Dear Students, Parents, Partners and Friends of Bishops Gate Golf Academy,
This year got off to a very busy start with students returning in mid-January, and overlapping for a week or two with our Winter Camp guests, who come to enjoy our great year-round weather and wonderful facilities. At our peak, we had our students plus more than 75 players and their coaches from the national golf programs of Germany, Austria and Denmark. With over 150 outstanding junior golfers on our campus, it was a very exciting time, with a tremendous buzz and energy.
We are flattered that the national teams choose our facilities over any other in the world, because of how perfectly the combination of accommodation and golf training options work for them. The national programs bring their own coaching staff and therefore do not impact the high-level golf training program of our students. We had hosted the Scottish national team in early December and we look forward to the arrival of the Finnish national team and a Swiss Canton team in February, before a few US College teams come down for Spring training in March.
We added new students this Spring semester, which we are able to absorb into our coaching program and housing facilities. New housing parents have been added who have settled in well and have been well received by our students.
The usual start of semester golf and fitness assessments have been completed, and the Spring tournament season kicks off for some students in the IJGT at Oldfield, Bluffton, South Carolina. For the leading boys and girls in the IJGT Race to Scotland, there is a lot to play for over the next five weeks, as the top six will get the reward of a trip to Scotland during Spring break in early March, playing championship links courses and ending with golf at St. Andrew’ s.
We do have a couple of exceptional successes to report, firstly with the amazing performance of Julian Perico from Peru, who was the youngest competitor in the Latin America Amateur Championship, who had a fast start in scoring a tournament record low 64 in the opening round and then finished tantalizingly one shot off the lead! The other was our 2016 alumni Marcos Montenegro who also had a wonderful performance in the South American Amateur Championship, leading after two rounds and ending in fifth place. We are immensely proud of them and they inspire our students.
The other start of semester program was our PATH character and leadership event, which we hosted at the wonderful five star Bella Collina Golf Club, and was themed“ Looking Inward, Acting Outward”. Students considered their“ core values”, which ended up written on golf balls in a jar that they keep in a prominent place, also considered their“ personality” types, and ended with students deciding on what“ community programs” they would like to engage in.
As you can see, we’ re back into full swing with the various golf, education and character development programs that make us unique amongst golf academies and which we believe gives our students the very best experience and opportunity to succeed. This past fall we placed 20 of our post-graduates and seniors in college, and there is much excitement when they achieve a place at one of the top colleges of their dreams, which is what we endeavor to accomplish.
All of our committed and extraordinary staff wish you well for 2017.
Sincerely, Andrew Summers, CEO