Making Life Easier For Junior Organizers

Winter tends to get in the way of golf at this time of year and so it was recently when I was scheduled to attend a Junior Golf 2010 and Beyond session held in partnership between the Canadian PGA, Royal Canadian Golf Association and provincial associations.

A winter storm prevented me from being at Old Ashburn in Halifax, but my lead assistant was able to make the session facilitated by Glenn Cundari of the Canadian PGA and that allowed me to pick up on the key points and objectives.

Much of the presentation and discussions were focused on the resources that the RCGA and Canadian PGA are making available to golf facilities across Canada.

Web-based applications allow a junior coordinator to input their players, track their results and set up full junior leagues. I tried one last year, but as an operator, it was tedious having to manually enter 160 juniors from our program and the league itself was a little bit limiting with only a match play format.

Things have improved significantly since then.

After receiving feedback from pros and coordinators, the joint partnership made the applications much more operator-friendly. We don’t have to type in the juniors’ information and the same goes for results of the junior skills competition. You simply upload your spreadsheet.

When I spoke with Glenn after the session, he mentioned that the online applications are a work in progress and they have people working on them all the time. If any pro or junior coordinator has feedback or would like to see something changed, they will look at it with the idea of making the site more effective.

That’s great news.

This is a great tool, so if you haven’t used it, give it a try or if you’re lacking in computer skills, have one of your assistants take it on. Either way, it’s much easier to use than in the past. Your juniors will enjoy watching their progress and seeing results over the course of a season.

You can get started by clicking here.

This provides a great added value to junior leagues and programs that will set your program apart and other topics were discussed at Junior Golf 2010 and Beyond. If you have a chance to catch one of these sessions in your area, it’s well worth the time.