CLUB OVERVIEW
Located in Brisbane and established in 1920, the Royal Queensland Golf Club is a premier five star facility with a rich history. The course is considered one of Australia’s finest and has hosted numerous professional and amateur championships.

JUNIOR GOLF PROGRAM
A high quality program for ages 5 to 17. This tuition based program is offered by resident PGA staff with tour Professional, Adam Scott, as the member patron of the program. The program involves a pre-scheduled year of activities including:
• 1 Instruction Day
• 19 clinics followed by course play and refreshments
• 11 holiday junior golf competitions
• 1 Championship Day – end of year junior event with awards
• 1 Parent Day

Our Sunday morning junior clinic involves a one hour lesson, followed by 18, 6, or 3 holes depending on level; on course play is relevant to what they are being taught with small groups being monitored so that rules and etiquette can be taught and monitored.

The MYGolf Skills testing is an important element of our program and is carried out regularly so that students can see progress and identify areas needing improvement.

We have 4 levels to our program.
• Bronze - Age 5-7
• Silver – Novice
• Gold – Experienced
• Pink – Girls (all ages)

The program is supervised by our Head Professional with coaching conducted by his qualified PGA staff. The program is managed by the club’s Vice Captain and a Club Administrator with logistics assistance from our House Manager.

CHALLENGES
Our facility is located in a non-residential area which means parents must make a special effort to get their kids to our course. This results in a low amount of juniors around the club each day to have lessons, practice, and play the course.

The majority of our students attend private schools and their time commitment to other sports often conflict with golf. Sometimes we do not see our students for a month or two making it a challenge to maintain progress in skill acquisition.

Our junior clinics are scheduled on Sundays at 7am. This creates a challenge as parents are reluctant to get up this early to deliver their child to the course.

Many of our junior students would miss the skills testing days which makes it difficult to get an accurate idea where they are in developing their game.

We communicate to parents/children primarily by email. We have a challenge in getting parents to accurately read and take action regarding our emails.

SOLUTIONS
We created a Mission Statement which places youth golf development as an integral part of our clubs commitment to growing the game. Because of this, our members as a whole support our youth programs.

Although we do not have answers to all of our issues, we are committed to finding solutions by scheduling forum discussions with our staff of PGA Professionals. New ideas are considered to not only solve issues but to keep our program fresh and effective.

One of the issues we tried was to open our Café up earlier to give parents the opportunity to get breakfast and coffee. It was a simple idea that had some success in getting our juniors to the course earlier along with their parents who would stay at the club.

Another idea was for the Professional staff to include two private lessons as part of the junior tuition. Many found great benefits and continued with private lessons as a result which was of great benefit to our coaching staff.

ADVICE & RECOMMENDATIONS
Every club is different with their list of challenges to overcome; clearly identifying these issues is the first step. The most effective way to do this is to get the input from everyone involved which includes parents, kids, coaches, and the management of the club. Once identified, solutions can be found through brainstorming new ideas.

The MYGolf program is good for breaking the game down into requisite skills. Using the equipment available and the testing protocols creates a more structured program. This appeals to the parents and makes the job of those delivering the program more systematic and effective.

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