Maybe the first question shouldn't be:
“How do we attract junior golfers?”
Maybe it should be:
“Does our club actually want junior golfers?”
Because there is a difference between saying we want more young people in golf and creating a club environment where young people genuinely feel wanted.
Taranaki Golf can help introduce young people to the game.
We go into primary, intermediate and secondary schools. We run Futures Taranaki Golf, development opportunities, events and tournaments. We can put a golf club into a young person's hands and hopefully create that first spark.
But eventually that young person needs somewhere to belong.
That's where the golf club comes in.
But where do our junior golfers actually come from?
That's another question worth asking.
Do they come from our school activations?
Or is the strongest pathway still a family connection — Mum or Dad plays, Grandad or Grandma plays, an older brother or sister plays?
Maybe it's a friend who says, “Come and have a hit with me.”
Perhaps they discover golf through YouTube or social media. Maybe they play another sport and golf becomes something they do on the side. Or perhaps they attend a Taranaki Golf school activation and simply enjoy hitting a golf ball for the first time.
There are plenty of possible entry points.
But do we actually know which ones are working?
Perhaps every club should look at its current junior members and ask one very simple question:
“What was the main reason you first came to our golf club?”
The answers could be really valuable.
Because there is an important difference between exposure and conversion.
Taranaki Golf might introduce thousands of young people to golf through schools and community programmes. That exposure is important.
But if a 10-year-old loves hitting golf balls at school on Tuesday and nothing happens afterwards, have we created a golfer — or simply provided a fun 30-minute activity?
Compare that with the child whose grandfather plays golf.
Grandad provides the next step:
“You enjoyed that? Come out to the golf club with me on Sunday.”
That pathway already has a bridge.
If our school programmes are going to produce club golfers, perhaps we need to deliberately build that bridge too.
“Enjoyed golf at school? Come to the local golf club this Sunday. Bring Mum, Dad or your grandparents. We'll provide the clubs. Come and have some fun.”
That seems a pretty simple next step.
Then what happens when they arrive?
What would make an 8, 12, 15 or 18-year-old walk into your golf club and think:
“I want to be part of this place.”
Probably not cheap membership alone.
They need other young people around them.
They need adults who actually want them there.
They need opportunities to play that don't always involve 18 holes and four-hour rounds.
They need fun before competition, encouragement before handicaps and a pathway that allows them to progress when they're ready.
And maybe we need to stop treating “juniors” as one group.
How young is too young?
I'm not sure there is a magic age.
A five-year-old hitting balls with Mum or Dad for half an hour might be exactly where their golfing journey should start. They don't necessarily need a membership, handicap, competition or structured coaching programme.
At 8 or 9, golf might mean playing a few holes with friends.
At 12, it might mean joining a junior group.
At 15, it could mean competition, coaching and representative aspirations.
At 18, they might simply want to play golf socially with their mates.
Junior golf shouldn't be one product for everyone under 19.
Perhaps the challenge for our clubs is to provide different experiences for different ages, abilities and motivations.
And then make sure that whenever a young person arrives at our golf club, somebody makes them feel like they belong.
Taranaki Golf can introduce thousands of kids to golf.
We can run school programmes, Futures Golf, development opportunities and tournaments.
But ultimately, clubs turn those kids into golfers.
So perhaps there are four questions every golf club should be asking:
- Do we genuinely want junior golfers?
- Where are our current juniors coming from?
- What experience are we giving them when they arrive?
- And, most importantly, what are we doing that makes them want to come back?
Peter Harold
