The Junior Golf Challenge event. The potential beginning for lots of new juniors in this exhilarating game we call golf.
It was a cold, wet, windy summer’s day at the oldest club in the renowned north west golfing town of Southport – Hesketh Golf Club. Five teams of six budding young golfers, up to the age of 14, came to represent their local clubs – Fairhaven, Hillside, Hesketh and Formby Hall. Each team worked together with the support of their Junior Organiser as well as their family and friends who were present at the event.
The day kicked off with a warm and enthusiastic welcome from England Golf’s Laura Yapp and the Junior Challenge Team – Lucy, Helen, Lauren, Ben, Zara and Millie. Laura explained the three tasks ahead of them, a mix of challenges testing their long, short and putting game.
After a short and energetic warm-up, the smiles started to appear and the fun began. Each team had a structured timetable guiding them from one station to the next.
The long game challenge, which consisted of a 50-yard closest to the pin and a longest drive, was a strong favourite of the children, putting all their strength and power into hitting that drive to earn as many points as possible for their team.
The second favourite must have been the putting challenges. The children were faced with two different tasks testing their ability to read the green and measure the pace of the putt. The cheers were deafening when the putts were sinking!
Lastly, the chipping challenge, probably the most difficult of the day, was hard but the children gave it their very best. With some encouraging enthusiasm from the helpers and the team, success was still achieved and some amazing points were taken.
After being out in the wet and cold weather, it was time for the excitement of the results and presentation.
After a closing speech, the results were in, with Fairhaven 2 winning the gold medal and taking 1st place with a grand total of 462 points, followed very closely by Hillside Golf Club who picked up the silver medal. Formby Hall took bronze with Fairhaven 1 and Hesketh just behind.
A challenging yet fun day was had by everyone with every junior leaving with a smile on their face. Many thanks to Hesketh Golf Club for hosting this brilliant day and hopefully we will be back soon, to continue and encourage the young golfers of the future.
