Date: October 07, 2014
Author: Sharon Nott, JPO WDLGA

Forbes Holiday Clinic a huge success

Forbes Golf Club Holiday Junior Golf Camp 21st – 24th September 2014
Supported by CJG, JNJG and WDGA

Twenty-nine juniors from Forbes and Parkes and 24 Juniors from across the Central West and Western area of NSW converged on Forbes Golf Club for two days of coaching and a 9-Hole Ambrose Tournament during the school holidays.

The 53 Juniors (which included nine girls) travelled from Forbes, Parkes, Bourke, Trangie, Tooraweenah, Coonamble, Neilrex, Dunedoo, Gulgong, Mudgee, Kandos and Blayney and ranged in age from 9-16yrs, boys and girls.

Western Districts Ladies hold an annual junior camp each year to help support and develop junior golf in the area. They also hold  a raffle drive each year which is drawn at their Open Tournament in May. The proceeds help keep the cost of the camp as low as possible to encourage as many juniors as possible to attend.

The camp was also well supported by Country Junior Golf which allowed a twenty seater bus to pick up juniors at Dunedoo and Dubbo. As we all know transport and accommodation are major expenses when travelling in the country.

This year the camp joined forces with Forbes Junior Golf Association as Forbes has become a JNJG Junior Golf Centre in the Lachlan District. The Golf Centre is currently close to finishing off range facilities that will make the course an ideal venue for training budding juniors with separate range and short game facilities.

Five teaching staff allowed a ratio of 1:10 juniors and gave adequate teaching time with each junior. Golf Professionals included Todd Iffland and Todd Brackenridge from Wentworth (Orange), Bruce McLean (Head Coach with Western Regional Academy of Sport) and Community 2 Golf Coaches – Mike Jones from Barton Park Driving Range (Sydney) and Sharon Nott (Dunedoo).

The Camp ran from 9am – 4.30pm with out-of-town juniors under supervision at Country Club Caravan Park during the evening. Apex park was a great after-golf visit for a wind down on playground equipment, a game of touch football and a walk around Lake Forbes with the pelicans.

The out-of-town juniors also visited the Motor Museum and were able to browse around the vast collection of meticulously restored motor cars and motorbikes. Merle at the Caravan Park had two poddy calves that the kids enjoyed feeding with bottles of milk at 7.00am and 5.30pm daily – they were only a bit slobbery.

The 9-hole tournament on Wednesday (with prizes provided by JNJG) did see a downpour of heavy rain at 11.45am resulting in the non-handicap juniors running for cover – it was good to still see spirits remaining  high with kids wanting to go back out once they had an umbrella!

Nine-hole scratch winners on a count back with a two over 38 off the stick were Larry Brissenden (Bourke) and Lachlan Buesnell (Forbes). Second place went to Nick Bucan (Kandos) and Jordan Brett (Forbes). Other division winners were drawn out.

The Junior Raffle held during the camp raised $216 and was very well supported by the juniors. Golf Bags, a Putter, Srixon Golf Balls and an Umbrella were up for grabs with first prize going to Ray in the Pro Shop…he did say he had bought the lucky ticket.

The juniors walked away with points to work on with their swings. Forbes Juniors will have a follow-up six week MYGolf session starting after the holidays. Enthusiasm was high throughout the three days, even if the supervisors were starting to feel tired by Wednesday.

Like all camps, it’s just not the golf. It’s the pre-planning before the event that can make a camp a success, as well as the people who volunteer and do the important things like-having morning tea and lunch ready.  For those staying in the caravan park, the dinner menu held a high priority.

A ‘Special Thanks’ goes to Anthony Gordon at Forbes Golf Club who did a lot of organising from the Forbes end, Lee Grieson and Dylan Thompson (WRAS Juniors who helped the instructors during coaching sessions), Jill Cripps and Annie (Forbes) for catering and Marcia Box and Lisa Kelly (Mudgee) who assisted with supervision and catering for those juniors who travelled by bus to the camp.

Thanks also to the support from Western District Ladies Golf Association (WDLGA) Lady Golfers, Western District Golf Association (WDGA), Jack Newton Junior Golf, Country Junior Golf and Forbes Golf Association for hosting the event.

It is camps like this that allow many rural and remote country kids who do not have access to teaching instructors the opportunity to receive professional tuition, develop their game with other like-minded juniors and develop not only golfing skills but life skills that they can share.

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