Weston Jr Golf Development

Weston is proud to be a GAO Jr. Golf Development Center starting in 2013. What is a JGDC? Read below for more info.

 Vision:

The establishment of a network of Junior Golf Development Centres across Canada, providing interested youth with the opportunity to access comprehensive age appropriate golf programs and services, delivered at a national standard, providing the skills and experiences to the participants and their families that will keep them involved with golf for life

Objective:
Create program standardization which is compliant with golf’s Long Term Player Development (LTPD) guide
Develop a “club system” in the country that has a clear athlete development pathway
Enhanced support to member clubs that shows the increased service that both the Provincial Golf Associations and Golf Canada are providing
Foster the growth of recreational junior players – through the linkage with the Golf in Schools program and CN Future Links programming
Educate parents and guardians
Assist in the development of a club model that will provide career opportunities for PGA of Canada members in coaching

Benefits:
Enhanced relationship with member clubs
Enhanced relations between key stakeholders (PGA of Canada, PGA zones, Golf Canada, Provincial Golf Associations, National Golf Course Owners, Club Managers)
The potential for Provincial Golf Associations to access Provincial government funding for implementation
Growth/traction of LTPD compliant programming for junior aged players
An increase in the number of trained and certified coaches as a result of base criteria for club involvement.
Improved communication with families
Opportunities for unique/new competition formats – i.e. inter-centre team competitions
Enhanced intelligence that can be used for talent identification both provincially and nationally

How it Works:
The JGDC initiative provides a clear golf developmental pathway with comprehensive coaching support for golfers between the ages of 5 – 18.  These centres will create a systematic approach to developing junior golfers which benefits players, families, coaches and golf facilities.   The end result is a system which can provide support to players demonstrating a desire and high level of competency while fostering the life-long passion for golf as a basic underpinning to the entire programming.
                                                                                                                             
The framework would look similar to an inverted pyramid, where the goal is to have a large base of players who “feed” the system, have age/stage appropriate programming provided with every experience.  Ultimately as the player progress, they will filter through the club, with programs getting more and more specialized as the players develop.  Players and families will have a choice on whether they want to be involved in programming that is more competitive in nature or if they want to continue their engagement in the sport recreationally.

For recreational players, a JGDC is able to provide programming and access to those who will play for life but who aren’t interested in competition.  In this stream, the JGDC will be lead and assisted by PGA of Canada instructors and Future Links Leaders.   These recreational programs focus on servicing the demands of a sizable and captive group of players who simply want to play the game for life.

The competition stream will be run by a PGA of Canada Head Coach, who has been certified and trained through the Golf’s NCCP Competition stream.

Lets have some fun!

This is the first post on the Weston Jr. Golf blog.  I'd thought I'd kick things off with a post about what I think the most important thing every Jr. Program needs..... FUN!

I remember back when I took my first Jr. Camp, I had an instructor who was nick named the Drill Sargent.    The camp went from 8 am to 1 pm, we did drills from 830 to 12 every day!  To say the least it wasn't the most fun camp in the world but looking back I did learn something... I would never do the same thing.

My philosophy is pretty simple when it comes to Jr. Golf, keep them safe, and let then have fun!  Whether it is dog ball to warm up or it is letting them try to hit me while I drive the range picker. FUN IS KEY!  Some may think that trying to hit the range picker is fooling around. Next time you are at the range ask a Jr. to try and hit the picker.  The level of concentration, and the quality of the shots they hit is night and day vs regular swings.

At Weston our goal is to make the Jr.'s better golfers, but we want to make sure they stay golfers.   The snow should be melting soon, and our winter academy is in full swing.   Come in and say hi, we would love to chat golf.

Bradley

Welcome

Welcome to the Weston Jr. Golf Blog! The pro's here at Weston will be posting here to keep you up to date on whats going on in the world of Weston Jr. Golf. Look for articles, insight and events coming soon!