IN?A?BID to attract more youngsters into golf, Trethorne PGA?professional, Andrew Milton, recently went along to Coronation Park, next to Launceston’s Phoenix Leisure to put on a putting and driving exhibition.

For the putting, a mini green was set up, while an inflatable net was also there for youngsters to drive the ball into.

This was the third such event of its type in recent months, with similar days ran by Andrew taking place in June and July.

The session was held throughout the morning and early afternoon on Saturday, August 13, and proved quite successful, with over 100 people getting involved.

However it seems that interest in golf from young people is on the wane, as Andrew explains.

“Golf participation in junior players is declining and we at Trethorne are obviously trying to do something about it.

“This is the third one we’ve done in Coronation Park and people have supported it quite well, so hopefully some of the youngsters will get the buzz and come to play golf out at Trethorne.

“At the moment we have about 15-20 players in our junior section and we want to get that number up.

“Initially we offer a great initiative of five lessons for £25 where players are taught the basic skills of the game such as the swing, how to drive and how to put.

“After that there are a couple of memberships we offer such as the two month Get into Golf membership, which is £120 for two months and includes coaching while there is a similar one for ten months which is £375.”

Another programme that Trethorne have got involved in, is with Launceston College, who send out 16 students on a Thursday afternoon after school during the summer term.

Andrew continued: “We’ve got a really good partnership with Launceston College where anyone who fancies a chance to learn how to play golf can during the summer term.

“They come over to us to the driving range and they get the chance to hit the ball as far as they can and everyone seems to enjoy it so hopefully that’ll continue.”

For further information on the Junior Academy which runs from 10.30am-11.30am on Saturday’s during the winter, please visit www.trethornegolfclub.com/junior-golf-academy/, call Trethorne Golf Club on 01566 86903 or Andrew on 07765 697846.