Many children came out to Sacred Heart School/Ecole Sacré Coeur to participate in the second annual Family Golf Night on March 19. The event was organized by the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club.
The night’s main objective was to bring awareness to golf and get youth interested in the junior golf program the golf course has to offer.
“It’s all about fun, there’s not a lot of instruction, but kids come with their parents and they get to demo hitting a golf ball, holding a putter, and do some fun things like that,” said Woodlawn head professional Amanda Minchin.
The night was a success and around 68 children participated in the event, which was a phenomenal turn out, according Minchin.
Along with organizing events like this, Minchin has seen an increase of youth in the golf course’s junior program.
“We’re definitely on the upward swing. We have lots of different initiatives, and we’re really seeing an influx of kids and people wanting to come down there,” she said.
With the junior program, they run various activities to get youth involved with the sport.
In the spring they have golf lessons that Minchin teaches and usually have over 100 young people take part. Although not everyone comes to the course in the summer to golf, Minchin said it’s very promising to see that many interested in the sport, given how young they are.
For the summer's weekly league, Minchin said between 25 and 40 youth are involved each week. The golf course also hosts a parent-child tournament and there are usually 60 to 70 young athletes that compete in the tournament, she said.
“There are lots of different avenues for people, because not all kids are ready to come down and play nine holes at the age of 10. It might take them until they’re 13 and that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said.
While hosting the family event, Minchin said it also informs parents on how they can get their children involved with the sport, and how they can practice to get better.
She added they want to bring awareness about the sport to the youth in the city and once they know the game and how it’s played, it is a lifelong sport.
“Our goal is to become a family place and have an outlet for kids," Minchin said.
