Junior golf numbers booming in the Bay

Danny Lee, left, and Lydia Ko are helping to drive a boom in junior golf in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / File

The days of golf being the bastion of the rich and elderly are long gone.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Bay of Plenty where numbers of young people taking up the game continues to grow at record levels.

Figures released by NZ Golf reveal junior golfers under-19 increased by 21 per cent in the last 12 months across the wider Bay of Plenty region.

That is music to the ears of frontline administrators and coaches led by BayTrust CoachForce golf development officer Mike Campbell.

His main role is coaching volunteer coaches, junior conveners and school teachers in a region covering Katikati to Turangi.

He said the number of coaches involved in golf at all levels had grown considerably since he started in the role three-and-a-half years ago.

"There were 12 PGA professionals in the Bay combined then and there are now 26 so that obviously is going to make a big difference. With volunteer coaches there are probably about 30 that we work with in the Bay and obviously school stuff on top of that with the Introduction to Golf programme in schools," Campbell said.

"The schools side of things is very much grassroots side of things and you probably won't see results from for four or five years at least, as we are working a lot with primary school kids most of whom won't be club members yet."

Campbell said he was hoping for an increase in numbers every year but the 21 per cent leap in the last 12 months exceeded his expectations.

"There have been some clubs that have had some big, big increases in that period particularly with Helen Clelland at Taupo and Jan Higgins at Otumoetai.

"Helen has run the junior section at Taupo for quite a long time. Last year she got together a dozen volunteers we put them through the PGA Foundation Coach certificate programme so she now has another 12 coaches she can call on to help out with junior days.

"That has made a big difference to get that support from local parents.

"Jan went in there last year and built it up from scratch all on her own. She has done a fantastic job and again she has a couple of key club members that help her out."

Role models were always vital to any sport attracting younger players. Ask any kids playing cricket in Bay of Plenty who they looked up to and Kane Williamson and Trent Boult would get most of the votes.

The same applied in golf with Lydia Ko inspiring an entire generation and the influence of New Zealand's number one male golfer in Rotorua's Danny Lee could not be underestimated.

"We use as much of Lydia Ko and Danny Lee to promote the game as much as we can," Campbell said.

"Danny puts a fair bit of money into the region as well for the use of junior golf development and the Danny Lee Academy so that is huge in our area to use these role models and show what success the kids can attain."