Golf Australia – April 2018

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YOUR SAY

SENIORS ARE THE FUTURE

While we need to attract young people to

the game of course, they are not going to

be the future of the game for many years

to come.

Things like housing affordability, and the

cost of bringing up children, young people

are working longer and harder than ever;

and golf will be out of the question for most

for 35 years after leaving school. Andrew

Daddo says something similar in the March

issue of Golf Australia.

The future of golf lies with retirees.

People are living longer healthier lives and

can expect to have many years on the golf

course in their later years. Certainly, at many

of the clubs where I play, older players are

the backbone of the club. Many people

introduced to golf in their 50s can expect to

be playing for the next 25-30 years!

So how do we attract seniors into golf?

My club (Half Moon Bay) have a buddy

golf morning on a Thursday, where

beginners can play nine holes at a slow

pace with other beginners. It is a shotgun

start and a social event afterwards,

and it has helped our club increase

member numbers.

I am sure that there are many other

strategies that can also be used to

target seniors.

Ron Sylvester

Redlynch, Queensland

Want to get something off your chest? Let us know your

opinion via e-mail to: [email protected] or send your

letter to: Letters to the Editor, Golf Australia magazine, Level 6,

Building A, 207 Pacifi c Hwy, St Leonards NSW 2065.

LETTER OF THE MONTH

NINE IS JUST FINE THANKS

With a typical round and post-round

“debrief” taking fi ve-six hours, ‘family

friendly’ is not a phrase regularly used

to describe golf. I’m passionate about

golf, but have only managed a handful of

competition rounds in the past few months.

A busy job and four children make it hard

for me to fi nd the time.

Sure, I could probably duck out for a

nine-hole social round, but the challenges

of trying to improve my handicap and

testing myself in a competitive environment

would not be there. These things are largely

what attracted me to this great game in

the fi rst place. So, despite my love of

golf, I recently resigned myself to letting

my membership lapse at the end of the

fi nancial year and racking my clubs for a

number of years.

That was until my club, Royal Canberra,

introduced a new initiative. A nine-hole

competition to be held on a weekly basis,

with the best scores of the week and the

week’s winners being determined on

the following Monday morning by our

golf shop staff. To enter the competition,

members must book in for a nine-hole

social round, have a marker playing in the

competition and submit their completed

cards. A fee of half the usual 18-hole

competition fee is payable to enter.

This initiative is an innovative way of

encouraging a wider range of members

to play competition golf more often.

The initiative potentially has very broad

appeal. For instance, it will attract time

poor golfers like me, those who can’t

easily physically manage 18-holes and

those for whom two-three hours of golf

is enough of a good thing. For me, it

means that instead of looking to rack my

clubs and join a gym or take up cycling,

I am looking forward to ducking out for a

‘cheeky nine’ every week or so.

Andrew Berger

Campbell, ACT

OUR ‘LETTER OF THE MONTH’ WINNER RECEIVES A PAIR OF

CALLAWAY XFER FUSION GOLF SHOES, WORTH $180.