Club reports 50% young adult growth since Covid

A Berkshire golf club has said its young adult section has grown exponentially in the last three years.

Royal Ascot Golf Club has also seen a huge increase in membership of its junior academy, following a campaign to encourage youngsters to try the sport.

As part of a youth engagement strategy the club has collaborated with local schools and community groups to provide golf tuition sessions for youngsters. The club designated a dedicated welfare officer and three PGA qualified professionals to deliver the sessions.

The campaign has seen youngsters get into the swing of golf, with the Junior Academy now boasting 99 members. The club’s Young Adult section for under 35s has also seen its membership rise by 50 percent since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Royal Ascot Golf Club’s efforts have been rewarded with an England Golf Safegolf accreditation, recognising its promotion of a safe and positive environment for those participating, working and volunteering in golf.

Stephen Nicholson, general manager at Royal Ascot Golf Club, said: “It’s vitally important that our club remains fit for the future so it is great to see more and more young people deciding to get into the sport through our safe, structured golf sessions delivered by qualified professionals.

“Our ambition is for the club to be embedded as a key part of the community.

“To achieve this, we’ve made positive changes to ensure golf remains appealing and accessible to local people, and we have frozen increases in junior membership fees for the past three seasons.

“In addition to our outreach for junior players, we have expanded our under 35s Young Adult and New to Golf academies, refurbished our clubhouse facilities and are currently upgrading our Wi-Fi infrastructure to encourage flexible working at the club.

“The result of our changes has been to transform our age profile with a younger and more engaged membership than at any point in our recent history. We encourage youngsters and anyone interested in taking up the sport to explore the opportunities we have available.”