Club house
Reporter: KEVIN RICHARDSON
Date published: 13 January 2010
SNOW-COVERED fairways and frost-bound greens can’t stop Martin Beaty from spreading the virtues of golf.
The new Crompton and Royton professional visited Crompton House School yesterday for the first of four sessions with girls from Year Seven.
In the warm and dry of the sports hall, Beaty taught the basics of golf to a class of 20 pupils, from set-up, posture and grip to swinging a club.
He said: “Golf offers children a different sporting challenge, and it often attracts those who find it difficult to settle into a team sport.
“It allows children to connect with themselves. They can feel more relaxed and get on with it.
“They find it very productive and so do I.”
The sessions, which are funded by the Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People, will form part of the girls’ weekly PE curriculum over the next month.
Beaty put the school’s Year Seven boys through their paces at the end of last year.
He added: “The boys were excellent and we’ve hand-picked six of them for a follow-up programme at Crompton and Royton, which will start when the weather relents.
“If all goes well, they’ll be offered junior membership at the club, and we’re planning to follow a similar agenda with the girls.”
Crompton House has a rich tradition in golf. They are a familiar name on entry lists for schools competitions in Oldham, Lancashire and England.
Neil Wheelton, head of PE at the school, said: “Hopefully the girls will get a lot out of it.
“The boys were battling the elements before Christmas, but the sports hall is a much nicer environment. It’s a good bit warmer for starters.”
Beaty, who recently took over from the retired Dave Melling as pro at High Barn, is working hard to push golf in schools.
He has taken weekly coaching sessions at Radclyffe, Our Lady’s and Royton and Crompton in an initiative to broaden the appeal of the sport which, in some quarters, is still seen as elitist.
Beaty’s next step is to visit primary schools, with the aim of forming a golf team to represent Oldham in the Manchester Mini-Youth Games.
