Tee Anyone?
By Lawrence Machado
Lynwood’s junior stars
Lynwood Country Club at Pitt Town is fast making a name for itself as a launching pad for junior golfers, with more pathways created to tap into this rich vein of talent.
Director of Golf at the club, Jason King, knows first hand what the budding golfers need, having excelled as a junior before turning professional and playing on the Australian, Asian and European tours with success.
“With our new Kickstart program for children, starting from ages four and five, you often see something being triggered in their eyes when they are putting into the hole or hitting drive,” King told Hills To Hawkesbury Community News.
“It’s incredible to see because having three kids of my own, it’s hard to get them to play sports because of the (modern) devices they like to use.
“Kickstart runs in four age categories and it is a pathway for them to pursue their interests in golf.”
Lynwood Country Club, which is owned by CHRG (Castle Hill RSL Group), has a focus on growing the game for the local community and the regular golfer. King, whose coaching videos on the Australian Golf Digest TV are popular, introduced the Junior Scholarship Program at Lynwood CC when he began working there two and half years ago.
The program has unearthed budding stars, including Toby Farrar, 12, who had a stellar season in 2019, winning the NSW State Age Championships, the Jack Newton International Junior Classic, the Harvey Norman week of Golf, Illawarra Junior and North Coast Junior Masters and the Fayde Junior Matchplay.
“The Junior Scholarship Program provides access to coaching and is a pathway to professional golf,” King said.
“Now many golfers from other areas too are joining because we have the facilities for golfers to go pro and beyond.”
In 2019 the Lynwood Golf Encourage Shield team took out the Metropolitan Sydney and NSW State Encourage Shield tournaments.
“If you look at two of our players, Toby Farrar and Nara Shin, their accomplishments are world-class,” King said.
“As a 12-year-old, Toby is currently playing off a handicap of one. In comparison, I had a pretty decent junior career winning the NSW State Age Championships as a 17-year-old and played in the Australian junior team, but at Toby’s age, my handicap was about 15.”
There are also many members who travel from metropolitan Sydney for the combination of reasonable golf membership pricing, combined with a modern layout designed by award-winning architect, Graham Papworth.
Australian Senior representative Ken Brewer and his wife Carmelisa prefer the practice facilities and course at Lynwood Country Club, which are similar to the Melbourne sand belt courses where Ken competes. Brewer said the move here was instrumental in his superb performances in 2019, where he won three Australian Senior events.
Details: Jason King at [email protected]
