Golf club launches drive for women players

 
Marilyn Castree, from the South Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce, gets a first taste of St Thomas’s 10^th tee overlooking Hawkesyard Hall with the club’s director of golf Phil Gibson.

 

 

A Staffordshire golf club is launching a drive to encourage more women to take up the game by offering a series of free coaching classes.

 

St Thomas Priory Golf Club in Armitage near Rugeley is teeing up two sets of six coaching sessions for ladies which will give them the basic skills of the game.

 

The club which boasts an 18-hole championship course set in the grounds of the 19^th Century Hawkesyard Hall, has secured funding from the English Golf Union to provide the coaching.

 

Director of golf Phil Gibson said he hopes to interest up to 24 women to fill the places on the courses and so spread the word about how good golf is to more women.

 

“Of our 400-plus members at the club women are under represented and across the sport as a whole far fewer women play the game than men, so I’m hoping this initiative will go a little way to redress that balance. We’ve gained a grant for the course which is aimed at gaining wider participation in the sport,” he said.

 

“Golf is a fantastic way to keep fit but you don’t have to be super fit to enjoy it and play it well,” he added.

 

“And it’s such a social game, you can have a good natter about your day going round the course and relax in the club house after your round and it’s a great way of doing business. So it is a game I think will be attractive to a lot more women.”

 

The six, two-hour coaching sessions will be given by the club’s head professional Michael Beaumont. The PGA professional will take players through every aspect of the game with the ladies playing three holes of the course in the final session. Up to 12 places are available on each course, which are held during the week and at the weekend.

 

The club has recently completed £100,000 worth of improvements to the course which has included better quality grass and improved drainage on the greens and fairways as well as a major upgrade to the practise range.

 

Marilyn Castree, divisional director of the South Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce who has signed up for golfing course, said: “I hope more women do get involved in golf because it is a gem of game to keep fit, de-stress and keep in touch with range of people who are part of a club like St Thomas’s, which makes it a great sport for business people as well.”

 

The initiative is being supported by PGA professional Kirsty S Taylor, who finished 81^st on the money list on the ladies European tour last year.

 

“It’s great that St Thomas’s are taking up the cause of trying to get more women involved in golf and I hope more ladies do take part because it’s a great game that can be lots of fun for lots of women,” she said

 

 

For further details contact Phil Gibson on 01543 491 911.