and be aspirational, and develop independence, resilience and kindness” as they look to their future lives.

This felt like a good start and linked well with the life skills approach. PE teacher Rob Musgrave confirmed he is signing up to run the school programme as part of the curriculum next year. Rob and a group of other local teachers and school volunteers received training in this from Gavin Forsyth in April, so it was great to now see Gavin and Rob combining with local PGA Professional coach Dave Myers, taking two golf sessions with youngsters who have special educational needs and seeing the students absorbed in a putting and chipping challenge and a putting game called Clockface.?

Rob said: “We have also been able to train students aged 16-plus as volunteers to coach the younger students. You see the youngsters enjoying the sensory elements of making the shots, building their confidence along with the focus. It’s great fun, we are all playing the putting as part of our sports day tomorrow and we are looking forward to the ‘beat the teacher’ session within that!”

PGA Professional Dave Myers exudes calmness with a relaxed smile through his love of the game and years of experience. Hugely supportive of the Golf Foundation’s desire to reach more young people with a disability, Dave is one of many PGA coaches in the UK who are found at the heart of the charity’s programmes in schools, clubs and communities.

With funding provided by the Foundation, Dave will visit typically three SEND schools a week in the North West to deliver the school programme using Golfway; he is also proud to be a coach and supporter for the GB Special Olympics golfers.

Dave says: “Every child with special educational needs is different, that’s a key thing to remember, and as coaches we are learning how to adapt during each session to help children reach their potential. When we can help youngsters make progress it is so satisfying for everyone.”

Just a few miles away in Wallasey, at Weatherhead High School, four different groups of students had a go at playing with the Golfway equipment which is being used by so many schools as part of the national schools programme.?All the schools taking part in The Road to The Open have access to, or have been given, a full Golfway kitbag.?

PE Teacher Miss Faulkner said she and her students were encouraged when they saw their shots lifting into the air so soon after starting and she enjoyed seeing their reaction to how well they were doing.?

Miss Faulkner said: “We have one group that is a little harder to reach through sport but we have been delighted with how they have taken to it, becoming absorbed as six students putt, while six play longer shots, designing a crazy golf course for others to enjoy, and respecting the game and the rules that go alongside. For a teacher it is good to see how safe it is, while the use of the velcro-balls and targets make it fun and practical. I also noticed the students like taking control and responsibility for their session, wheeling out the well-designed kit bag and creating their mini course and other targets.”??

Golf Foundation Unleash Your Drive Manager Andy Leigh and Angela Dale from the Wirral Golf Academy led these sessions. In 2003, the school relocated from three separate sites around the Wallasey area to a new purpose-built state of the art site on Breck Road – which looks to be a fantastic community for young people, and a natural choice to help reach into schools for The Road to The Open.???

I spoke to students Sarah, Meg, Maddy and Poppy who all said they would enjoy having another try at golf soon. Interestingly, Andy Leigh had asked the students if they knew The Open, if they had tried or knew golf and if they had tried crazy golf on holiday. Of course, he was met with varying answers but he then said: “Well, at the end of this session you can say you’ve had a go at golf.”

Just along the road, a group of a dozen or so children were assembling on West Kirby Beach, I would say two Rory McIlroy-length drives away from the Royal Liverpool turf. Despite the misty drizzle and whipping cold wind there was an air of excitement.?

They were under the wing of community volunteer Kate Hughes, who had brought along the group of youngsters, some with special educational needs, from three golf academies, Leasowe, Wallasey and Heswall. Kate is a former England golf international and PE teacher.

Asked why she was helping with The Road to The Open, Kate said: “I want the children to be involved with one of the greatest sporting events. If we were in Wigan or St Helens everyone would be playing Rugby League and with all the great golf courses on the Wirral we want the same to be the case for golf with our youngsters.

“We’re out in the fresh air having a fun time, lots of exercise, and our young people are even making golf holes in the sand, being creative. Golf can be so inclusive; children of all abilities playing together, which is wonderful.

“I’m loving volunteering because I just enjoy seeing children succeed, and the great thing about the Golfway kit and Golf Foundation games is this can happen quickly, and so they then want to play it more! If they do the Foundation and England Golf can help take it all much further.”

Kate is a fan of the Foundation’s Unleash Your Drive programme and its teachings to help with focus, resilience and other life skills, which can be applied away from the course.

“I know Andy Leigh talks about the ‘Square of Concentration’, the moment you enter the imaginary square and you focus on just what’s in front of you. Well, here, you need that Square of Concentration, on the sand, unfamiliar lies, where the wind is blowing, seagulls screeching overhead, you still have to think about hitting that ball. A skill that can be used for other things, like exams or facing questions in the classroom."

Kate added: “It’s great to have the support of The R&A in this project on the Wirral. Here we are, just a few hundred yards from the fairways at Royal Liverpool, playing golf together on the beach. What could be better? I’m pleased that The R&A can support this end of the game as well as at the pinnacle.”

Gavin later told me: “I think it was fantastic how all the kids embraced that beach golf session. No one complained about the chilly conditions. We also couldn’t have done this without the brilliant help of young volunteer Isobel who was outstanding and of course Kate Hughes. We would like to thank so many parents, teachers, club members, volunteers and the children for making a challenging local project such a joy to be involved with.”

Andy, Gavin, and the likes of Angela and Kate have also enjoyed supporting England Golf’s work in the area’s golf clubs around The Road to The Open, including England Golf’s running of a Skills Challenge. Fifteen teams from six clubs in the area have recorded scores for this challenge on a virtual leaderboard, and a Skills Challenge was held alongside the final day of The Amateur Championship at Hillside?Golf?Club, with five clubs enjoying a competition during this famous event.

On the second day of my visit to the Wirral, Angela Dale helped run a GolfSixes Mini League event at Arrowe Park in Wallasey, in which GolfSixes could be played on a rectangular space of grass using simply Golfway equipment and easy-scoring holes, employing green, yellow (bunkers) and blue cones (water hazards) to create six golf holes, to show how a golf competition can be played in a smaller environment.

“Children who had had very little knowledge of golf were enjoying playing together in the sunshine for an hour of fun competition, while posing with a ‘claret jug’ and learning a bit about The Open,” said Angela. “It was a wonderful introduction to golf.”

In the afternoon, it was off to St George’s Primary School, Wallasey, for children of different ages to play similar golf games on their playing field. “The feedback from our teachers on the impact this has had on our Year 5 group was amazing,” said PE Teacher Chris Knowles. One pupil later told us: “It was really fun and enjoyable to work as a team and work with our friends, and I found it quite stress relieving too! You were just enjoying the game!”

As a special treat, the pupils got to meet R&A Diversity Ambassador Zane Scotland, who became the youngest ever person to qualify for The Open, aged 16 in 1999. Zane worked with the youngsters to help with their first putts, chips and full shots, and was an immediate hit, being the first professional tournament golfer the children had met, but also due to his calm and encouraging manner with them.

Many of these schools have been able to accept an invitation from The R&A to visit The Open itself, including experiencing The R&A SwingZone where they will find staff and volunteers from The PGA, England Golf, EDGA (the international body that encourages people with a disability to enjoy golf) and the Golf Foundation team.?

A key final but highly important strand of The Road to The Open, is working with young people on careers. The DP World Tour has taken its ‘Golf Futures’ programme, which is supported by The R&A, into area schools with the support of the partners of The Road to The Open to highlight careers in golf. Students will next be given a unique behind the scenes tour of The Open itself at Royal Liverpool, seeing how a major golf championship like this is run, before themselves volunteering to do some of The Open’s key jobs, for example helping with running scoreboards.?

Golf makes every player think about the shot, but you also have to think of the players around you and respect them. All the activity I had seen had led to children absorbed in a task, and co-operating with those also playing the game. A mural on a wall at St George’s school is titled simply, ‘Respect’, above various inspirational figures from society. Everyone involved in The Road to The Open seemed to understand the word, regardless of whether they knew much about The Open or who might win.?

When you think of the West Kirby school’s desire to develop “independence, resilience and kindness” among their pupils, and you mix that with the inclusive nature of golf itself (and if we are welcomed to play it can be the most inclusive of games), plus all the ideas behind The Road to The Open, you can believe golf as a sport is heading in a good direction.

The names of the two previous winners of The Open at Royal Liverpool were mentioned at times, but here on the Wirral, the name ‘Salah’ was on more of the sport shirts, but that is no matter. When the winner’s name is engraved on the Claret Jug on July 23, it will be one new silver name in a sport which can be improved by every name it attracts, all around the world.?