Coffs Harbour Golf Camp 21/22 March 2014
On the 22nd- 23rd March Womens Golf Central North Coast and Jack Newton Junior Golf hosted its first of three proposed golf camps for junior girls in the Central North Coast District in 2015 to learn and develop their golf game.
Girls from as far south as Taree and all the way from Ballina in the north travelled to attend the camp.
The camp was very successful, with 16 girls attending. The girls ranged in ages from 6-17 and ability (beginners to handicapped players). It was great to see eight new beginners.
Local professionals Brendan Barnes, Brandon Connor and Matt Allan coached the girls over the weekend. To start the camp as we had many new faces we used games based learning to develop golf skills and get to know the girls.
Whilst the games appeared not to be golf oriented on the surface they were in fact aimed at developing balance, transfer of weight, fitness and putting the girls in pressure situations. After lunch, we split the girls into 2 groups, those with a handicap and beginners. The groups spent an hour each with Brendan and Brandon. Brendan concentrated on the long game and Brandon on the short game in particular bunker shots. By 3pm rain started to come in so we moved to the auditorium of the club house and had an hour’s session on putting and played some fun games around the room to finish the day.
Our night activity for this camp was Laser Tag at the Big Banana. This was a huge success and an excellent bonding session for the girls and coaches alike.
Sunday, with the sun shining, breakfast was held on the balcony of the club before Brendan and Matt took the girls back down to the range to go through the importance of set up, alignment and ball positioning as a whole group. We then again split into our two groups for practice and hitting some balls.
Matt then took the more experience girls for the remainder of the morning to learn how to shape a ball and get out of trouble spots on a spare hole on the course.
This session was appreciated by the girls as they felt they did not get this kind of coaching back at their clubs.
Brendan took our beginners and continued to develop golf skills with more games based activities, which they were happy to play all day!
After lunch the girls then headed out onto the course to play and try their newly learned skills. Each group was made up of two experienced girls and two beginners. Parents were invited to walk with the groups to watch and see the girl’s development.
To finish the camp after playing nine holes a presentation was held with each girl receiving a participation certificate and a gift for attending the camp.
The camp was very successful for the following reasons:
- Coffs Harbour Golf Club facilities.
- Experience of the coaches and the different approach to traditional practice and teaching methods.
- Financial support of the Womens Golf Central North Coast.
- Financial support and assistance with prizes from JNJG.
- Local support with drinks & prizes from Norco & Risqué Hair.
I look forward to organising the next camp for the region.
Catherine Robinson
WGCNC – Co-ordinator Junior Girls
