In 2013 Strathmore Golf Club secured funding for, and set up, a ‘Club Hire Scheme’, in which children pay just £25 per year and in return can hire a set of golf clubs, which they otherwise couldn’t afford to use, and which fit them. This has led to a boom in participation at the club, as its junior convenor, Iain Butchart, details.
I have been the junior convenor at Strathmore Golf Club in Scotland for 17 years. Here, we continue to grow golf at a grassroots level by making it affordable to all.
Thirteen years ago, after watching youngsters coming along to coaching with clubs which were inappropriate (clubs were too heavy or too short or even both) I decided something should be done to sort this problem and also make golf affordable for everyone. I applied for a grant from SSE Drumderg Community Fund to set up a unique Club Hire Scheme and secured £1,500.
Our Strathmore Golf Quiz League team, of which I was a member, donated £225 and the Strathmore Junior Section donated £75, to give us a total of £1,800.
Over the next 13 years we have hired out 511 sets and helped hundreds of youngsters try golf. Some of them are now on their fourth sets. We have generated fees of £12,750 in hire sets alone, which has been reinvested in new stock and last year we completed our upgrade to full sets. We have proved sustainability beyond doubt.
During the growing years, children might have to upgrade clubs up to six times, and with sets costing hundreds of pounds, this expense can be prohibitive. At £25 per annum to hire a set, it’s a no brainer.
In 2013 we hired out two sets of clubs, in 2014 it was four, in 2015 it was nine, in 2016 it was 17, in 2017 it was 27, in 2018 it was 38, in 2019 it was 58, in 2020 it was 49, in 2021 it was 71, in 2022 it was 82, in 2023 it was 49, in 2024 it was 49 and in 2025 it will be at least 56.
Seventy percent of our junior members currently use the scheme
Scottish Golf announced at its AGM this year that adult membership was down, gents by 1.01 percent and ladies by 1.4 percent. The only growth area was juniors, boys up 15 percent and girls up 1.27 percent.
In 2019 Scottish Golf approached me to discuss how they could adopt the scheme and roll it out nationally. I advised them to make sure clubs had a vested interest and they agreed to a fund matching scheme where they would match up to £750 per club. This was launched in 2020 and became so popular that it’s currently being oversubscribed.
In 2022, Cottingham Parks Golf Club near Hull contacted me for information on how to set up the scheme and I’m delighted to confirm they recently hired out their 36th set. English Golf are also showing an interest in this.
We have enhanced the scheme by adding golf trolleys and Rangefinders. Last year we had 49 sets of clubs, 35 trolleys and six Rangefinders hired out, raising £1,422.50. In total we have taken in £13,280 in hire fees and have a current balance of £3,939.18. In 2022 we had a record 82 sets hired to our 114 junior members.
Last year we upgraded all our sets to full sets and now have our original half sets surplus to requirement. We decided to offer them to other clubs who have joined the Scottish Golf Club Hire Scheme to purchase them at a reduced rate of £20 per set. If hired out at £25 per set, an instant profit of £5 can be added to their own scheme.
Sixty-nine half sets of Strathmore Golf Club’s ex-hire junior clubs have been sold to help 10 Scottish golf clubs either start or develop their own hire schemes. Nearly 2,000 miles have been covered to deliver or pick up the clubs.
With junior golf being the only growth area in Scottish golf, it’s important to get it right at grassroots level and make sure more potential adult members get involved. They are the lifeblood and future of every club in the country.
Growing junior golf starts by making it accessible and, more importantly, affordable. That’s what my Club Hire Scheme has done and, with the backing of Scottish Golf, makes it achievable for every club to get involved and grow their memberships.
As I said, it’s a no brainer.
For more information, visit strathmorejuniors.blogspot.com
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