AusLeisure

The Australian Golf Foundation (AGF), in collaboration with Golf Australia, have today announced that 134 funded centres will take part in 2022, compared with 37 clubs in 2021.

Australian Golf Foundation has partnered with NEXTGEN Group as the principal partner of the AGF Scholarship Program in 2022, with significant further support provided by Golf Australia, Golf Victoria, Victorian Golf Foundation, Golf Queensland, Golf South Australia, Golf Tasmania, Golf Western Australia, Western Australian Golf Foundation, Golf Northern Territory, Jack Newton Junior Golf, Golf Management Australia, WPGA Tour of Australasia and PGA of Australia, as well as a number of additional generous private benefactors.

Bonnie Boezeman, scholarship program founder and board member of the AGF notes "we have been delighted with the response. To have such a huge number of applications from across Australia really shows there is a need and hunger to support young girls from learning the game to obtaining club membership, handicaps and playing competition golf.

"We have quickly grown from 226 scholarship holders in 2021 to as high as 800 girls in 2022 and pleasingly 50% of these girls will be coming from regional and rural clubs! This would not be possible if it wasn't for the inaugural principal sponsor, state golfing associations, Golf Australia/WPGA/PGA/Jack Newton Junior Golf/Golf Management Australia and many other generous donors.

"Each of these girls will hold a scholarship at their local club that includes group tuition and membership for the year, along with a branded shirt and cap for the girls to wear with pride."

This rapid expansion would not have been possible without support from the entire golf industry and some generous donors. In a first, the golf industry has come together to support the program financially.

Karen Lunn, Chief Executive of the WPGA and scholarship steering group member is excited for the future of women's golf and adds "we have been overwhelmed at the incredible response we have had to the girls scholarship program. I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the organisations and donors who have supported the program, illustrating the power of what can be achieved when we all work together for the benefit of our sport.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the scholarship program will transform the future golfing landscape here in Australia. In addition to vastly increasing our pool of talent for future generations of female players, coaches and industry employees, we will no doubt eventually reap the rewards generated from having more women and girls participating in our sport.

"We look forward to watching the progress of these girls who will be mentored and coached under the watchful eyes of talented PGA coaches, or in some more remote areas our dedicated community instructors."

Clubs and resident PGA professionals are now busy recruiting girls to their programs and setting up their group tuition to start term 1 next year. Each club is expected to conduct an induction ceremony where girls and families are welcomed to the club and receive their scholarship uniforms.

Boezeman, who founded the concept at Killara Golf Club four years prior, believes having girls' interviews and inductions are part of the ethos of the program.

"These nuances create a sense of self-significance and importance of the program. We hope that holding a scholarship not only helps girls improve their golf, but by exposing girls to an interview process will help to develop confidence, interpersonal skills and create future leaders of our sport."

For more information and to see a list of funded centres, 2022 visit the Australian Golf Foundation website.

Related Articles

17th September 2021 - Australian Golf Foundation continues its Junior Girls Scholarship program for a second year

30th October 2021 - Greg Norman to head up new $200 million Saudi-backed Asian golf series

25th October 2021 - PGA of Australia to establish world-first golf learning hub at Sandhurst

22nd October 2021 - Australia’s elite amateur golfers return to representative competition in UAE

12th October 2021 - Nine million Australians interested in Golf suggests huge potential to grow the game

16th September 2021 - Golf New Zealand supports inaugural Leadership Award for women

12th July 2021 - Outback Queensland Masters attracts record number of amateur golfers

9th June 2021 - PGA of Australia and Golf Australia develop new pathway for elite amateurs

24th February 2021 - SPORTFIVE launches new global golf strategy

12th February 2021 - Junior girls to develop golfing skills with scholarship support

16th December 2020 - Golf Australia announces major partnership with Apia

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.