Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Winter 2012 | страница 10

RQ junior
program a big

HIT

By David Newbery
The next Greg Norman, Adam Scott
or Andrew Buckle could already be
taking divots at Royal Queensland Golf
Club where the top trio honed their
extraordinary skills.
Under the guidance of teaching
professionals Andrew Marchbank, James
Staniforth and Richard Gompels – Royal
Queensland has developed an impressive
junior program.

“

“

We want to make it
more kid friendly
for the five to eight
year olds.

Already there are close to 80 juniors
signed up and that number should grow
now that the program has embraced Golf
Australia’s MYGolf model. “Our junior
program is going well,” said Andrew
Marchbank, who recently rejoined the
club after a stint working with the West
Australian PGA.
“James Staniforth, Richard Gompels and
Derrin Morgan, who also helped develop
the program, have done a good job. Like
most juniors programs, we don’t get all of
the kids every week, but we do get a good
number every second Sunday throughout
the year. Over the past five years the
program has come along in leaps and
bounds.”
One of the most pleasing aspects has
been the high percentage of girls involved
in the program. “Some weeks it can be as

10 Q Golf Online Winter 2012

high as 50–50,” Marchbank said. “We do
get quite a lot of girls in our mid-range
age group, which is nine to 13 and that is
encouraging.
“We have a couple of good role models at
the club, people like Christina Mew, who
plays in the State team and is looking to
get more involved in the program as a
mentor – particularly for the girls.”
When it comes to good coaches and
coaching methods, Royal Queensland has
been fortunate. It all started more than
50 years ago when Charlie Earp was at the
helm. Of course, Earp mentored a number
of today’s leading coaches including
RQ’s current head professional Chris
Rutherford and before him people like
PGA chairman Mark Gibson (Royal Pines
Resort) and Jim Barden (Victoria Park).

www.golfqueensland.org.au

Champion golfer Adam Scott, who played
junior pennant at Royal Queensland, is
the club’s junior patron. He visited the
club in February and it seems he has
inspired many of the juniors.
“We had a lot of good feedback from the
kids after Adam’s visit,” Marchbank said.
“A number of juniors, who are on the
verge of breaking into the pennant squad,
found his chat inspirational. The club’s
goal is to have the junior program evolve
to be strong.”
Marchbank said Royal Queensland
had been working closely with Golf
Queensland in an effort to strengthen
its program. “This year, through Golf
Queensland, we have introduced our
youngest group to the MYGolf package,
which is the golf clubs, soft golf balls, the