Lymm Golf Club Junior Development Project

Aim

Lymm Golf Club would like to create a new covered training facility to develop more community participation and junior golf in the area.

Who are we?

• Lymm Golf Club is a welcoming members' golf club in Warrington established in 1907.
• A club that is known for its diverse family, friendly environment providing a golf experience for all of the local community and beyond to enjoy.
• Lymm Golf Club has the current Cheshire Seniors champion.
• Our Junior Section has been a huge success and boasts over 85 children, from 6 years old through to 18 years old.  We compete in the Golf Sixes, Junior Nines and Mid Cheshire Junior Leagues.
• Over the years we have had many juniors represent the County and the current Cheshire Girls Captain is from Lymm Golf Club. 
• We are a members' golf club managed by an Executive Committee including Carol Roberts - Chairman, Mervyn Roberts - Treasurer, Mark Lyons - Golf Club Secretary and Keith Melia - Business Manager. We also have a full committee which have monthly meetings and all members are welcome to share their opinion, ideas and also vote at an AGM meeting.
• We have a board of non-executive directors made up of John Tomlinson (Chair), Phil Byrne and Pauline Tod.

Why are we crowdfunding?

The pandemic hit us financially putting pressure on any capital projects and previous plans to address the improvement of the practice area have been put on hold. Ironically since Covid-19 golf has been seen as an ideal activity for people to stay healthy in an outdoor environment. With an influx of people wanting to take up golf or return to the sport we want to develop our practice facilities so that they can be used by young and old throughout the year. 

Giving people the opportunity to play golf in all conditions whilst still being outdoors will benefit the community, older and more vulnerable players will be able to continue keep playing and we will be able to offer coaching to schools and other community groups.

In these challenging times of rising bills and the spiralling cost of living  a local facility will mean that golfers won't need to travel to the driving range, they won't need to pay for balls and they will be able to enjoy golf more by spending less. 

Our challenge at Lymm is that our practice facilities are unsuitable for bad weather practice or for use during the winter, we want to build a facility that will allow a wide range of people within our community to enjoy golf no matter the weather, bringing with it social and physical well-being.

We plan to build six covered bays on our practice ground which will guarantee that, whatever the weather or time of year, we can schedule more development sessions without the concerns of having to cancel them. 

Having covered practice facilities will mean that we can schedule sessions for the schools and other local community groups in the knowledge that they won't have to be cancelled due to the weather, it will open up the golf club so that more people within the community can benefit from it and get more people, of all ages,  playing golf.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We will spend the money raised on the building of 6 covered golf bays, this includes the groundwork required for the base and the building itself. 

If we exceed the target we will use the money to purchase new all-weather practice mats to replace the ones that are currently in use, but somewhat worn.

We have had planning permission granted for a similar structure and are putting through an amendment to change it from 3 bays and a teaching bay, to 6 bays...which will mean we can accommodate more people for group lessons and practice.

This is an artists view of what the bays will look like:

Junior Golf at Lymm

Lymm Golf Club has done much to introduce the game of golf to youngsters and the Junior Section has grown from 45 children to over 85 within the space of 2 years. We have children from age 5 through to 18 having lessons, practising and of course playing golf.  The Junior Section is supported by a year-round coaching programme. However bad weather means we can't guarantee the availability of these sessions and it is easy for children to turn to another sport instead of golf. 

Our coaching isn't restricted to members and through Harry Shaw we provide after school activities to a local primary school and have run sessions for local cubs scouts. 

Golf is not well represented in the school community, so it needs to be promoted. Through our junior organising team and their links to the education system, we have market tested the appetite of the primary schools to introduce "golf" to their students. There was a consistent message from the schools that they would be very interested to understand more. We piloted our initial programme with Cherry Tree School, one of six primary schools in the area. The uptake was fantastic, resulting in us running the programme in two half terms for a group of 30 children. 

Our coaching extends deeper into the community and through our junior coach Harry Shaw, we have been supporting  LiveWire which is a Community Interest Company (CIC) at the forefront of enriching the lives of the Warrington community. With the support of LGC Juniors Harry has put on coaching sessions, providing children with the opportunity to participate in sports and experience the joys of golf.

Community impact

How the new practice facilities will impact upon the local community...

• It will provide everyone in Lymm and the surrounding community an opportunity to try golf in a dry, welcoming and safe environment.
• The facility will be used all year round especially during the winter months. 
• Our junior coaching, that draws children from across the community, will be able to continue despite of inclement weather. 
• It will offer any new golfers the basic skills before playing the golf course and all current golfers the opportunity to reach their full potential and, in time, inspire others.
• It will enable people within the community to develop their confidence, social skills and physical health activity that will benefit other aspects of everyday life.
• Having facilities that children can use all year round in a safe environment will help build a 'feeling of belonging'. A programme of regular activities within the training facility will provide social and physical development opportunities and encourage pride in their local area. 
• It will offer an inclusive space for rehabilitation for the injured, elderly or less abled users to participate in exercise all year round.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

This project successfully funded on 13th November 2023