Burnaby Golf "Reaches Out" To 20,000 New Youth Golfers

By Alfie Lau; It's a Lower Mainland golf success story that has seen 20,000 students in the last decade pick up the pointers of a sport that they play for the rest of their lives.

Burnaby Golf's wildly successful Reach Out program, organized in conjunction with the Burnaby Board of Education, has seen Grade 5 and Grade 10 students learn the fundamentals of the sport for little to no cost.

It all began a decade ago when Burnaby’s Golf Operations Department recognized that the number of players taking up the game of golf was not going to make up for the numbers of players leaving the game.
With this situation in mind, they decided to take a pro-active approach and they had to take a basic level of introduction and instruction out into the community.
Working with the Burnaby Board of Education, Burnaby Golf has introduced the fundamentals of the sport through physical education classes at both the elementary and high school levels.

In elementary schools, the goal was to create an environment where the children could experience various aspects of the game, all within an environment of fun.

The basics of the classes were:

- All the lessons were conducted at the schools.
- At least two instructors would conduct the lessons. (All instructors have passed a criminal records check as part of Burnaby’s “Children and Vulnerable Persons Protection Program”)
- The lessons were targeted toward the Grade 5 level, but additional classes of Grade 6 or Grade 4 children were held if the instructors had breaks between classes.
- The program for each class would involve four sections: a PowerPoint presentation outlining the basics of the game; one putting station; one full swing station; and a putting contest for the entire class.
- All equipment – clubs, balls and teaching aids – are provided by the Burnaby Golf Operations Department.
- The teacher would still need to be involved in the instruction – mostly to ensure safety of pupils and control of the class.
- There was no charge to the students for this program. In addition to the instructional costs, Burnaby Golf picked up all the costs to develop, schedule and administer the program.

This program was taught in eight schools in the 2012/13 school year, reaching more than 800 students. In previous years, the program has been to an average of 10 to 15 schools per year.
During the seven years that this program has been offered, Burnaby Golf has introduced the game of golf to more than 9,000 Burnaby students.

It's a similar success story in Burnaby high schools.

The Burnaby Golf High School Lesson program has been developed to allow students in their Grade 10 year an opportunity to learn the basics of the game of golf.
The program has grown during the past eight years to the point where all the schools in Burnaby are participating in the program.
The program basics are:
- All instruction will be lead by at least two instructors, at least one who is a C.P.G.A. Golf Professional. (All instructors have passed a criminal records check as part of Burnaby’s “Children and Vulnerable Persons Protection Program”)
- The program follows a four-lesson format featuring three lessons focusing on the skills of putting, chipping and the full swing. An introductory lesson has been added to the lesson plan, which includes the basics of the golf swing, as well as a brief overview of the history, basic rules and etiquette of golf.
- The introductory lesson is held at either the school or at the golf course.
- The golf lessons would are held at either of the two City of Burnaby golf courses, Burnaby Mountain and Riverway, depending upon availability.
- All equipment – clubs, balls and teaching aids – are provided by Burnaby Golf.
- The teacher would still need to be involved in the instruction – mostly to ensure safety of pupils and control of the class.
- Each student is charged a fee of $10 plus GST (only $2.50 per lesson) to cover the cost of balls, rental equipment, and instruction.
In addition to the instructional costs, Burnaby Golf covers all additional costs to develop, schedule and administer the program.
The most recent figures show that 1,250 Burnaby high school students have benefited from the program. For example, Burnaby North and Burnaby South each had 350 students go through the golf program, Burnaby Mountain had 200 students and Moscrop and Alpha each had 175 students go through the golf program.
The program had been taught to more than 12,000 children during the past 10 years.
"We're very happy with how many students we've reached through this program," said Hal Eremko, head golf professional at Riverway. "We felt we needed to do more to take golf out to the community.
"Currently, our golf facilities teach more than 400 individual juniors per year, and more than 500 adults per year. We also host high school golf matches from the Burnaby, Vancouver and Independent School Leagues. By making the effort to take the basic introduction and instruction out to the schools of Burnaby, our efforts have reached more than 20,000 students. Many of these students may never have been exposed to the game of golf if it was not for these programs."

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