5,000 girls prove that Golf’s Got Talent

Golfing non-profit charitable organisation The Golf Trust, which since February has given beginner golf lessons to 5,000 girls aged 9 to 11 years old in north and west London, has identified 40 promising girl golfers to compete in the Final of its inaugural Golf’s Got Talent event next month.

The Final, to be held on Tuesday 30th June 2015, will take place at The Buckinghamshire GC in Denham, Bucks, on one of the Practice Days of the home event of the Ladies European Tour – the ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters.

After the free coaching sessions, which took place in schools across north and west London and in Hertfordshire, almost 100 girls were invited to take part in the semi-finals, which took place at The West London Golf Centre in Northolt in early May 2015.

Although SNAG equipment was used in the schools, the semi-final auditionees were lent real golf equipment to show off their new golfing skills. The final 40 were selected by a Golf Trust panel including founders Cae Menai-Davis and Frank Harrington, plus PGA Professional and Golf Trust Director of Junior Coaching Nigel Lawrence and his son Benjamin, head of Inclusive Coaching at The Golf Trust.

“It has been a fabulous experience, seeing so many youngsters take their first steps into golf over such a short period of time” said Menai –Davis, a 28-year old golf professional based at The Shire London GC in Barnet.

“In Golf’s Got Talent, we were looking for signs of a natural golfing talent – signs of a potential star of the future, in other words! The 40 we have selected for the Final all have this raw spark, and we’re looking forward to identifying a winner”.

The Final will involve 4 phases of points-based skills challenges, including Woods, Irons, Chipping and Putting, and the eventual winner will be the one showing the best all-round aptitude for these four vital areas of golf.

Golf Trust Ambassador, Ladies European Tour golfer Hannah Burke, said: “The Golf Trust is doing a fantastic job in encouraging young girls to try golf. What they have achieved so far as regards numbers is truly amazing, and I am looking forward to seeing the 40 finalists in action at The Buckinghamshire!”

Mike Round, Director of Development and Membership at the Ladies European Tour, said: “Where better to host this Final than the home of the Ladies European Tour? We applaud the initiative shown by The Golf Trust in creating Golf’s Got Talent, and the work they are doing in fostering young talented golfers is exceptional. Let’s hope that there is a LET star of the future among the 40 who will be joining us at the ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters on June 30th.”

The Golf Trust, which recently obtained funding to provide long-term sustainable golf coaching programmes for schools, has already set itself an ambitious target for the follow-up Golf’s Got Talent next year.

“We’ll be looking to coach over 20,000 children in schools during the first half of 2016” said Menai-Davis “and next year we will be inviting boys aged 9-11 to take part too.

“The schools we’ve coached at so far in 2015 have all been invited to sign up for six-week in-school golf coaching courses, and many have started with us since the summer term started. We will be running these courses throughout 2015, so the majority of those 5,000 girls we initially coached will be given the chance to progress further in the sport this year – which we think is absolutely vital if golf is to grow”.

Contact The Golf Trust via their Facebook page www.facebook.com/thegolftrust, via their Twitter feed @TheGolfTrust, or by emailing cae@thegolftrust.com.

Ends.

If you’d like more information about this topic, or if you are member of the media wishing to play The Shire London, please call or email Andy Hiseman on +44 (0)1226 781000 / andy@hiseman.com

Andy Hiseman, Magic Hour Media
+44 (0)7795 360112, andy@hiseman.com
Web: www.magichourmedia.co.uk

Cae Menai-Davis, cae@thegolftrust.com,
BASED AT The Shire London, St Albans Road, Barnet, Herts EN5 4RE, United Kingdom
Web: www.theshirelondon.com. Tel: +44 (0)20 8441 7649

About The Golf Trust
www.thegolftrust.com

The Golf Trust was created to highlight and develop the inclusive values of golf. We feel that anyone and everyone should have the opportunity to play the sport regardless of circumstance. We seek to remove the barriers to participation so that everyone can play the sport we love. Our work is predominately outreach focused, taking the sport to inner city communities and places one may not usually associate golf with. The ComGolf project has worked tirelessly in London and the South East coaching over 10,000 people since September 2011. We've teamed up with organisations that share our aims to deliver fun community based projects with educational, health and technical performance outcomes.

About The Shire London and The Bridgedown Group
www.theshirelondon.com

The Shire London is a 27-hole facility near Barnet, north London, featuring the only Severiano Ballesteros-designed golf course in the UK. Its 18-hole Ballesteros Masters Course measures 7,028 yards, with six par 3s, six par 4s and six par 5s. Its 9-hole Ballesteros Challenge Course features a mix of par 3s and 4s, and is the ideal introduction to golf for all ages and abilities. The Shire Academy is one of the leading teaching centres in the south of England, and with the tranquil setting of the golf course, first class conference rooms and a top-rated restaurant, The Shire London is also a well-equipped and popular venue for golf societies, corporate golf days, conferencing and banqueting. It is situated two minutes from the M25/A1(M) South Mimms junction, with easy access to the motorway network.

Sister facility the West London Golf Centre is a high-quality golf facility located near Northolt in West London, open to the public. One of London’s best-equipped golf centres, WLGC features a 9-hole, 3,037 Yard Par 36 golf course (opens June 2014); a floodlit 26-bay range; a Dinosaur Adventure Golf attraction (opens summer 2014); a Putting & Short Game Zone (opens summer 2014); a 4,500sq ft american golf superstore offering custom-fitting; a Scott Cranfield golf school; and the fully-licensed Coffee House bar and restaurant. Another 18 holes will soon be available on the adjacent West London Links, a championship-length golf course set to open in 2017.

The Shire London, West London Golf Centre and West London Links are created, owned and operated by The Bridgedown Group. The Group has also announced plans to create The Dye London club near Edgware in north London, bringing world-famous golf architects Dye Designs to the UK for the first time. The Bridgedown Group is a family-run business involving Tony and Anne Menai-Davis and their sons Ceri and Cae.