Georgia Hall, England’s highest ranked female golfer, has launched her new golf academy at Paultons Golf Centre in Hampshire with a masterclass for local school children.
Demonstrating their enthusiasm and passion for golf, a selected group from Foxhills Primary School and Bramshaw Golf Club received tips from Georgia on the Paultons driving range and putting green.
This session follows a month-long training programme led by Paultons’ highly experienced golf professionals. Over 750 children have received coaching sessions so far, helping to kickstart their passion for sport and golf in particular.
Earlier this year, the Hampshire golf course announced it was partnering with Bournemouth-born Hall to launch a new academy that will offer tailored programmes for young people and encourage disabled golfers to take up the game.
Paultons is currently developing proposals to upgrade and redesign its existing practice facilities including a 6-hole academy course, improved short game facilities and upgraded driving range. This next phase of improvements would help deliver a ‘best-in-class’ golf development facility, building on the extensive improvement works which have already been made to the golf centre in recent years. The existing 18-hole championship course has already been renovated and the driving range experience improved with Toptracer technology and heated bays, which are already proving popular with local residents, school children and visitors.
Hall’s experience and knowledge will help shape the final vision for the new facilities at Paultons and the academy. Her ambition is to deliver a golf experience that appeals to the widest possible audience. She will be involved throughout the whole process, engaging directly with the Paultons project team.
Hall commented: “Through my academy, I want to inspire more young people and in particular more girls to take up golf. Paultons Golf Centre is very close to where I was brought up and where I still live when I’m in the UK. When I was younger, I didn’t have the best facilities to practice on and even today I still have to leave the local area to practice when I’m at home. Having a better range and short game area is really important for future development of golf on the south coast.”
Ben Blackburn at Paultons Golf Centre, added: “The partnership with Georgia is really exciting as we’re bringing together her passion for making golf more accessible with our plans to create an attractive golf destination for visitors from across the country that delivers the best facilities for the whole community, as well as keen amateurs and even professionals like Georgia herself.
“To date, we have delivered coaching sessions for 750 local schools and it’s clear that young people have an appetite for playing golf. Our joint vision with Georgia is to help nurture future talent, producing the next Georgia Halls who can compete at the very highest level and become the best in the country if not the world. As we develop our plans, Georgia will be involved throughout the whole process with the wider project team.”
In close consultation with Hall, Paultons is finalising its proposals and engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including the New Forest National Park Authority and New Forest District Council. A full public consultation will take place before an application to expand the practice facilities is submitted to the New Forest National Park Authority later this year.