Juniors Section

Golf is an excellent sport for young people to play. It encourages social skills by opening up opportunities to make new friends and gives them some valuable fresh air and exercise.

We welcome Junior Members from the age of 5 and even if they have never played before. In recent years we have seen our junior membership thrive to over 40 players many of whom have now obtained their first handicap and some even in single figures.

Saturday Coaching Sessions
Junior Committee Vacancies
Junior Committee Members

Over the last couple of seasons, we have been working hard at DGC to re-establish our Junior section.

Our Junior Committee has expanded, and this has helped us to develop all aspects of this section.  It was important to that we gained accreditation with Safe Golf as part of this process.  This means that those working with our young charges have been vetted and fully checked regarding DBS, also attending the appropriate courses that were needed.  We now have processes in place so that we can make sure that everyone attending coaching or joining the club is safe and well cared for.

At present we have 4 committee members but would welcome more. The more we have the easier it is for the existing ones to provide an even better service to the juniors and to those who only attend coaching.

We work together providing the help that is required to introduce juniors to the game of golf. For those who enjoy the group coaching sessions and decide to continue with this sport, we aim to further their development and help them to acquire the skills needed to play the game, encouraging them to continue improvement in all areas of this sport and then with help to obtain a handicap.

Once they have acquired a handicap, they can then play in competitions to improve their game, hopefully reducing their handicap along the way. Graham Lake (Chair of the Juniors Committee) will be keenly watching this group as he looks for juniors to represent our club in matches as they become more proficient.

Some Juniors wishing to join the club may already have a good understanding of the game and a handicap. We welcome all boys or girls in this group to become a member of Davenport Golf Club.

More importantly if you have got to the end of this introduction to our Junior section it may have given you the information that you require to make further enquiries regarding coaching or joining.

We look forward to hearing from any prospective future young golfers.

Graham, Christine, Jamie & Ros
Junior Committee

Jamie Howarth
Jamie Howarth - Professional Golf Coach (PGA)

Saturday Coaching Sessons

If you think you would be interested in attending our coaching sessions on a Saturday morning with Jamie & Christine the first person to contact is Christine Thwaites at Christineann56@gmail.com or if you already have a handicap and would like to join the club, Graham Lake on 07789 990097 or at ge.lake@btinternet.com.

Junior Committee Vacancies

We have identified two areas where we need two more people to get involved! At present we are organising appropriate competitions and looking at trying to have 4 social events each year, but having dedicated individuals in these posts will be another step in the right direction for our committee and golf club.

 Vacant - Competition Organiser
Vacant - Social Secretary
Get Involved

Junior Committee Members

Kath Grindey – Secretary

Kath started playing golf in 1990 (rather late in her words) and had no intention of taking up the game.  It was her husband that booked her a lesson (which she didn’t want), but she turned up anyway. She was hooked from that moment!  It took her two years to get her handicap, but she worked hard on the practise ground and during her playing career she has won a few Major competitions at the club because of this effort! However, she feels that the friends she has made have been far more important than any of the wins on the course.

Kath was the Lady secretary for several years and became Lady Captain in 2004. She was also a committee member of the Manchester & District Ladies golf association.

We are so very lucky to have someone who now wants to help with our Juniors.

Allan Burck – Junior team organiser for those with playing handicaps.

Allan was Captain in 2012 and President in 2022. He is responsible for finding Juniors who have a handicap of 28 and below to take part in the Derbyshire & Cheshire League as members of the Davenport team. 

Pre-Covid we had an excellent team for several years and won this event in the past. This competition is held in August each year and is played with 5 local clubs taking part using a Round Robin format. Allan was also part of the Scout movement in Poynton for many years and so has plenty of experience regarding working with youngsters.

Christine Thwaites – Junior coaching organiser & Welfare officer

Christine was a swimming teacher & coach for many years.  Ironically, she also was in the Scouting movement in Poynton at the same time as Allan, (but not for as long)!  A few years after retirement from swimming, she found that she missed working with children and when the Club advertised for help it was just at the right time for her to get involved. Tony & Jamie (PGA professionals at DGC) encouraged her to attend the Level 1 Coaching course in late 2018. It was over 2 days in late November in appalling conditions, but she passed! Since then, she continues to develop her coaching skills under the guidance of Tony & Jamie.

Christine has been a member at the club for many years, holding the position of match secretary and playing for the Ladies teams.  In 2014 she became the Lady Captain a role that she enjoyed and gave her full attention too.  This commitment is now used to full effect with the Junior section.

Jamie Howarth – Professional Golf Coach (PGA)

Jamie is Davenport Golf Club’s resident PGA Professional coach.  He is regarded as one of the best coaches within the Northwest and the UK, having the knowledge, skills and expertise to coach all abilities.  Jamie has also competed to the highest level of Professional Golf playing events on the DP World, Challenge Tour, and The Open Championship.  Jamie still competes on a regular basis and has over 30 wins on various professional tours.

Jamie oversees the coaching of Juniors, which includes Saturday sessions which run from March each year.  Lessons are one-hour sessions which start at 9.00 and finish at 12 noon.  Each of the three sessions have a maximum number of 8 students and are organised so that similar abilities and age groups are coached (where possible), at the same time.  Each session is £10 per pupil.

Other lessons are available on a 1:1 basis using the Trackman facility that is located in the Professional’s shop, or on the practise ground or course when appropriate.  These can be booked with Jamie and cost £30.

Ros Mann – Handicap secretary for the juniors

Ross took up golf and joined DGC 10 years ago.  After a few years gaining experience, she took up the role of Ladies Handicap secretary and was extremely efficient.  It was a natural option for the Junior committee to encourage her to join them once she stepped down from the Ladies section.  Ros contacts and organises members to mark cards in order for our juniors to gain a handicap.  They need to complete 54 holes in total putting down on a card the number of strokes taken from tee to green on each hole.  They can either do 6 x 9 holes or 3 x 18 holes.  The scores are then entered into the computer and a handicap will be given.  As their skills and confidence grows with continued coaching and encouragement from “our team” of volunteers, and with the help of appropriate competitions and further cards they should see their game improve and their handicap starts to drop.  Ros likes to remind this group of the need to look at and carry a Rules Book, which we give to all our juniors once they start to play on the course.

Junior Captain 2023 - Alexander Zughaid

Alexander is in year 13 at Poynton high school studying maths, physics, and computer science A-levels, and will be heading off to university in September. He has been a member at Davenport since 2017. Alexander was introduced to golf by his grandparents and plays with them regularly. As well as playing golf, he is also a member of Poynton Dippers swimming club.