The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

The ALPG is proud to announce that The R&A has shown its support for two of the ALPG’s development initiatives, the ALPG ActewAGL Next Generation Club and the ALPG National Women’s Golf Clinics.

The ActewAGL Next Generation Club is an initiative that was launched by the ALPG in 2012, that is aimed towards supporting female amateur golfers that aspire to be or are considering a career as a professional golfer or within  the golf industry. The Club provides education, advice, guidance and mentoring offered through the knowledge and experience of ALPG and its members.
Earlier this year the ALPG hosted the second annual ActewAGL Next Generation Club Camp at Royal Canberra Golf Club from the 14^th-16^th January. Once again ALPG stars Rachel Hetherington and Shani Waugh were on site to mentor the NGC members, along with Canberra star Nikki Campbell.
As in 2014, the camp days consisted of practical range and short game sessions with emphasis on tournament preparation, planning and strategy, nutrition, and physical and mental preparation. The girls also get to play in a Pro-Am format event, where they play as the professionals in the group along with sponsors, guests and club members.

Following the 2015 ActewAGL NGC Camp ALPG star Rachel Hetherington was quoted as saying,

“The NGC is unique in that it has former successful players giving the next generation of golfers the information they need to succeed. I believe it can assist a number of young women that love the game of golf, but are not yet in a high performance program. I think it is a great thing the ALPG have identified. I told the girls not to become disillusioned if they weren’t identified in high performance programs. There are many pathways like doing a PGA traineeship or the PGA IGI course. I told them the other options are golf management, golf psychology, golf fitness – there are so many different pathways. There aren’t too many sports that offer that.”

In addition to the globally recognized ALPG members who act as mentors for the NGC members, the NGC initiative is supported and endorsed by ALPG member and LPGA Hall of Fame member, Karrie Webb who said of the NGC,

“I am excited about this initiative which offers a unique opportunity for aspiring professional golfers. I am happy to be part of the team who will pass on our advice and our experiences to the Next Generation Club Members. For golfers who are considering a career as a tournament playing professional, it is important to plan ahead, seek the right advice and speak to those who have been down that road, in order to make an educated decision about the future. The Next Generation Club provides the support along this pathway and I would encourage aspiring golfers to join this Club.”

The other ALPG Development initiative that has been supported by The R&A is the ALPG National Women’s Golf Clinics which was launched at a pilot on the 16^th September 2014 at Oatlands Golf Club in Sydney. 

ALPG Executive Director Karen Lunn said of the new initiative,

“The launch of our ALPG National Women’s Clinics was a landmark occasion for the ALPG. We have a large group of incredibly skilled and enthusiastic Teaching Members scattered all over the country, and our plan is to engage them to conduct a series of Clinics in major cities around Australia in 2015. We see these clinics as a way that the ALPG can play its part in getting more women and girls around the country to participate and enjoy golf, something that we have identified as a priority for our organisation.”

The ALPG National Women’s Clinic launch at Oatlands boasted a star studded field of ALPG teaching professionals, including Rachel Hetherington, Shani Waugh, Dennise Hutton and Anne Rollo. Our ALPG professionals spent the day coaching and mentoring 60 women golfers from the Sydney area where they spend time on the golf course, the driving range and short game areas, learning from some of the best and most credentialed teaching professionals in the country.

The launch was hugely successful, below are some comments we received from the ladies;

“Just loved every moment! Very relaxed & friendly atmosphere Coaching was good & Rachel`s demonstration was brilliant”
“The clinics with the Pros were incredible & super enjoyable.  Can`t wait till the next one!”
“The whole day was enjoyable.  I thoroughly enjoyed having Rachel Hetherington giving us advice.  It has improved my swing but in saying that the whole concept of the event was fantastic”

ALPG President Shani Waugh said of the support from The R&A “On behalf of the ALPG board, members and staff, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to The R&A for their support of our Development Initiatives. Having The R&A behind our brand and our initiatives certainly validates our belief in these projects and can only assist us in promoting them across Australia. We believe that having The R&A on board can help us really make a difference and assist us to get more women and girls playing, enjoying and staying involved in golf.”

Duncan Weir, Executive Director – Working for Golf at The R&A, said, “These are two excellent initiatives from the ALPG which support leading women’s amateurs in making the transition to the professional game and, at a more introductory level, encourage girls and women to take up golf. Australia has produced many great women’s players over the years and we want to see that continue, with more girls being inspired to follow in their footsteps.”

For more information about either of these ALPG Initiatives please contact ALPG Development Officer Lee Harrington at leeh@alpg.com.au.