A 22-year-old man is believed to be Britain’s youngest golf club manager today – and possibly ever.
Ben Slater, who was born in 1998, is thought to be one of a very few members of Generation Z (according to Pew Research, this applies to people born between 1997 and 2012) to manage a golf club in the UK.
He has been named as the trainee manager of Aberystwyth Golf Club in Wales, after recently graduating from the University of Worcester with a first class degree in sports business management.
He is set to be the club’s full-time manager / secretary before he turns 23.
Ben, who plays golf off of a handicap of seven, said of his appointment: “It seemed too good to be true and the timing was unbelievable in terms of finishing my degree, as well as the current situation we are in with Covid-19.
“I’ve been here for three weeks as the trainee manager and everyone – members, visitors, volunteers and bosses – has been so welcoming.
“It’s a fantastic course, being one of Golf Monthly’s top five holiday courses across the UK and Ireland, and I am very excited for the opportunity given.
“My ultimate goal is to put Aberystwyth Golf Club on the map; not only for locals, but for everyone in the UK.”
Golf club managers in their 20s were almost unheard of until about a decade ago. In 2014 we revealed that Ellie Green, then aged 23, was the UK’s youngest golf club manager (at the time, just six years ago, she was one of the first from the millennial generation to take over a golf club), and in 2018 another 23-year-old was named as the new youngest: James Levick at West Essex Golf Club.
We’ve not heard of anyone under the age of 23 leading a golf club before – but if you are aware of any, please let us know in the comments (which are all moderated in advance).
It’s been quite a few months for young golfing records in Welsh golf clubs – in April a five-month-old baby joined Vale of Llangollen Golf Club.
And staying in Wales, in 2015 Andrew Minty of Langland Bay Golf Club became the youngest ‘golf club manager of the year’, aged, at the time, just 34.
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