GirlsGuiding & The Rose Ladies Open 2023

GirlGuiding & The Rose Ladies Open 

On Saturday September 9th, Hertfordshire Golf invited GirlGuiding Hertfordshire to attend The Rose Ladies Open. Twenty girls attended the event which had a few highlights. The day was to enable those Girl Guides the chance to gain their Girls Golf Challenge badge by participating in challenges such as, About Golf, Fair play, Creativity, Health & Exercise and Golf skills. All the girls had a go at each challenge and managed to gain their badges, as did Justin Rose and My Leander both pictured above! Both Justin and My really enjoyed being part of the experience. The girls who attended were not only treated to a masterclass from both Justin and My, but also a goody bag full of Hertfordshire Golf, Golf Foundation and Rose Ladies Open goodies (pictured below). The girls were also able to watch some of the amazing golf being played on The Melbourne course at Brocket Hall. Overall, the day was a great success with the weather also playing ball and providing us with glorious sunshine throughout the day. We hope the day has inspired those who attended to carry on playing golf. Who knows, maybe one day they too will be playing professional golf. For more information about the GirlGuiding badge please click  here

North Hertfordshire Schools Golf Association

It started at a Letchworth golf club junior committee meeting to investigate how to get more children into golf and in particular more girls. At the next Junior committee meeting, committee member Richard Moore put forward a proposal to introduce the sport of golf into schools within North Hertfordshire by adding golf to schools' physical education curriculum. He took the proposal to the North Hertfordshire PE teacher's AGM to bounce the concept off them as a result a number of the local schoolteachers attended a coaching session at Nobel School in Stevenage which demonstrate the basic golf coaching drills for schools, the session was delivered by the regional manager Alice Low of the Golf Foundation demonstrating equipment designed for secondary schools used in conjunction with a schools games golf toolkit for secondary schools to be introduced in 2022. The next step was canvassing the local schools to form a school's golf association and funding for the equipment, Richard convened a meeting at Letchworth golf club to do a formal presentation to the teachers from several local schools, potential donators, and other interested bodies. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Mike Amos Foundation, Hertfordshire Golf Ltd, the Golf Foundation, and England Golf. Hence the North Hertfordshire Schools Golf Association was born, consisting initially of six schools, Highfield, Wilbury, Pixmore, St Christophers, Letchworth, Knights Templar form Baldock and Nobel from Stevenage. Funding for equipment was provided by Hertfordshire Golf Ltd, the Golf Foundation, and the Mike Amos Foundation permitting the Associations' hub manager Richard Moore to purchase and circulate eight secondary school premier bags through Nobel school's bursar from the Golf Foundation's store at a discounted price. In addition to school internal coaching, schools either took pupils to Letchworth golf club or had the PGA coach attend the school premises for more advanced coaching. It is considered that the desirable number of schools for individual associations is ten schools per association as practical workload for hub managers to deal with on top of all their other school duties. Hertfordshire Golf Ltd is endeavouring to create further hubs across the county of Hertfordshire based on similar model to the NHSGA.

The next phase for NHSGA was to create a scholarship scheme for children that come from less well-off families, the idea is that each school would select two pupils, one girl and boy. This is to be initiated as pilot scheme, the schedule will cover coaching, fun golf, on course coaching and individual competitions. Hopefully this will lead to the creation of a Junior Pathway Scholarship over a three-year period comprising of start, learn and play. Funding for these ventures is currently being negotiated with the Mike Amos Foundation and the Letchworth golf club board of directors. Hertfordshire Golf Ltd have generously donated further funding for four equipment bags.                                          

  Golf Foundation Present Bag to Pixmore School

What have we been up to LATELY

            GIRLS GUIDES GOLF 

This year over 230 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Young Leaders from Girlguiding Radlett and Girlguiding Elstree and Borehamwood Districts plus 25 Leaders returned to Porters Park Golf Club to take part in the outreach event for Hertfordshire and England Golf.  With coaching and encouragement from Golf Professionals, Club Members and Girlguiding volunteers the girls tried their hand at various game skills during the evening whilst having fun with their friends.  They also enjoyed being creative, designing their own golf outfits and personalising their golf balls - making sure there was something for everyone. Rainbow Caitlin said “it was too much fun!' and Brownie Charlotte told us “I loved the battleship chipping game”.  Parents sent messages of thanks, echoing their daughters' delight and telling us how lucky the girls are to have these opportunities and what a wonderful time many girls had. Our thanks go Nicola Day (District Leader) for organising  these events and giving the girls such a fantastic introduction to the game of Golf at such a beautiful venue. We will be looking to run more of these sessions through out the county, for more information please contact Matthew Crowhurst at cdo@Hertfordshiregolf.org 

             What is Women on Par?

Women on Par is in short, a tried and tested 9 hole event played on Par 3 courses around the County. It features a novel scoring system, using a challenge scorecard, to help beginners learn the basic rules and etiquette of the game. Instead of counting shots, the scorecard outlines challenges for players to undertake, for example hitting the green or getting out of the bunker in one.

There are two levels of the challenge scorecard, so events can cater to beginners and those who have played a little.

Women on Par helps new golfers develop as players. It's also great fun and a good way to get newcomers involved with the club and its social life.

For more information and details click HERE 

  Letchworth G.C Event 6/8/2022

                            On Saturday 6th August Letchworth G.C hosted a Women on Par event on the Academy course. Aimed at beginners or those coming back to the game, each participant is given a scorecard of challenges to achieve as they play their way around the course.

10 ladies took part, which was a great little group, Three Letchworth G.C members volunteered to guide the groups round, giving tips around the etiquette of the game.

It was the perfect day and everyone had an excellent time, meeting new friends and celebrating good shots hit. Especially over the pond on the 5th.

Following the golf everyone enjoyed a nice glass of Slingsby Gin (official sponsors of the initiative) which partnered the sunshine perfectly.

In the end, the winner was  Letchworth Academy member Julie Cole, who finished with 14 challenges achieved out of the 16. In a close second on 13, was Gerri Jani who each Saturday attends Letchworth's Get into Golf sessions with PGA Professional Andrew Hurley and has really enjoyed the sessions,  If you would like to find out more information on the Get into Golf sessions please use the link below. 

Get into Golf