IJGA Newsletter: The Oaks September 2019 | Page 6

WELCOME BY ANDREW SUMMERS When I started my friendship and business relationship with Gary Gilchrist and his then- wife Lee-Anne, our mission was to raise standards in junior golf and become the “best junior golf academy”. Gary had fifteen years of experience at IMG, where he was the first Director of Golf and then at IJGA Hilton Head, where he became Director of Golf at what was the oldest independent golf academy. I had success in asset management, being the junior co-founder of a firm that is now into its twenty- fifth year and has served its clients very well. Teaming up was a winning formula and now, twelve years later, we believe that we have achieved our goal. Jonathan Yarwood, once a colleague of Gary’s back at IMG, is now also part of the leadership team, also a Top 100 Golf Instructor. No other junior golf academy has a Top 100 golf instructor and we are fortunate that our golf programs are each led by one! 6 Success starts with solid foundations, which we saw as being the facilities. The quality of the range and golf course, the training options, are the “toolbox” of the golf coaches. The houses and secure campus create the “home away from home” environment that our residential instructors aspire for. Having created these foundations at both Bishops Gate, near Orlando, Florida and making excellent progress at Old Carolina, near Hilton Head, South Carolina, we believe that our two campus facilities are second to none and have raised the “entry bar” for other junior boarding golf academies. These facilities attract good golf coaches and residential instructors, who can then provide the best experience for our students, giving them the opportunity to achieve their optimal goals, of first a great college golf and academic experience and then maybe professional golf, but at least a successful career. The pillars of our product are obviously Golf, Academics and Boarding. In Golf, as mentioned above, we have two outstanding facilities led