Laois Today: Laois golf club set to host programme to encourage women to take up the sport

The Heath’s Golf Club’s Get Into Golf Programme for Women will commence in early July with an information evening being held on June 25 at the club at 7 pm.

This was supposed to commence in April but had to be postponed due to COVID.

The Get into Golf Programme has been carried out at The Heath Golf Club since 2015 and has been very successful in attracting women to golf.

The idea behind the programme was developed by the Confederation of Golf in Ireland and the club is lucky to have been supported in these programmes by Justin O’Byrne of CGI.

A series of lessons with the club’s resident PGA professional Mark O’Boyle will be organised by the ladies section of the club.

This year, The Heath are grateful to have received funding from Laois Sports Partnership as part of the 2020 “if she can’t see it she can’t be it” initiative enabling the club to provide small group coaching.

Each one hour lesson is followed by tea or coffee to facilitate social interaction; this has been found to be important where women are concerned. Social distancing will apply for this series of lessons and sanitised equipment will be provided.

The lessons are followed by practice sessions with established members. By the end of the programme the participant will have a good idea whether golf is for her or not. Participants generally make friends in the group and then arrange their own practice sessions.

When the series of lessons are completed the participant is offered a deal for membership that includes the remainder of the year and the following year. Participants are from all ages from 20s to 60s. The great thing about golf is that it can be played well into the 80s.

The club has gained approximately 40 new women members as a result of this initiative since commencement.

Check out some great pictures from The Heath below: