It is gives me great pleasure in writing this report as Junior Organiser which is in reality on behalf of the Junior’s at Whittington Heath Golf Club. For those that read last years report we said we were on a journey to re-establish the Club’s Junior section and I believe we have made some inroads into achieving that vision. We now have a Junior section whose membership exceeds thirty with a number of young juniors learning to play the game.
It is gives me great pleasure in writing this report as Junior Organiser which is in reality on behalf of the Junior’s at Whittington Heath Golf Club. For those that read last years report we said we were on a journey to re-establish the Club’s Junior section and I believe we have made some inroads into achieving that vision. We now have a Junior section whose membership exceeds thirty with a number of young juniors learning to play the game.
It is gives me great pleasure in writing this report as Junior Organiser which is in reality on behalf of the Junior’s at Whittington Heath Golf Club. For those that read last years report we said we were on a journey to re-establish the Club’s Junior section and I believe we have made some inroads into achieving that vision. We now have a Junior section whose membership exceeds thirty with a number of young juniors learning to play the game.
Junior Club Championship
The highlight and target for any junior is to see if they can win the Junior Club championship and this year that honour went to Junior Captain, Joel Grant who won the title on the 36th hole with the final putt
Staffordshire Junior League
WHGC juniors play in the South Staffordshire Division and this year the team led by Joel Grant as Captain ably assisted by Jamie Johnston as Vice Captain played seven singles matches against the other local clubs in our Division with a nail biting finish that saw the team win the Division with the last putt on the last green in the last match. If I had hair it would have been well and truly disappeared that afternoon.
This win saw the team travel to Penn Golf Club where we took on The Chase Golf Club in the semi finals where unfortunately we were unsuccessful on this occasion. I have been proud to accompany the team this year as they have been a credit to the club and if you are a parent reading this report, my sincere thanks to you also.
Junior Open
The target was set last year when I thought how can I exceed the entry level for this years Junior Open. We did and it was incredible to see 56 juniors from across the midlands region enter and play in this year's Junior Open. The weather virtually remained dry and some great golf played with the winning gross score being 72 and nett being 67!! Well done to Ben Jones who had the lowest score of the WHGC juniors.
Events like this don’t just happen and without the time given of the volunteers and to Mr Captain, Lady Captain and Immediate Past Captain along with other members it could not have been such a success, my thanks to you all and we have set the bar for 2010.
Individual Achievements.
A number of juniors represented the Club at Open’s around the region this year which was great to see but special mention goes to Matt Smith who won the South Staff’s Golf Club Junior Open.
General
This year we have been running junior nights on a Friday night and during the winter we have moved to Sunday afternoons. This has allowed our new younger junior members to play the Heathland Course, which the Club kindly supported the establishing of. It allows the younger juniors to develop their skills and etiquette and to the adult members my sincere thanks for the understanding and support you have given as you were waved through. Let's hope you saw a future Club Champion.
I have enjoyed the year as Junior Organiser and am confident that as move into 2010 we will have more successes for the Junior Section. My thanks to 2009 Junior Captain Joel Grant and to all of the juniors who have now moved up to intermediate level, well done.
To all those members who have given the juniors words of encouragement during 2009 and to those that have gone that extra bit by helping at junior events or the Friday evening’s of the Junior Section, please accept our sincere thanks.
It would be remiss of me not to make a special mention to Mike Raj, who has been working with the EGU delivering coaching sessions to the new and more established juniors in order that we can re establish the Junior section to the numbers we used to have.
Simon Fisher - Junior Organiser.