Erskine hopes golf can be top of the class with new schools initiative

School days, so the saying goes, are the best days of your life. They may be the most exhausting too when you're a hard-working PGA Professional. “We had 300 kids for coaching over two days,” gasped James Erskine as he reflected on a mighty mass that was akin to the vast crowd scenes you’d see in a DeMille epic.

The opportunity to take golf into the local schools of his own parish of Dumfries has been eagerly embraced by Erskine and the response from those getting a taste of the game for the first time has been equally as enthusiastic.

Thanks to funding from the Children’s Golf Trust, which was the brainchild of Royal Troon head professional Kieron Stevenson, Erskine now has the financial clout to spread the golfing gospel.

“We get paid to take golf in there, the schools don’t pay a thing and it’s during curriculum time from Primary One through to Primary Seven,” he explained of his recent, two-day visit to Heathhall Primary School. “Getting access to the schools is like getting Willy Wonka’s golden ticket in terms of development.

“Everybody benefits and to get access to so many kids is huge. The hope is that we can go into every school in the town for years to come. We’ve already had loads of messages from parents of children who’d never tried golf saying they loved it. Less than 7% of those at the school had tried golf but I would say that 99% enjoyed the delivery and now have an interest in the sport.”

In the home of golf, there has been a long-standing debate about getting the game Scotland gave to the world on to the school curriculum. Erskine, unsurprisingly, is a staunch advocate.

“The game would really prosper,” added the Dumfries & County PGA pro. “When I first started my business about 15 years ago, I went into schools and charged £1 to come to classes. It was hugely popular but I’ve not been in once since. It can be hard getting into schools. If they are doing golfing programmes they have to pay. That can eat into their education budget.

“This way, though, the costs are covered, the teachers love it and the kids get additional PE from it. We had kids who may not have been the most physically active, there were some with disabilities, but they all took part and engaged. Not many sports can do that. It’s a game for everybody. We are using arithmetic, we are explaining rules, we are promoting etiquette but most of all we’re having fun. I don’t see why golf in school is not championed more.”

Erskine’s inaugural school sessions coincided with a big weekend for another sport with significant local interest. Dumfries & Galloway curlers Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan and Grant Hardie took a silver medal on the Beijing ice at the Winter Olympics while Vicky Wright, another of the region’s Olympians, was one of Eve Muirhead’s golden girls in the women’s event.

For Erskine, the benefits of promoting curling in the local schools was clear to see.

“Bobby was a class golfer and he used to come to my junior classes at Portpatrick,” reflected Erskine. “The way things went out in Beijing, he’s obviously made the right decision to focus on curling. When I was originally trying to get golf into schools, curling was already going through them in Dumfries & Galloway. The county has loads of curlers and clubs are bursting at the seams. That shows it works.”

Erskine’s own golfing education was served in the relative isolation of Portpatrick on the western fringes of Galloway but this rural, idyllic location had plenty of advantages. “We were fortunate that we had a short par-3 course there and could create our own learning environment on it,” he reflected. “Those types of facilities, where kids can actually get out and learn on a short course, are what Scotland sorely lacks. Most clubs will have a junior medal. But if you put them out on a hole that’s 350 yards long, and they just hit it 50 yards, then they can come away with a 10 or something and their confidence can take an early hit. But put them on a hole that’s 50 yards long, where they have a chance to hit it on the green and may even have a putt for an eagle, and it changes their whole perception of the sport. That’s what we need more of.”

With an unbridled energy and enthusiasm, Erskine will continue to drive junior golf in his own backyard.

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