After joining Heidelberg Golf Club in 1994 as a junior, Young quickly developed a love – and serious talent – for the game that would change his life forever. So strong was his devotion to golf in 2005, he walked away from a promising career in sales and marketing to complete a three-year PGA Traineeship at his home course in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. 

More than a decade later Young remains at Heidelberg, overseeing a program he hopes will inspire a new generation of like-minded young golfers.

Young and his team of Trainee Professionals are a shining example of how PGA Members and their clubs can greatly benefit from utilising national participation programs like MyGolf and Swing Fit to promote the sport at grassroots level.

With support from the PGA and Golf Victoria, Young has successfully introduced dozens of local school children to golf through curriculum-based clinics conducted on school grounds by his staff, school teachers and Community Instructors. Those kids who show a zest for the game are encouraged to attend Young’s Academy of Golf where they can further develop their skills in a fun environment under the club’s junior program. 

"We currently have 30 kids in our junior program but once footy season finishes we anticipate that number to hit 75," says Young, who has represented Heidelberg GC in Division 1 Colts and Division 3 Senior pennants, and shot a course-record 68 in 1998.

"It’s great to be able to go to local schools and showcase what golf has to offer kids. The beauty of these MyGolf clinics is the PE teachers watch and learn how we run the sessions and then they can do it themselves when we’re not there."

An added incentive for Young and PGA Trainee Professionals, Tom Howarth and Dan Smith, is they actually earn extra money by utilising the Sporting Schools program – a federal government initiative to get more kids playing sport at school. 

 
"It’s a great initiative for PGA Members to be able to get out and grow the game while making some extra cash at the same time," says Young.

According to Young, a big part of his club’s success with programs like MyGolf is how they communicate with local schools and parents. "We’re big on social media and digital communication," he says. "We’ve got our own Facebook page where we promote the academy and school clinics. We also have MyGolf’s online portal where parents can go in and book a time for their child on a calendar and that automatically feeds back to us in the pro shop. We even make sure our programs are in school newsletters going out to families."

On top of that, Heidelberg Golf Club subsidises a limited number of club juniors to play in tournaments throughout the year, while it also offers a scholarship to four lucky newcomers. All new members of the junior program receive a polo shirt, hat, glove and golf balls to get them on their way.

But it’s the club’s novel way of generating funds for junior golf that should be, quite literally, "food for thought" for other Aussie golf clubs.

"When it rains and the course is too wet for carts we set up a hot dog stand out on the course and charge $5 per roll," he says. "The members love it because they know their money is going straight back into the club’s junior development so they get right behind it.

"We don’t make a huge margin on it but over time it’s enough to pour back into our junior kitty."

So what’s Young’s advice for other clubs thinking of utilising programs like MyGolf?

"All clubs should be doing it. But the key is making it so enticing and easy that parents simply can’t say no," he says. "For example, it can be time consuming for parents to drive out to a golf course and hang around for two hours while their kids play golf. So we’ve introduced free golf for parents of any kids in our program. That means after 3.30pm, they can come out and join their kids for nine holes and not be charged. But that all starts with getting the kids hooked on golf first. MyGolf provides the perfect platform to do that."