A very familiar sight at Hamptworth Golf & Country Club is that of a group of juniors having a putting competition as you pass them on the drive into the club, however this wasn't always the case. As a young club we have worked really hard to get our junior section growing and for a few years we had lots of keen junior members but all who were very young, needing supervision. Now they are all blossoming into very capable golfers and are being chased by all the new blood coming into the club.

To be awarded with GolfMark is an honour but also a testament to our efforts with junior golfers, beginners and ladies. I undertook the task to assure that all key procedures were in place and being applied and the friendly atmosphere of the club is well regulated with our child protection policies and club rules.

I found it very easy to tick most of the boxes on the self-assessment form and then again in our assessment meeting, as we have always worked so hard with the juniors to integrate them successfully into club life.

The development of our junior handbook was one thing that has really worked well having done the GolfMark assessment, we use this as a bible almost for the junior members as it answers most questions posed by parents. Backed up with our now incredibly in depth application form the juniors are well equipped to embark on a fun and safe golfing journey and I think the parents find it fairly reassuring to know that their children are safe and accounted for as a result of our check in and out system.

Probably the most successful outcome of our GolfMark work is the Buddy System I devised to get the younger juniors mixing with the older ones. The older juniors are now busy organising games with their teams and communicating with each other and the social side of the section has certainly seen a huge boost due to this,

Hamptworth already had Academy memberships, under 30 categories and a very reasonably priced junior membership system, but Golf Mark has definitely made us aware of just how much we were already doing that was good news for the development of the game of golf in this country.

Free Ladies, Under 30's and Junior days have helped boost numbers and interest in the game and as a result our club is simply buzzing. These days are made possible and easy to organise through EGU/ELGA funding and back up material.

I found the support of Jamie Woodford, Regional Development Officer during the process very reassuring as there was a good deal of work involved in just amalgamating the information together. The websites and support material was certainly of help and really the process is fairly simple.

We are looking forward to being able to promote the club as a Golfmark and Clubmark accredited facility and I am sure that we will see the club grow even more due to this and the resources now available to us as a result.

Katie Dawkins
PGA Professional