The approach behind Cairns Golf Club’s bustling junior program can be summed up in one word: inclusion.
With golfers as young as 11 playing – and competing – in the club championships last month, junior golfers at Cairns are encouraged to get involved in all aspects of club life.
“With our junior membership, there’s no restriction on what they can do. They have the same rights as a member who’s been here for 50 years,” said Siobhan Griffin, Cairns’ Membership and Marketing Manager.
“We want them to always feel comfortable here and that they are part of the club, so that once they turn 18, and leave the juniors, they don’t feel like fish out of water.
“The strategy of ours is definitely to have the juniors as an inclusion, not an afterthought.”
That inclusion begins the moment a junior picks up a club at Cairns, with introductory programs tailored for youngsters just starting out before they are ready to advance through Cairns’ full range of participation programs.
“We have ‘Cairns Minis’, which we do on a Saturday morning,” said Griffin.
“It’s a lot of hybrid sort of skills to introduce the kids to golf when they’re not really quite ready for lessons.
“They would go to ‘Cairns Minis’ and then progress to MyGolf, and AGF, and then we have MyGolf Girls programs, advanced MyGolf classes, and we have an elite class.
“Shane McHenry is our teaching pro, and is kept very busy. He’s just awesome.”
All of the hard work, dedication to developing the junior program, and the inclusive approach was epitomised in the recent club championships where 11-year old Chloe Prately held her own in the Women’s A-grade section.
“She was runner-up in the nett category, which is incredible considering she only got her handicap less than a year ago,” said Griffin.
“The girl who actually won the club championships, Angel Pizzichemi, who’s now 18, was a junior here.
“That was quite lovely, to see the two of them in it.”
The day after the club championship finals, Cairns also held a Future Club Championships so that all of the club’s juniors could get involved in the celebrations.
Cairns’ inclusive approach, putting the juniors on equal footing as the adult members, is ensuring its sustainability and building the foundations of a thriving club.
