David Howell column: More joy on the way if we treat kids right

By European Tour player David Howell

English golf had another high point this week with Matthew Fitzpatrick ­winning the Nordea ­Masters in fine style with a three-shot victory on the stunning Bro Hoff Slott course in Stockholm last Sunday. That follows in the footsteps of Chris Wood taking the PGA title, Danny Willett becoming the first ­Masters champion since Sir Nick Faldo and Andrew Johnston breaking through with a win in the Spanish Open.

Rightly so, Andy Murray holds the nation’s attention every time that he turns up at a Grand Slam event in tennis because he has been one of the world’s great tennis players for a decade or so now, but just imagine the interest that our nation would have towards that sport if we had ten or so guys winning worldwide tournaments consistently as we do in golf.

Our country will always be preoccupied by our national game, football, especially with the European Championships just around the corner, but as a sport-loving country, it sometimes feels like our ­success at golf passes people by.

Maybe the Olympics will bring the game more into the mainstream this year. A British winner of a gold medal could perhaps elevate the game more than many could imagine. Whether you are for or against golf becoming part of the Games, one thing is for sure – whoever stands on the platform to receive the gold medal, and adds to their nation’s tally, will probably experience the ­proudest moment of their career, no matter what achievements have come before it.

Winning the Ryder Cup as a team is so thrilling because it’s not just you, you feel as if you are winning it for the fans, as well as your team-mates.

I ­predict that feeling of winning for others could be all the more powerful when you manage to do it as an ­individual. That could well be the biggest thrill of all as a golfer because your chances are limited with it being only every four years. It could well prove to be the real fifth Major as time ­progresses. Some of the world’s best players have sadly decided not to take part in Rio this August. I believe that will be a decision that they come to regret. One thing that could ­scupper this is a lack of spectators. To have a thrilling win, it needs to be in front of a thrilled crowd. With so much sport to view, getting enough people to watch the golf could be an issue that the Olympic committee finds hard to solve, but let’s hope it does.

We will be sending a strong ­contingent of players to Rio this year and, from what I have seen recently, that trend is set to continue. To have great professional players you need to have huge numbers of young players getting into a sport, falling in love with the challenge of getting better and dreaming of stardom. Much has been talked about declining numbers in golf in recent years: it takes too long some say, it’s not inclusive enough, it’s expensive – all reasons you hear for this state of affairs – but if what I ­witnessed recently at Broome Manor Golf Club in Swindon is anything to go by then I would in fact argue that golf could be in for some growth once again on these shores.

I grew up at Broome Manor, a ­council-run course with a manager who had a great love for the game and a head pro who loved to see juniors take up the sport,  Tom Watt and Barry Sandry.

Add to them a membership who treated the juniors as full ­members, who were as happy to play with the juniors in a medal ­competition as they were their pals, and that was the perfect environment that I grew up in and is why I am in a position to be writing in this paper today.

But things have moved on once again down at my old haunt. It’s now under private ownership but the tone of the place is the same. One of my junior compatriots, Lee Hayward, is now the teaching pro and is working with up to 60 kids a week, in itself a great accomplishment. What so ­excited me when I saw them all ­playing in the little tournament that I host each year is how much fun they were having doing it and how young the kids were – and here is the reason why.

Tees that are positioned 60-80 yards from the green, no more than three shots allowed from a bunker, what ­happens then I am not sure but who cares, it’s only for fun, and once you have had four putts you must pick it up. Seven is your maximum score. Oh, and for the sevens and under, they only play six holes which happens to take them back to the clubhouse.

One final thing: laughter. It has to be fun at that age to keep any kid’s interest. A little bit of golf etiquette being learned along the way for sure, but these kids could just as well have been in a park such was the ­atmosphere that I witnessed, singing playground songs on the walk from tee to green, every putt that went in greeted with applause from the ­supervising ­parents, and every miss or duffed shot met with encouragement and the ­reassurance that, “Hey, it doesn’t matter, we are only here to have some fun,” just like being in the park.

Of course, Broome Manor is not the first place to have a programme like this going on. The nationwide Wee Wonders events bring a touch of ­serious competition to the table for the more competitive Wee ones, but boosting participation is what golf needs to focus on. And making golf, which we all know is a difficult game, a bit easier when you are starting off is exactly what we should be doing.

So from what I have seen, I think our game is in safe hands. The next Danny Willett might just be throwing his ball out of a bunker right now, but, bearing in mind they probably can’t see out of that bunker, then that’s all right, and if their playing partners are laughing at the same time then that’s all right, too.

With the hullabaloo about Muirfield rejecting female membership making national headlines, golf can seem antiquated, but there are great things happening in little pockets around the country.

What golf needs is open-minded committees that make clubs family-friendly, for the kids are the members of the future, and one might just become the Open champion as a consequence. What’s not to like?

Tagged David Howell, Matthew Fitzpatrick