The EDGA team was welcomed to Golf It! near Glasgow to share knowledge on ‘G4D’ (golf for the disabled) and help welcome more golfers into the game from the wider community. 

Golf It!, created by golf’s governing body The R&A, is a venue designed to excite any visitor, offering fun, inclusive and accessible golf formats and games, brilliant practice facilities and opportunities for golfers and non-golfers to socialise together. 

Mark Taylor, Head of Instruction and Education for EDGA, was highly impressed with the venue but also the work of all the golf staff, and was delighted to share his extensive coaching experience of working with golfers with a disability with Head of Golf, PGA Professional Alyson McKechin, Golf Operations Supervisor Barry McCluskey, and members of their team. 

Coaching, community engagement, and encouraging people with a disability on to the player pathway (as a ‘sampler’, a ‘participant’ or ‘competitor’), were all on the agenda.

Mark Taylor said: “We received a fantastic welcome from the Golf It! team and we saw the great work already being done at the venue in growing the game in the surrounding region. Our team was able to assist with training to help extend the confidence of staff when working with new and established golfers with disability, while exploring best practices in coaching any player who may have a physical, neurological, intellectual or visual impairment.”

Mark and EDGA Sampler Coach Lee-Ann Clark trained the Golf It! team so they were now able to deliver The R&A approved D3 first-touch golf format which uses safe, light, colourful, adapted Golfway chippers and putters with soft balls, that can be used to welcome individuals with disability and community groups, but also to reach out to people in non-golf venues, such as hospitals and schools. 

After these sessions the Golf It! team were able to deliver D3 for the first time to visiting young people from The Glenburn Centre, a community facility in Easthall, Glasgow. This training follows work EDGA has carried out with other organisations (golf courses, community venues and rehabilitation centres) to make the first golf experience welcoming, safe, fun and rewarding.

Mark added: “It was great that the Golf It! team are also on the same page as EDGA and other stakeholders in the game in when engaging in the wider community we can ensure the golf offer is affordable and accessible for everybody, as many people with a disability find or perceive barriers to entering any sport.” 

Aimi Bullock, EDGA Director of Women’s Golf, echoed that view when discussing the need to attract more female golfers into G4D in Scotland, by growing awareness and increasing playing and networking opportunities while improving accessibility and inclusion. Aimi is liaising with Scottish Golf, the home nation being one of 50 countries that EDGA, an international not-for-profit organisation, works with to grow the game in its bid to welcome 500,000 new players with disability to the game. 

Golf It!’s Barry McCluskey is a golfer with a visual impairment himself, and thus understands the importance of offering a positive experience to every person in the community who wants to try the game. He therefore welcomed the expertise of Mark Taylor and the EDGA team. 

Barry said of the sessions: “We all very much enjoyed the training, and we will be excited to use our newly learned skills and put them into practice. The Golf It! team looks forward to working with EDGA more in the near future and have a couple of things in the pipeline regarding community golf which could be very exciting for everyone.”

Since opening its doors in August last year, Golf It! has been fulfilling The R&A’s vision – creating a destination for golf which is accessible, appealing and inclusive. The Glasgow-based facility, situated on the south bank of Hogganfield Loch, is showing how that looks like in practice with golfers and non-golfers flocking to the community-based golf and entertainment venue. It boasts a nine-hole course, family putting green, 55-bay floodlit double-decker driving range, padel tennis courts, nature trails, street food market and much more. www.golf-it.com