How The Golf Industry Can Collaborate To Transform Lives
Maggie McKay Operations & Development Coordinator at Golf in Society talks about how the golf industry and other stakeholders can transform lives of our seniors living with the challenges of longer living.
Thanks to the Bruce Wake Charitable Trust we were gifted a 4-seater buggy in autumn 2020, this has truly been a game changer for our project at Mearns Castle
Golf Academy.
Our group have been running for 5 years, and as we’ve grown into what’s now a thriving community of like-minded people who meet weekly to enjoy golfing activities, it’s clear that our golfers, their families, and our volunteer buddies are really part of something special.
Hope – to keep playing when a diagnosis comes your way
Our goal is to support people living with a diagnosis in later life, and no matter what barrier they experience we want keep people involved with golf for as long as they can.
We do this by adapting our activities to help find the right ‘fit’ between the person, the environment, and their golfing activities, especially as people progress through their life journey and as their needs change.
Having access to a buggy allows us to adapt the environment to ensure that people continue to enjoy their golf.
Opportunity – to overcome barriers to get around a golf course
For many of our members walking longer distances can be tiring and off-putting.
This means we run the risk of people giving up earlier than they need to, when we could have helped keep them fit, active and socially connected for so much longer.
Not only that, it also means that the longer our golfers remain part of our group, the longer their families benefit from well-earned respite and from peer support that comes with being part of our group.
Inclusive experience
It’s all about inclusion – we have three members in particular who absolutely love their weekly golf, but over the course of time their mobility has become more limited.
And they haven’t been able to get out on the course with the rest of the golfing gang.
They felt like they were losing out and falling behind, and their carers had started to talk to us about whether they were still fit enough to continue attending.
Having a four-seater buggy has changed everything!
Immersive experience
The buggy has allowed us to take them out onto the course supported by their own personal buddy volunteer to ‘shadow’ the rest of the group as they venture around the course.
Here they can play a few holes or simply head up to the green and enjoy pitching and putting. It has also allowed us to shuttle people around the different areas within the golf venue which has been a real blessing.
All in all it means people have been able to continue with us for so
much longer!
Love what you offer these players.
I wonder what professional golfers support your group with donations?