McNicoll embraces empowerment initiative to combat drop-off in girls participation

You’ve got to start early in this game. “My wee daughter is nearly three and she likes hitting a ball but if she misses it a couple of times, then that’s the clubs down and the anger kicks in,” said Keir McNicoll with a chuckle. “She’s got my temper.”

McNicoll’s young ‘un will be in good hands, of course. As an enthusiastic, experienced and highly respected PGA professional, McNicoll, and the rest of the team at Carnoustie Golf Links, remain committed to a tireless drive to nurture the next golfing generation.

The success of the flourishing ‘Carnoustie Craws’ junior programme has been well-documented but, as ever in this game, there’s always room for improvement.

Getting young girls into golf has, traditionally, been something of a challenge. Maintaining that interest can be an even bigger task. “We have loads of girls between say Primary 3 and Primary 6 age but beyond that, you begin to notice a significant drop off,” said McNicoll.

To combat that, and in attempt to turn the tide, McNicoll joined forces with Jill Duke of the Empowerment Academy for Girls to create a fresh, forward-thinking programme. Encouraging the older members of the initiative to be role models for the young ones has helped create a “virtuous circle” of girls inspiring girls.

“If you look at the overall programme here, we have about 300 kids of which 25 per cent are girls,” said McNicoll. “As you move up through the age pyramid, though, it becomes less and less. You’ll get down to below 10 per cent as they get older. We have, for instance, 54 kids with a handicap just now. Only six of them are girls. It’s a very small percentage. That’s a common theme throughout golf clubs. Everyone knows about the challenges and, with Jill’s help, we just tried to do something a bit different to try and reverse this trend.”

With valuable support from The R&A, the combined resources and expertise that McNicoll and Duke bring to the table continues to bear fruit. “When I first started coaching, it was about putting everybody together and mixing up classes, which is great,” reflected McNicoll. “But we have learned that girls feel more comfortable in a group of girls. That’s where the Empowerment Academy made a difference. Through Scottish Golf we ran the Girls Golf Hub to do girls only coaching and that was delivered throughout Scotland by PGA pros and junior helpers. We wanted to do it a bit differently, though.

“So we got the girls to run the coaching. The 13 to 16 year-olds ran the coaching for girls aged six and we would oversee it. If Jill or myself needed to step in we would but it was great to see girls train themselves up and grow in confidence too. It’s more than just playing golf. We have attached a sports leader qualification to it which they can put on a cv. Hopefully that will stand them in good stead in future years if they are applying for jobs or University.”

Carnoustie is still enjoying the positive, wide-ranging spin-offs from a hugely successful staging of the AIG Women’s Open last summer. “A study by the University of Abertay about perceptions of women as elite athletes will show how that helped open eyes,” added McNicoll. “The legacy of that will hopefully be beneficial.”

A Carnoustie native, McNicoll, who was playing off a mighty plus-six handicap when he turned pro back in 2008, remains rightly proud of the work he and his team are doing to bolster the game in this great golfing hotbed.

“If I was in any job I’d want to do my best but being a Carnoustie man myself makes what I do more important to me,” said the 37-year-old. “The end goal is to get these juniors into clubs and be a member and have a handicap.

“The R&A have been massive supporters of the Empowerment Academy and, along with The PGA and Scottish Golf, everybody is working together to help the next generation.”

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