Sharpshooters Junior Academy

Why is this facility so popular with youngsters?

We visit the Sharpshooters Junior Golf Academy at Golf World Stansted, a facility that’s introducing hundreds of youngsters to the game

“As I arrive, the place is teeming with kids of all ages and their parents”

Junior golf is in decline and children just aren’t interested in a sport that takes time to play and an age to master… or so we’ve often been told of late. And yes, I’ve visited clubs who tell me how few juniors they’ve got, how they haven’t got any girls and how they struggle to find an able and willing junior organiser.

But enough doom and gloom. We’re focusing on the positives here following my visit to one facility in Essex that is not only bucking the trend in spectacular style, but also providing hope for a somewhat rosier future and perhaps a blueprint for what today’s kids really need.

The reason for my visit is the Ryder Cup Playday at the Sharpshooters Junior Golf Academy at Golf World Stansted, a facility blessed with a nine-hole course, a six-hole academy course and a floodlit driving range. Last year it also unveiled a fantastic 1066 Adventure Golf layout featuring scaled-down models of local places.

As I arrive on a glorious Indian Summer morning, the place is teeming with kids of all ages and their parents. I ask Sharpshooters head coach and founder, Paul Ring, what the day holds in store. “The older juniors are going out on the main course to play six-hole foursomes matches,” he tells me. “Then we have another 30 or 40 juniors going round the academy course in the same format. There are 70 playing and we actually had to close entries a week ago.” Tables are decked out with team outfits, medals and balloons, and the kids are either practising or milling around excitedly.

Unprecedented demand seems to be a common refrain at Sharpshooters, where Paul and his partner in all senses, Katie Herlock, have seen numbers grow in a way rarely seen

elsewhere in junior golf circles. Paul took on his role as head professional at Golf World in early 2014 and started the academy a year later, and now they have over 360 kids attending 30 classes a week. The Sharpshooters programme for children aged four to 16 was devised by Paul with the help of a child psychologist. But how did it all start?

How it all began

“I did my PGA training and was at The Warren Golf Club in Essex for several years,” Paul explains. “That’s where we first started Sharpshooters. This job popped up and I thought it looked a good opportunity, and then Katie and I got together. We met through me giving Katie a golf lesson! We started talking about golf, and how to make junior golf bigger, and decided to relaunch Sharpshooters here. It just kicked off from there three or four years ago.

“We saw a gap in the market and also a financial opportunity,” adds Katie. “I’ve got a friend who does the same thing with karate and she has loads of kids. We saw it as a good business opportunity, as well as trying to get children playing golf.”

Although success rarely comes overnight, the growth of Sharpshooters has been sensational. “When I arrived, there were 15 to 20 kids turning up every other week and it was all a bit ad hoc,” Paul reflects. “But the owners, who have invested heavily, gave us carte blanche to do what we wanted and we’ve gone full tilt at it. It was just me coaching initially, but now there’s also Aaron Cox, Dan Armsby and Katie, so we can do more now we’ve got the staff for it.”

“Enthusiastic staff too,” Katie chips in. “People who like teaching children. Aaron fits perfectly. He’s come from Australia and he bounces around everywhere! The kids love him, especially in the winter when it’s chilly and he just keeps the momentum up by giving out stickers and certificates all the time. He’s been a bit of a find.

“This time last year we had 150 children. We’ve just kept pushing it in schools, doing lots of free taster days with Tri-golf equipment and Streetgolf equipment in secondary schools. We work quite closely with the Golf Foundation and they provide us with a lot.”

The academy runs not one but two after-school classes every day from Monday to Friday. “We do a couple of girls-only classes too, and got involved in #Girlgolfrocks,” adds Katie. “We’ve probably got about 50 girls out of a total of around 360, which is a bigger number than most other academies, but it’s not half and half. It’s a hard one, because the way the county structure and its funding works, there’s a lot more for the boys than for the girls. Again, that’s something we’re tapping on the door and saying, ‘ This needs to change’, which in time we hope it will.”

Template for growth

I watch as the kids head out draped in the red or blue of their allotted Ryder Cup allegiance, with junior captain Jack Samuel leading off in a singles match against vice-captain Charlie Vaughan. “Jack’s a great example,” Paul tells me. “He’s one of the older ones and he’s been here for years, but he was always just dipping his toes in. But since the junior membership has got bigger and bigger, he’s got more people to play with, and now he’s really bought into it. His handicap has come down from 24 to nine in a year.”

Part of the Sharpshooters success story was the decision to convert what was a three-hole course into a six-hole academy course two years ago. Manageable hole lengths of between 30 and 140 yards allow more kids to get their first taste of golf away from the range, without the intimidation of other golfers or holes that are simply too long. “For the six- or seven-year-olds getting into it, it’s exactly what they need,” Paul stresses. “Otherwise you end up with children wanting to play and all you’ve got is a full-size adult course, which is just not going to work.”

Of course, that is often the reality at other clubs, where a more traditional model of getting children into the game still applies. “That model clearly does work to a degree because this country has produced a lot of good junior golfers,” Paul concedes. “But in general terms, junior golf does tend to be dropping off statistically. In Essex, 60 per cent of the clubs don’t have a junior section, which clearly is not good.”

Many years ago, I worked at a small nine-hole course, so I know first-hand that juniors taking up the game often leads to parents taking it up, too, or getting back into it. Chatting to Paul and a number of the assembled parents, clearly that’s the case here. “Yes, the kids need their parents to get here and then the parents want to play too,” Paul smiles. “You get the parents who have played in the past, and now their kids have come along, they want to try it again while the children are having lessons. That’s really how the academy has got bigger and bigger because the juniors feed the progression of the club.”

Looking to the future

The goal, they tell me, is to make Golf World Stansted and the Sharpshooters academy people’s ‘third place’ alongside work and home. “Whether it’s six holes, nine holes, Adventure Golf, the driving range or even Footgolf, there’s something for everyone in the family.”

If it sounds good enough to be rolled out elsewhere, don’t worry, Paul and Katie are on to that! A second Sharpshooters academy at Haverhill GC in Suffolk has just enjoyed a successful first season, while a third is set to launch at Royal Ascot GC in the New Year. “Everything isn’t going to be exactly the same as here,” Paul says, “but the big thing for us is that we can help these clubs drive more juniors in, however many that may be for them.” I suggest that things could easily snowball, and while Paul nods, Katie is quick to add that Stansted is keeping them busy enough for now. “We love what we’re doing here,” Paul agrees, “but the next step is to get other clubs doing this as well. Once you get into the rhythm of it and your club is behind junior golf… well, there’s that old tag that ‘juniors are the future’, and that’s never been more important than now, because juniors bring so many people through the door. A lot of clubs are starting to recognise it, but there needs to be a big push now.”

I head off suitably impressed with all I’ve seen. But who won the Ryder Cup Playday, you ask? I honestly can’t remember, but unlike September’s main event in Paris, I’m not sure it matters. At the Sharpshooters Junior Golf Academy, golf is undoubtedly the real winner, to coin the old cliche.