Aitkens puts Leamington on the map

Paul Aitkens, the young PGA Professional at Leamington & County Golf Club in Warwickshire is actively bringing new players into the club due to his rising status as one of the leading coaches in the country for the training of deaf golfers.

Aitkens (above), who to his own knowledge is the only British Sign Language (BSL) qualified golf coach in the country, is studying for a level two course in the subject at Longwill School for the Deaf in Birmingham.

His skills have already taken him to deaf schools across the city to introduce the game to many new devotees, and also to the Birmingham Deaf Golf Society who he arranges and plays matches with. Now the club also benefit as Aitkens’ qualifications and experience have enabled Leamington to become one of only three clubs in the country to be registered as deaf friendly with The National Deaf Children's Society.

Aitkens is able to incorporate deaf and hard of hearing kids with the main group in weekend coaching sessions.

“ I am introducing sign language to the kids who come along to my Saturday morning sessions,” he explained.

“From this they will hopefully learn some basic signs in order to be able to communicate with the deaf children who join the group.”

Aitkens has also done some work with the Birmingham Institute for the Deaf (BID) when they run summer clubs for deaf children. Over the summer he is running 10 hours of group coaching for the Birmingham Deaf Golf Society, after which a competition will be held at the club. From here it is in the pipeline to create some sort of deaf friendly membership package so they can continue to play on.

Aitkens is steering disability golf as a whole in Warwickshire and with his help Leamington & County are currently creating a coaching program which will allow all disabilities to experience the game.