Devonshire cream

It’s been a case of westward grow for a group of PGA Professionals who have embraced an England Golf initiative to grow the game.

Good club professionals might not be worth their weight in gold – but after generating around £9,000 of new memberships in just two years for Tiverton Golf Club, Alistair Welsher (pictured) is getting close.

With the support of England Golf, the PGA Professional has developed a thriving Get Into Golf academy, signed up 15 new members and is determined to keep the numbers building in 2017.

On top of that, Welsher has had a blast in the process, insisting: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It’s been very rewarding. Probably the most fun I have had as a professional.”

And the 30-year-old is not alone. Across Devon, professionals at Exeter, Boringdon Park and Bovey Tracey have similarly embraced the Get Into Golf scheme to generate thriving coaching programmes, drawing in new members and incomes streams running in to tens of thousands of pounds

“The results the pros have achieved has been fantastic,” said Paul Cloke, England Golf’s south west regional manager. “They have embraced the scheme and really worked hard to give all the beginners a great experience.”

When Welsher joined Tiverton as head professional two-and-a-half years ago, membership numbers were down. During the good times the club had around 700 on the books. When Welsher arrived that figure was in the 500s. He decided to help.

A conversation with Cloke highlighted the possibilities of Get Into Golf – and the Devon PGA vice captain threw himself into the project full tilt, using roadside banners, leaflets, word of mouth and some newspaper adverts to pack out the first beginner session and the success story went from there.

Year one led to six new members. By tweaking the course schedule, that number has risen to 10 in 2016, Welsher managing to hit double figures by the end of the year.

He said: “We had one more lady join which took us to 10 for the year. The scheme is a win-win for the players, coaches and the club.

“The students get to learn a new skill and enjoy themselves, the coaches earn from lessons and the club gets new members. And it is very rewarding seeing all that happen.

To take people who have never played the game before from picking up a club for the first time all the way to full membership is extremely satisfying.

“It is great when you see people improving then getting out on the course and playing. It’s also a nice feeling when you tell the club committee the scheme has brought in 10 new memberships this year.

“New members mean income for the clubs through membership fees, but also the add-ons like food and drinks in the clubhouse over the year. Those new members will generate far more money for the club than simply the membership fees alone.”

Welsher splits the coaching into three distinct areas. It opens with five weekly beginner sessions for £25, with instruction on putting, chipping, bunker play and full swing with the final lesson taking place on the course.

The improvers section moves the on-course instruction a step further with two two-hour sessions and, as with the beginner course, all the equipment is provided. The final segment costs £100 for a two-month membership which includes two half-hour lessons.

This year Welsher will have the added benefit of being able to teach all his new candidates on a new £25,000 chipping and putting green and he said: “I can’t wait to get out there. The new facility will improve the beginners’ short games much faster.”

Andy Fox is another who has taken full advantage of the Get Into Golf scheme. He has only been at Bovey Tracey in Newton Abbot for around six months in which time he has completed a course started by the previous professional and got one of his own up and running.

Even in that short space of time, the project has brought in seven new members and he plans to keep rolling the programme out, adding: “It has worked, there’s no doubt about it.”

Three PGA Professionals are involved in the Get Into Golf scheme at Boringdon Park in Plymouth – Scott MacAskill, Jez Willmott and Ian Marshall.

It is one of several schemes run by the team to draw in men, women, children and families. But the Get Into Golf initiative has had a dramatic effect, particularly on the ladies section which was struggling.

MacAskill said: “We had three or four ladies playing regularly. That was it. Now on a Saturday morning we have 15 or so ready to tee off.

“We have converted six out of 12 girls who joined the scheme into members. Get Into Golf has effectively led to 10 new members, so it has been well worth getting involved in. What works well with the scheme is its structure. There is a plan to follow and it works.”

Darren Everett, head PGA Professional at Exeter Golf and Country Club, has gleaned eight new members from his Get Into Golf course – quite an achievement as he’s only been at the club since May.

He and his assistants have also worked hard to nurture all the beginners who got involved and made sure not to push them too far too fast.

“We completed the Get Into Golf course but we had a lot of students who were still not quite confident enough to become members,” he said.

“So we have laid on another course which has between 30 and 35 on board. The whole point is to work with the players until they feel confident enough to make that step into full membership, which can be quite daunting.

“We will cover etiquette, rules, where to leave your trolley or the right place to leave a bunker rake. So all the students feel comfortable on the course.

“Another feature we will be adding next year is a ‘befriending’ group of members who will help beginners make that transition from learning the game to playing regularly and making friends.”

The Devon clubs have had dramatic results, with Cloke adding: “The quicker beginners are out playing, the more fun they have. The other big bonus of the scheme is it helps build better relationships in clubs between the professionals and the committee. If everyone gets on board the results can be really impressive.”