GREEN FUTURES
Golf is often regarded as an expensive and elitist sport but one innovative Scottish company is making major progress in changing the shape of the junior game
FROM the moment they first pick up a club, the thrill of being let loose on a golf course for the first time is a rite of passage for any youngster with dreams of one day donning the Green Jacket or lifting the Claret Jug.
Often accompanied by a parent or grandparent, it is the natural progression from the formative days of thrashing around in the back garden or at the local park trying to impersonate Tiger or Rory.
Introducing kids to the game and getting them on to a golf course is one thing. The key, however, is to ensure that they want to come back for more.
This is where GolPhin, an innovative, multi-award-winning Scottish company based in Ayrshire, has led the way since it was founded by West Kilbride member Calum McPherson in 2014.
With its cutting edge, world-class equipment based in aerospace engineering, it aims to help unearth the next generation of high-fliers in Scottish golf and beyond.
The primary aim is, of course, to make the game fun for kids. There are few things more dispiriting for any youngster than an inability to get the ball off the deck and up into the air. It’s an instant turn-off. So, too, is the often clunky and heavy equipment they are asked to use. It is still common for kids to learn the game with an adult club cut down to size.
The result is that it is often the club which swings the child, rather than the other way around. But GolPhin’s clubs are light, intelligently built, and geared specifically towards making the game more enjoyable for kids.
The results speak for themselves. They have been awarded best junior clubs in the world three times in the last five years by Golf Digest.
‘Calum had an aerospace engineering company,’ explains GolPhin’s UK managing director and PGA professional Alan Tait. ‘His first love was always golf and he also had a huge passion for engineering.
‘There are two range of clubs — GFK (GolPhin For Kids) for three to
We always refer to young guys like Bob MacIntyre. Kids can relate to him
ten-year-olds. Those clubs have oversized heads, big deep grooves, big sweet-spots, to help kids get ball up in the air. Then there’s the GFK+ range, for seven to 14-year-olds, which are more blade-type clubs for the more advanced players.’
The benefits are clear. While the kids can get the ball airborne, the technology used in the lighter clubs also allows them to swing freely and learn proper technique from a younger age, compared to swinging with heavier clubs.
The business, though, has grown beyond the supplying of equipment. There is a holistic approach which includes an element of education, with scope for parents to get involved.
There are practice drills which can be done from home, something which has been a key feature over the past year as youngsters across the country have been climbing the walls during lockdown.
‘Calum originally started it just as equipment,’ explains Tait, who grew up playing at Irvine Bogside before going on to become a highly-decorated PGA Pro. ‘Since then, another two parts have grown to the business, one of which is called EduGolphin. That’s a golf education programme.
‘We work with a lot of schools and we’ll go in for four-to-six weeks at a time. It’s not structural at all. It’s just about playing games with the kids, either in the PE hall or in the grounds of the school.
‘All the games the kids play are all relating back to their numeracy and literacy skills. So they might have to chip a ball into a hoop and there will be numbers in that hoop.
‘They’ve then got to go and fill out a wee workbook that we give them. It’s all linked. It’s a fantastic way of introducing kids to the game, while also combining it with education.
‘Our conversion rate from going into schools to then getting the kids on to the golf course is just over nine per cent. So if we go into a school with 300 kids, approximately 30 of them will say to us after the four or six weeks: “That was brilliant, I want to go out and play on a golf course now”.
‘That’s the point where we would introduce them to a local golf club and hopefully start the MyPathway2Golf programme in conjunction with the club pro. It’s all done through an app. The pro can communicate with the kids through the app. So in lockdown or bad weather, the pro can still teach the kids and send them drills and practice routines.’
The aim is clear. To inspire the next generation of talent in junior golf, whilst also making the game more affordable and accessible.
The name of Robert MacIntyre is an obvious reference point, as the young Scot continues to scale new heights in the professional game.
Breaking barriers and changing perceptions is also a key part of what GolPhin do, as Tait explains: ‘There is still a perception that golf is an expensive and elitist sport.
‘But I disagree. Kids can get into the game now. It is much cheaper than it ever has been. And a lot of clubs have woken up over the past 10 years or so. They realise the need to get kids in the door early.
‘A big part of the equipment is trying to make the game affordable. For our beginners set, you’re looking at somewhere between £120-£140. If you compare that to football, a new top-of-the-range pair of football boots can easily set you back about £150.
‘When we’re talking to clubs and schools, we refer to young guys like Bob MacIntyre. It’s only 12 or 15 years ago that Bob was starting out in the game.
‘The kids can relate to him. He’s still a young guy in the grand scheme of things, but he’s incredibly talented and very mature.’