Pupils reap benefits of having own golf course
OVER the last few months, enthusiastic pupils have been making full use of a golf course at Maplewell Hall School, in Woodhouse Eaves, a school for children with special educational needs, writes Jennifer Prentice.
Twenty-four pupils, both boys and girls, receive coaching from PGA professional Ian Bailey (golfingpartner.com), who has held regular weekly sessions for the past three years.
Now their own six-hole golf course is helping the youngsters, aged between 11 and 19, to reap more benefits than ever before from the game, both physically and mentally.
All the holes are around the 90 yards mark.
The course was built by local company CR Civil Engineering, who usually work on major construction projects on motorways and for industry.
The maintenance of the course is masterminded by experienced golf course greenkeepers through local representatives of another specialist company Lawn Doctor, with the school staff and pupils helping with the watering and other general work on the course.
Maplewell Hall School’s site manager Matt Whitsey said they are grateful for the tremendous help they have received in the past year or so to get the course built and for the interest and support from the local community.
He said: “Golf brings great physical and mental benefits to the pupils.
“They work on their swings and overall fitness with Ian Bailey.
“He comes to the school for a whole day and takes the pupils in groups of seven throughout that time.
“More of the children are becoming very interested in golf and we are keen to encourage them.
“They enjoy the special challenges that the game of golf offers to them, learning to swing and to improve.
“Ian is very patient with them and their ability to think past any frustrations they have not only with golf, but also throughout other aspects of their lives, is boosted, so it is an overall important learning experience for them.
“But without the great help we have received in building and maintaining the course, we would never have been able to have such a valuable asset for the pupils.
“So we are extremely grateful and happy to show more people what we have and how much it helps the boys and girls and will continue to do so in the future.
“We will be developing their interest in golf and hope to see the facility even more widely used in the coming months.
“We are planning, for example, to organise some competitions between local special schools, so that is something to look forward to in the future.”