‘Charles Harrison’ Award for Junior Golf Club of the Year
ROYAL DORNOCH GC
Royal Dornoch were celebrated at the GF President’s Awards for their fantastic year in junior golf. The award is named the Charles Harrison award in honour of the former Golf Foundation chairman who passed away in 2022 aged 73. Harrison was a huge believer in making golf accessible to all young people and teaching valuable life skills through golf, and it was fantastic to have his wife Sarah and his son Mark present to see the award being given to Royal Dornoch.
The award was part of the President’s Awards at Wentworth Club, hosted by Nick Dougherty as part of a fantastic week at the BMW PGA Championship. Read more about our President’s Awards 2024 here
Royal Dornoch are a special club, who have worked hard to give every child in the town the opportunity to try golf and the chance to join their extensive junior programme. Each year, the club runs 75 golf sessions in all of the local primary and secondary schools, delivered by trainee PGA Professional coaches from the nearby University of Highlands and Islands.
Every child is then invited to take part in competitions and coaching sessions back at the club. 100 juniors take part weekly and it is estimated that over 50% of the primary age children in the area are actively involved at the golf club.
The Golf Foundation works closely with hundreds of clubs across the country to improve their junior offering and help them link to local schools and reach new young people to introduce them to the game – Royal Dornoch are doing exactly that, and were a fantastic representation of all that everyone working in junior golf are trying to do.
“Royal Dornoch are a worthy winner,” said Brendon Pyle, CEO of the Golf Foundation. “Charles would have been proud to see everything he held so dearly in action at a wonderful club. We are delighted to celebrate the fantastic impact they have had, and hope to help them continue to grow over the years to come.”
“We’re so proud,” added Ally McNaughton, the PGA coach at Royal Dornoch. “Across the club, the support for the junior section has been huge, and we’ve seen a real impact. Reaching out to local schools and working with them has been key to our success, and we hope to continue to make an impact as we keep going. Thanks to the Golf Foundation and to Nick Dougherty for this recognition – hopefully it can help inspire others.”