randa logo
Golf is open to all
R&A Foundation

Golf It! garden helping grow the sport on and off the course

logo
The R&A
04 Nov 24
3 mins
image

The community garden at Golf It! in Glasgow isn’t just a plot of land where the plants are to be admired and the produce enjoyed. As the staff who run it like to say, it is a place where “possibilities grow”.

By engaging with local people and giving them learning opportunities, it fits perfectly into the ground-breaking, community-focused golf facility it is part of. Developed by The R&A and opened in 2023, Golf It! has been a big success, making the sport available to all and creating a sense of belonging in the surrounding area with a variety of projects that are socially important. Not least among them is the community garden, completed with the help of a £20,000 donation from The R&A Foundation, which is funded by a global philanthropy programme alongside proceeds from The Open.

Inspiring local people

The R&A Foundation provides funding to deliver golf-related projects around the world, with a special emphasis on five key areas, one of which is accessibility.  Making the sport accessible and open to all are among the objectives of Golf It!, which introduces the sport to a new audience by making it affordable, inclusive and fun. Those objectives are also true of the garden, an idea that emerged from discussions with community groups. While Golf It! has captured the imagination with extensive work in schools and free club hire, it was important to provide other opportunities within the facility that inspired and empowered local people. Russell Smith, General Manager at Golf It!, says the community garden fulfils that function perfectly.  “Golf It! is a physical manifestation of The R&A’s aims, which are to make golf more affordable, accessible and inclusive and do it in a fun, vibrant way with community absolutely at its heart,” he says. “Before a brick was even laid, we were out working with a range of different groups.  “The success we are now seeing, the level of involvement from the community, is down to the fact that we have stepped out and we have said to people ‘come in, this is not ours, this is yours’. That is how we want golf to be. And the community garden is the perfect example of giving something back.”
image
Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “Golf It! is an ambitious project and fantastic opportunity for residents of Glasgow and visitors to the city to be introduced to the sport in a welcoming, inclusive and enjoyable environment."

St Paul’s support

The garden is run by St Paul’s Youth Forum, a registered charity, best known for drastically reducing crime, much of it gang-related, in the Blackhill and Provanmill areas of Glasgow. Its overall mission is to alleviate the worst effects of poverty through eating, education, exercise and empowerment.  “They design and implement programmes to help the community in different ways, providing food, clothing, diversionary activities and programmes to keep kids off the streets,” adds Smith. “They are an amazing organisation. In the last 15 years, they have pretty much eradicated gang violence from this area of Glasgow. “When we purchased the land and were repurposing it, St Paul’s were the first group we spoke to. We said ‘we’re coming into the area, how can we help? We don’t want to be seen as an alien organisation. We want to help and support your programmes’.” St Paul’s already have a project called ‘Blackhill’s Growing’, the philosophy of which is to improve local lives, mentally and physically, by growing, cooking and eating nutritious food. Quite apart from  the educational and social value of gardening, it gives dignified access to emergency food provision.

Partnership work

The Golf It! community garden has a similar purpose. Its raised beds were built by prisoners from HMP Barlinnie, which is just across the motorway. And every week, horticultural sessions are held. Some are attended by children as part of school visits to Golf It!. Others attract passers-by who are out walking their dog around Hogganfield Loch. Neil Young, youth team leader at St Paul’s, says that the garden, with its herbs and its fruit and vegetables, is the product of a “beautiful partnership” between the community and The R&A.  “We feel this sense of belonging,” he says. “It’s a shared space that doesn’t belong to The R&A or to us … it belongs to everybody. There are no fences around it. You could go there at 3am and pick a strawberry if you wanted. And yet it is respected. I love that sense of ownership.” Golf It! also reaches out with its Fairways to Learning programme. Also supported by The R&A Foundation, with a donation of £100,000, it enables secondary school pupils to develop personal and employability skills. By attending the facility in eight-week blocks, four times a year, they gain valuable work experience, whether it be in golf operations, retail, greenkeeping or hospitality. In return, young people are becoming increasingly invested in a sport that is now firmly established as part of their community. In the last two years, Golf It! has worked with 12,500 local school children, putting golf clubs in their hands for the first time and, more importantly, providing those who are interested with a place to develop their ability. Young says golf and the community have been good for each other. “About 10-15 years ago, people would wander about our streets with golf clubs and it wasn’t to hit balls,” he notes. “The police would stop somebody with a golf club and say ‘what are you up to?’ Now, they’re on their way to Golf It!. For communities like ours, it is a game-changer.”
Tags
R&A Foundation
Play Golf