Club of the year honour for Fortrose
07/03/2014
L-R:Shona Robison MSP, F&R’s Ewen Skinner, F&R Club Sec Mike McDonald and F&R’s ClubGolf Convenor Alistair Tait.
PGA Professional Alan Fleming is aiming to help the RBS Scottish Junior Club of the Year, Fortrose & Rosemarkie, build on its success.
The Highland club was named the country’s No.1 club for young golfers at the 2014 Scottish Golf Awards, reflecting the work of its team of volunteer coaches led by ClubGolf convenor Alistair Tait.
Fleming, a lecturer in golf management and a coach at the University of Highlands and Islands, is now involved as a coach at the club which is one of 30 Scottish facilities earmarked as a development centre to take talented ClubGolf juniors through to academy level.
The Scot is also hoping to become the ‘roving PGA pro’ at the club which is a PGA-backed scheme to provide funds for clubs that don’t have a full-time pro on board.
Fleming will also be helping Fortrose host a ClubGolf Camp for the first time this summer when youngsters have a week of continual golf coaching wrapped around the Scottish Open.
“The club earned its Junior Club of the Year award through the work done prior to my arrival and now they are trying to move things on a step by giving juniors even more opportunities,” said Fleming.
The Black Isle club beat off stiff competition from Peebles, Prestonfield and Bathgate to win the award after a landmark 125th anniversary year in which junior golf took centre stage.
Upon receiving the £1,500 first prize for return investment into the juniors at Fortrose, club secretary Mike MacDonald said: “I was total unaware that we were going to win the award but to win it is just a fantastic achievement for the club.
“We’ve had a lot of recognition already and I think, on the back of this, we can take the club forward even more. For the coaches it means a lot as well because those are the guys that put the hard work in.
“Obviously, we had such a fantastic year last year with it being our 125th anniversary at the golf club. There was just so much going on but I think the enthusiasm of the coaches was the key thing that helped us to deliver everything we wanted to. They have given up so much of their time for the kids and our coaching is a massive thing for encouraging them to play.
“Being the 2014 RBS Junior Club of the Year will certainly help ClubGolf grow here. We had 80 children taking part in ClubGolf coaching last year and we will do as much as we can to promote ourselves as the RBS Junior Club of the Year, which will hopefully encourage even more to come along in the future.”
Over the course of 2013, the Highland club invested heavily in new practice facilities and coaching resources for their juniors and has experienced an increase in young members as a result, from 94 to 131, making it one of the busiest sections in the country.
Similar success was experienced at Prestonfield, where 2013/14 RBS Volunteer of the Year Liz Taylor oversaw the introduction of golf for the first time to over 100 children.
Bruce Cook, head of group Sponsorship at RBS, said: “Both of this year’s winners have shown great commitment and a collaborative spirit to grow the game. As ClubGolf continues to bring more kids into the game, we rely on individuals like Liz Taylor and those involved at Fortrose & Rosemarkie to keep it going strong.”
