Scott Strange signing autographs for the juniors at the Pump Junior Festival of Golf.
Junior golfers from all over Australia, a contingent from New Zealand and one visitor from Samoa enjoyed the golfing experience of their young lifetimes at the recent Pump Golf PGA Junior Festival of Golf held at the Twin Waters Golf Club and Novotel Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast from 8 – 11 December.
A total of 87 youngsters received tuition from a collection of leading PGA teaching professionals, visited the Australian PGA Championship to watch the stars in action, listened and learned from three of Australia’s most accomplished touring pros and also had the opportunity to compete in a two day event at the magnificent Twin Waters course. In all it was three-days of golfing fun and for those lucky enough to take part will never likely forget.
The juniors won their way to Twin Waters courtesy of the PGA’s Pump Golf Shootout events which were conducted throughout the year at venues all around the country.
“The aim of the Festival of Golf is to showcase golf as fun; to give the juniors the opportunity to experience a tournament atmosphere at the Australian PGA Championship and to learn and improve their golf from the clinics conducted by PGA members who lend their expertise,” explained Natalie Ritter, National Events Manager for PGA of Australia.
After arriving on the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday morning the junior golfers, including both boys and girls were treated to a barbeque with the stars later that afternoon, with Stuart Appleby, Peter O’Malley and emerging talent Scott Strange, entertaining the crowd with their tales from the tour while also offering some sound words of advice to the ambitious juniors amongst the group.
A junior tees off at the Pump Junior Festival of Golf. Juniors played two rounds of competition golf at Twin Waters Golf Club.
The eager golfers then competed on the Wednesday and Thursday over 36-holes of competition, with winners crowned in the various age divisions in both handicap and scratch categories. Amongst the winners were WA’s Lewis Wegner, Ella Adams and Christine Beasley from South Australia, along with Harry Burgoine from Victoria, young golfers with immense talent and names to be noted for future reference.
After the second round of competition on Thursday, the group made the short trek from Twin Waters to Hyatt Coolum to take in all the action on day one of the 2009 Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola, before attending a presentation dinner in the evening.
In between activities and in what was a valuable addition to their experiences at the Festival of Golf, the juniors were treated to clinics each delivered by highly qualified and respected PGA teaching professionals; instruction which covered all aspects of the game including chipping, putting and bunker play, full swing technique and information relating to golf fitness and sports psychology.
While PGA’s Australia’s Pump Golf Junior program boasts Coca-Cola Amatil as its major sponsor, seven leading golf manufacturers including Srixon, TaylorMade, Callaway, PING, Bridgestone, Titleist and Maxfli also lent valuable support to the event.
Scores from the event are available below:
For more information on the Pump Golf junior program, visit www.pumpgolf.com or contact the PGA Events Division on 03 8320 1999.