Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs

1. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs Junior Golf Seminar Mere Golf & Country Club Tuesday 21st March 2006

2. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs Welcome From The Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs : President - Malcolm Fitches Wilmslow GC Deputy President - John Allen Secretary - Stephen Foster Boy’s Team Manager - Bob Meston Chairman Junior Committee - Colin Shadbolt Members of the County Executive and Vice Presidents County Coaching Team : Alan Thompson - Heswall Golf Club Peter Barber - Didsbury Golf Club

3. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs Our Guests English Golf Union : Richard Flint Development Manager Melanie McMahon NW Regional Development Officer Cheshire Ladies Golf Association : Margaret Jamieson Captain Karen Schneider Immediate Past Captain Margaret Cook Vice Captain Margaret Walker County Junior Organiser Win Heath County Training officer Affiliated Golf Clubs : Junior Organisers and Officials from 60 Golf Clubs

4. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Seminar Programme • Introduction • EGU Presentation : • County Golf Partnerships • National Golf Development Plan • Child Protection • The County Position • The EGU and CiG Position • County Junior Golf • Open Discussion

5. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Introduction • Seminar is a Biennial Event. • Objectives : • Provide an insight into the local and national “Junior Golf Scene”. • A forum to review issues of interest. • Improve communications between Clubs and the County. • Explain approach to Club Liaison – What we can do for Clubs – What we seek from Clubs. • Give an opportunity to meet colleagues. • Cheshire has a strong golfing tradition, ranked 5th in number of Clubs, we have 104 Affiliated Clubs with around around 3000 Junior Members.

6. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Presentation by The English Golf Union

7. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Child Protection – County Position • This is a real issue which we must acknowledge and take appropriate action. • The CiG Resource Pack Published June 2005. • Clubs, The County Organisations and people working in Junior golf have concerns with the “apparent” provisions of this document. • Cheshire were and remain determined to employ a measured sensible approach to these issues. • August 2005 we submitted a detailed statement of our observations and conclusions requesting that the document in its published form be withdrawn.

8. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Major Observations and Concerns • Appointment of “Welfare Officer”. • Affiliation dependent on adoption of policies. • Strict isolation of parental /County(Club) responsibility – the “drop and forget” mentality. • Changing room practice. • Adults and Juniors playing together. • Attendance registration. • Provisions for recruitment and training. • Photography. • Late collection, transportation.

9. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Our Conclusions • The document provides insight into issues and potential situations which we need to be aware of. • Many “imposed requirements” were considered impractical - difficult or in-appropriate. • Compliance would result in a significant cost and administrative burden on the County/Clubs. • Potential liability through incomplete compliance. • Unfortunate that no distinction is made between younger children and say16-17 year olds. • Misleading impression that proposed “practices” were “no choice” legislative requirements. • Adoption would damage Junior Golf particularly deterring volunteers which we depend on.

10. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Resulting Developments • In response to widespread concerns the EGU set up a “Focus Group” to review the issues. • Further distribution of CiG Resource Pack suspended. • We believe that the EGU accepted the validity of many of the concerns which had been expressed. • CiG Group requested to reconsider the position. • Working Group set up to propose changes, in-process. • Anticipated Outcome : • New leaflet will be published advising on need for Counties and Clubs to have a “Policy”, existing CiG document will be “examples for guidance only”.

11. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • County Intentions • Review existing practices and documentation. • Produce a single “Junior Golf Operations and Policy Document” issued as a County - Parent Agreement. • Will define what the County can do, how we set out to do it and our expectations of the Parents’ role and responsibilities. • Will include provisions for “Handling” any suspected cases of abuse or bullying. • We will continue to require all new County Officials on the Junior Committee to be subject to CRB checks.

12. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • County Junior Golf • The CUGC Role and Achievements In : • Start - Stay - Succeed • Club Junior Liaison

13. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Start • Historically the role of the Golf Foundation supported by the PGA. • The County will continue to encourage Clubs to : • Recruit more Junior Members. • Provide affordable “Subscriptions”. • Avoid “Joining Fees”. • Run Coaching Programmes. • The County are reviewing the current initiatives regarding “County Golf Partnerships”. • The County continues to work with and encourage the “Cheshire Schools Golf Association”.

14. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Stay • The County annually tracks overall membership numbers within our Affiliated Clubs. • Provide support where difficulties exist. • Clubs have a responsibility to encourage younger people to remain members : • “Drop Out” of Junior Members. • Awareness of financial pressures on younger people – encourage generous age related fee structures. Some Clubs only apply full rates at 25/36, many other still at 21. • The increased provision of “Pay and Play” capacity and “Two for One” schemes have clearly had an effect, on particularly younger people joining or remaining Members of Clubs. Recognise fees are expensive if you have limited opportunities to play.

15. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Succeed • The County Junior Budget is now approaching £26,000p.a. Coaching accounts for £16,000. • Main elements of “County Coaching Programme”: • 150 Boys selected from “Club Reports” for our “Driving Range Assessment Programme”. • 48 Boys receive 2 x 2 hour follow up sessions. • Two squads of 10 Boys for Winter Programme at Carden Park and Portal. • The County are indebted to our Coaching Team ; • Alan Thompson – Heswall GC (Also EGU Coach) • Peter Barber – Didsbury GC • Assisted by; Robin Thompson (Prenton GC) and Adrian Hill (Portal GC). • Support Club Coaching Programmes. Only 33% of Clubs take the £75 County - 23% the £125 EGU Grant.

16. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Succeed • Boys Pre-Season Fixture. • Major County Events : • Boys Championship (U18). • Junior Championship (U16 & U14). • National / Regional County Boys Team Events : • The Four Counties Tournament. • EGU Northern Group Championship/Qualifier. • Inter County Boys Team Matches : • Yorkshire – Lancashire – Shropshire – North Wales. • “Mixed Age “ Matches with Derbyshire, Lancs. • Support for Boy’s entering Major Championships. • Support for the Club Junior Leagues which are very strong throughout the County – New County Finals Day Birchwood GC, Saturday 23rd September.

17. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Recent National Achievements • Adam Wills – Sandiway GC, England U18 Squad. • Josh Sims – Caldy GC and Martin Thomas – RLGC, receiving EGU NW Regional Coaching. • Ian Winstanley (+2), - Warrington GC, England U21 Squad, 2005 Winner Northern Order of Merit. • Stephen Capper (+3),– Caldy GC, individual EGU coaching, runner up English Amateur 2005. • Paul Waring (+3),– Bromborough GC, EGU Elite Squad, 2005 English Amateur Champion. • David Horsey (+4),– Styal GC, EGU Elite Squad, 2005 English County Champion of Champions. • Northern Region League Champions 2004. • Runner-up to Yorkshire in 2005. • English Senior County Champions 2005. • Seniors National Squads, Roy Smethurst, Phil Jones, George Payne.

18. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs Appearances in The Home Internationals by County 2000-05

19. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Summary • The County is doing well, Boys Junior Golf is currently strong in terms of numbers and quality. • We can do better – the Clubs will continue to have a vital role. • We are identifying Best National Practices and applying them in Cheshire. Alan Thompson is a National Coach and RWM is on the National Coaching Committee. • We encourage Clubs to consider“Junior Golf Mark Accreditation”, and particularly to continue to recruit and develop our Juniors for the future. • Please help us to develop effective communications. • Please submit Junior Golf Reports promptly. • Thank you for your support.

20. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • County Communications. • Use the County website www.cheshiregolf.org.uk • The structure of Club Junior Liaison Officers : • Members of the County Junior Committee. • Allocation of approx 10 Clubs each. • Please feel free to contact them for any support, guidance or just to chat . • Contact now available by E-Mail using webpage “Junior Liaison” as a link or : jlo@cheshiregolf.org.uk • Register of Club Junior Organisers please help us to keep this up to date. • Please tell us about your promising Juniors - use the Junior Golfer Report available on the website.

21. Cheshire Union Of Golf Clubs • Open Discussions • Wallasey GC : • How do other Clubs deal with youngsters up to 11 years of age? • Vale Royal Abbey : • Does the County support golf in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. • Romiley GC and others : • Various concerns regarding the CiG publication. Concluding Remarks Malcolm Fitches - President of the CUGC Our grateful appreciation goes to Mere G&CC for making their facilities available to us tonight. Our thanks to you all for your attendance.