On April 1, a group of 14 PGA Professionals gathered at the Horsham Golf Club, where 140 eager kids were waiting for a day of fun, learning the skills of golf.

In 2009, fires devastated Horsham Golf Club, burning the clubhouse and Pro Shop to the ground. Membership numbers suffered including the juniors, so the 14 PGA professionals banded together to support Head Professional fellow PGA Member Richard Alsop to help rejuvenate the junior program at the club and help build the club back to its mighty past.

The Remote Golf Program is organised by the MyGolfPro group; a group of PGA Members who volunteer their time taking the game of golf to remote areas of Australia giving kids a chance to learn our game of a lifetime. Events are designed to provide the kids skills like chipping, putting and full swing, and most importantly gives them the opportunity to participate in a sport that they can give them the core values of life such as honesty, pride and independence.

Horsham is the first of 4 events in the 2014 Remote Golf program, with Coober Pedy in South Australia, Burnie in Tasmania and Kangaroo Island in South Australia being visited later in the year. At each event PGA Professionals not only "donate" their time, but take 3 days away from their business and family to teach and grow the game of golf.

Thanks go to the PGA Members who donated their time at Horsham;

Richard Alsop – Horsham Golf Club
Ben Roberts – Ballarat Driving Range
Steve Lipovas – Anglesea Golf Club
Sean Charleston – Lonsdale Golf Club
Alan Patterson – Patterson River Golf Club
Jon O’Sullivan – Goulburn Golf Club
Marcus Liberman – Phillip Island Golf Club
David Tapping – Southern Division PGA Executive Officer
Dan Cromie – Whittlesea Golf Club
Marty Walsh – Kooringal Golf Club
Matt Duncan – Gisborne Golf Club
Andrew Cartledge – Ballarat Driving Range
Evan Droop – Yarrawonga Golf Club
Adam Burdett – Yarrawonga Golf Club

Clubs and balls were donated from all over Australia and our Professionals cut down and re-grip clubs to junior size, and then send them to the next location. The Royal Melbourne Golf Club donated 5000 golf balls for this event thanks to the tremendous efforts from Renny Cunnack and his dedicated helpers, and Horsham Golf Club received over 10,000 balls and 50 sets of golf clubs which were donated to the golf club for future junior programs.

Murray McKenzie, the Wimmera Regional Coordinator of the Australian Sports Commissions, Active After-school Communities Program (AASC), is dedicated to ensuring that the kids of Horsham participate in sport and receive professional tuition.

"I would just like to congratulate the Horsham Professional Richard Alsop, Mark Rainey and his fellow PGA members, for the magnificent job they did in engaging 140 students yesterday at the Horsham Golf Course. These students represented 8 schools from the Greater Horsham area and ranged in age from 9-14. It was fantastic to be involved in an event that captured the essence of what we do, in such a fun and inclusive way. On behalf of the AASC, I thank you for the opportunity to be involved with the Horsham Golf Club, Richard and Mark to orchestrate one of the best organized mass sports participation events I have seen in the Wimmera".