A new short game junior academy has been launched at Coombe Wood Golf Club in Surrey. Here, the club’s general manager, Sean O’Brien, speaks to Dean Jeeves, the head of Junior Golf Academy (JGA) London, which is based at the club, to find out more about the facility.
You were the driving force in bringing this facility to life at the back end of 2024 and have now built up one of the most active junior academies in Surrey with 400 to 500 kids on your books. Can you tell us a bit about how this started and the journey to where you are now?
It goes back in total probably about 20 years. I had young children myself and they were interested in learning a little bit about golf, and I had a lot of demand and a lot of people wanting to learn, but I didn’t feel I had enough time to teach everybody.
I figured that group coaching was probably the way to go. I like the fun side of what this gives, and I like the friendships that can be built from it.
We look at it as more of a community programme for the kids, and then obviously this is where we’ve ended up. We’ve ended up purpose building this facility that particularly suits groups.
Your professional relationship with Coombe Wood started a couple of years back, but more generally you have been involved with the club a lot longer, can you tell us about that?
I actually taught a kids class this morning, and one of them asked, ‘when did you start playing, how old were you?’ I was about eight and in fact had my first lesson right here at Coombe Wood, so this is where I started to practice. For me now it’s full circle, and really nice to be able to do something here, particularly because of what it means, for me personally and the fact that I may bring something into the golf club and benefit the club by putting in a wonderful facility like this that suits junior golf, and helps get kids into the game is very meaningful.
What can a facility such as this do for junior golf, in terms of getting them enjoying the game and starting out on the right foot?
Well I think this is perfect for everyone, not just juniors. When you look at where we practice for the most part, we play, or we are at the driving range. So, we work a lot on our long game but we don’t really work so much on our short game. Learning about chipping control, landing points, bunker shots, pitching technique is all hugely important and something this facility allows for given the five different areas it has. This also means if the group is on the larger side, we can still get a lot done. You can very easily have four kids in the bunkers, four or five kids on the chipping area, and the same on the pitching, putting and net areas. A big group can enjoy a whole variety of practice safely and soundly together and they’re not waiting to do it and having fun.
What do you see as the future for the space and the different ways in which we can best utilise areas such as this?
JGA London uses it full time already, which is a large footfall of kids benefiting from the facilities. But for me I have always taken pride in a pathway approach to golf. So somewhere for them to learn and obviously hone their skills, but then hopefully have access to a golf course, which they do here at Coombe Wood with the various junior membership options.
The main pathway outside of this currently is through the schools programme, which is a long standing programme offered by the London youth games, where all the London boroughs have school representation, playing at a regional event, which would then give them the chance to qualify for a final. This competition now has a festival element, which has given us the chance to get more involved.
I’ve taken a lead on ensuring five of the local London boroughs have a regional qualifying competition which will feed into a final competition here. We are first to be running our first annual tri-golf competition here, and will have over 100 kids from 10 different schools. These kids will be able to come in and enjoy the facility whilst taking part in tri-golf games.
They can then realise there is a pathway there with golf, as this is not something a lot of state school children have previously recognised is available. Through this we hope to channel them into golf, whether that be with us, or another local facility.
Any parent reading this who are interested in exploring opportunities for their kids, please reach out to Dean on: dean@juniorgolfl ondon.co.uk
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