The Canterbury Eagles Golfing Society in October of 2007 reinstated their Junior Golf Development Programmes in support of Canterbury Golf Inc with a coaching day in both North and Central Canterbury.

A continuation programme was designed for the North Canterbury Golf Clubs based on those personnel that attended the initial coaching days, this resulted in Juniors from golf clubs in the north of Christchurch to be the first to participate in a revamped Canterbury Eagles' coaching scheme, which began on Monday 14th January 2008 at the Kaiapoi Golf Club, with an introduction to a professional coaching structure, which will continue throughout the holiday period with weekly sessions. This is an exciting new format with three Canterbury North Golf Clubs participating with an initial eight juniors involved.

Initially the programme is for under 19 year olds with a golf handicap of 15 +. The scheme has four 2-hour sessions covering grip, alignment, posture, golf swing, pre-shot routine, course management, pre-game preparation, warm up and stretching, how to practice effectively and with drills and exercises for putting.

The Professional Coach who devised and is implementing the programme is Jason Tilley from Garden City Golf Driving Range; the scheme is run under the auspices of the Kaiapoi Golf Club; costs of professional coaching, transport, equipment and ball hire have been met by the Eagles Golfing Society of Canterbury, with the Golf Club supplying the lunches for the group.

The Kaiapoi Golf Club Captain Tom Whitaker (and Current Canterbury Eagles Secretary) along with Max Walker, the current Canterbury North Representative to Canterbury Golf INC are supervising the deliverance of this innovative coaching..

This new format is proving to be a success and may be repeated with juniors from Central Canterbury and the Municipal areas.

At a recent meeting of the Kaiapoi Golf Club Board, a decision was made to support this innovative concept, by the allocation of funding to allow this programme to continue over the next seven months, with further two hour sessions to be conducted on a monthly basis to provide continuation to this programme until further funding is available from the Eagles or other sources.

Budding Superstars:

Under the guidance of Lyn Marie Shaskey (NZPGA Professional) a programme for beginner golfers has been operational at the Kaiapoi Golf Club for the last couple of years and it is pleasing to see so many young people taking up the opportunity to learn the game, the trick will be to keep them interested and continuing to improve and compete in this game. The sessions are conducted on a Thursday evening over a period ranging from middle of October to end of March the following year. Lyn Marie has a wonderful report with these young personnel, and it is a treat to watch how they respond to her gentle nature. The groups range from

Beginners: 5-10 Years who attend at 3pm to 3-30pm.

11 to 12 years from 3-30pm to 4pm.

12 years or more from 4-30pm to 5pm.

It is pleasing to see at times up to 40 young boys and girls taking advantage of this opportunity, any Kaiapoi or surrounding district youngsters who may think that they would like to have ago at learning golf are most welcome to contact the club and avail themselves of the opportunity.

If the youngster is a member of the Kaiapoi Golf Club (special rates apply) then there is no charge for the Thursday evening activities, BUT if the youngster is not a member then a $2 levy is applied every session they attend.

Golf clubs and balls etc are supplied, and if the youngster has their own equipment they are welcome to use it, if any parents wish to purchase golf equipment then Lyn Marie offers special discount rates for members of this group.

Mention must be made of those volunteers who willingly give of their time to help Lyn Marie with this programme, for we all know without them where would any junior golf programme be.

To Jim McGregor-Jim Tiweka-and Mike Cole your input is appreciated and most welcome, and we will see you all again in February.

Tom Whitaker

Club Captain