And all of a sudden, the 2025 summer season for the juniors is over. It has been our busiest yet.
Competitions
Weekly competitions and knockouts have shown increasing entries as more of our junior members have gained handicaps. Goswick Juniors hats are awarded to juniors when they first gain a handicap. Getting out on the course and marking 6x9 hole cards is a challenge and requires the help of adults with a handicap who can walk with and/or play golf with the juniors. The success of our Monday night coaching sessions has brought forth another 11 youngsters who are almost ready to start playing for a handicap. If any of our members are willing to support this group, we would be grateful to hear from you. Please contact Peter or JosieOliver (josieoliver@yahoo.com) or Sandra McGonigle (07712559577) for more details.
Congratulations must go to all the juniors who are now playing regularly in competitions, not only with the aim of winning but also to try and reduce their handicaps. Arthur Gilroy, Thibaut MacLennan, Max Eamens, Jack Renton and Erin Reid have been particularly successful, combining with a 43-shot reduction since the start of the season!
This season’s competition winners gathered for the end-of-season presentation on Monday 22 September. Thanks must go to Wilf Renton for engraving all the trophies and providing the replicas.
Goswick Junior Open
The 2nd Goswick Junior Open saw an increased field compared to last year with players from across the North of England and the Borders competing. Frankie Olver took first prize with an incredible score of 53 points. His playing partner was particularly impressed saying that Frankie was ‘on fire’ out on the course. We hope to see Frankie back next year to defend his title. Thanks must go to the Cookie Jar in Alnwick which sponsored the event and to those members who volunteered to help with starting and ball spotting. Another very successful event.
Outings and Friendly Matches
Other highlights of the summer included our outings to Haggerston as well as our friendly matches which included a trip to West Links in North Berwick. Our team of seven juniors teed off on the prestigious course on a fabulous Saturday morning looking extremely smart in their team strip. Another six played in a match on North Berwick’s wee course. Home advantage worked against us, but all the children and parents had a great time.
Daniel Wood organised a return match for the Goswick Development Group against Duns Juniors. Everyone enjoyed playing Duns and despite the torrential rain at the end, Goswick managed to pull off a win by one point. Dreadful weather also hit the team for our home match against West Links. However, the hardy youngsters battled against the cold, wind and rain without complaint. In the end, it was decided that an honourable half should be recorded as everyone had made such a valiant effort out on the course.
Our final friendly fixture was against Swanston Juniors at home on 28th September. Beautiful weather rewarded those who kindly played for their team. Some great golf was played by all with home advantage this time going to Goswick with a 4-1 win.
Coaching and Development Groups
Daniel Wood has continued to work with our Development Groups monthly. He also provided a Summer Camp during the school holidays. Daniel makes full use of all the practice facilities during these sessions, including the short course to the left of the first fairway and the Trackman Studio. We are most impressed with the improvement in swing and shot capabilities of his pupils and also the camaraderie he creates amongst the youngsters.
Junior Captain Charity
Following his successful 54 Hole Challenge in June, Junior Captain Thibaut MacLennan continued fund raising for his chosen charity by organising a club cleaning and tray bake sale on 21st June. This brought his total to a fantastic £2,300 in aid of the Great North Children’s Hospital Charity. His efforts as a Junior Captain this year have been exceptional.
Winter Plans
This winter will see Daniel working with 23 boys and 10 girls, increasing the number of Development Groups to four. Sessions for each group will be held monthly on Saturdays. Those juniors with handicaps will also be able to play in weekly 9-hole competitions on Sundays. Times will be booked according to the available light as the days become shorter.
Junior Hub Award
All the hard work developing our Junior Section over the last few years has recently been recognised by the Golf Foundation and England Golf who have awarded us Junior Hub status. This award is designed to showcase clubs that are doing fantastic things for junior golf as well as helping to identify and support clubs to develop their junior journeys. We are extremely grateful to all those who support our junior programme, particularly those staff, members, volunteers and parents who help provide such a positive experience for our youngsters.
Video Highlights Reel
The Juniors Section has had a wonderful year, highlighted by tremendous improvement by many of our youths. But even more importantly, they have enjoyed many wonderful moments together -- as this video reel attests (please click here). We look forward to making many new memories when everyone returns for the 2026 season in the spring.