Encouraging Young Golfers to Get into the Game
Junior Golf at Barnham Broom | Norwich, Norfolk
A golf club where juniors and parents are welcome, new friends are made, and
skills are developed in a fun environment.
The Junior Club is all about juniors, of course, and their golfing journey at Barnham Broom Golf Club. In short, we will work to create a junior golfing world where juniors and their parents are clearly welcome, where they can make new friends in a fun environment and where they can learn and develop their skills to play their very best golf.
From children’s lessons to junior golf and young adult memberships and supervised visits for members’ children and grandchildren. Barnham Broom Golf Club, situated just 10 miles from Norwich, encourages children and young people of all ages to get into the game of golf.
Our Aims
Social Play
We want every junior, whatever their ability, to have lots of chances to play socially with their fellow juniors and enjoy the experience.
Coaching
Our plan is to ensure that all juniors have access to inexpensive, group coaching opportunities to improve the quality of their play.
Competition
And if they want to, we will provide opportunities for competition play both within the club and in County competitions.
A Love for the Game
Most of all, we want to give juniors the chance to develop a love and passion for the game and give them a sport that they can play and enjoy throughout their lives.
We offer a range of junior golf memberships for children and young people up to the age of 18, starting at £139 for the year.
Children under 16 will be required to be accompanied by an adult on the course.
YOUNG ADULT GOLF MEMBERSHIP
Our Junior Club Structure
The Junior Club at Barnham Broom is organised by a small volunteer committee of adult members. They are all players themselves, and some have children playing here at Barnham Broom. Others are grandparents, but all are enthusiastic about junior golf in general and may also have particular interests around coaching and developing skills, golf for girls or competitive play.
The committee organises the calendar for the year, manages results and prizes, creates opportunities for social play, guides juniors towards an initial handicap index and sets up subsidised coaching opportunities along with managing the finances and team selection. They are also the place to come for advice and support in starting a junior’s golfing journey.
The committee meets monthly, is bound by terms of reference, and all meetings are minuted. Those minutes are always available to parents, and the committee welcomes points for discussion, questions and suggestions.
Communication is a key activity for all of us in the Junior Club. We use Spond as our app to pass out information, send reminders and ask for opinions from parents and juniors. Parents can see all the exchanges if they download and register on the app and it’s a quick and easy way to keep up to date with what’s going on.
How Did I Do is used by Barnham Broom to communicate with all members and manage competitions and tee times. You can download the app or use the website if you prefer but both will enable you to book a tee time or join a competition. It also provides competition results, course information and news.
Juniors and their parents both need Spond and How Did I Do is for all Barnham Broom members.
If you need advice or help downloading, you can ask in the shop or contact a Junior Committee member, but both apps are easy to understand and make a real difference when you need to keep up to date.
The juniors at Barnham Broom are a relatively small group of young people and it’s easy to get to know everyone quite quickly. This a real advantage if your junior finds it challenging to be part of a larger group and wants the benefit of learning the ropes in a less busy environment. It also means that we can offer a more individual learning environment than at some other clubs and that help and support is always available.
But as a smaller junior club, we have had considerable success in developing the skills of individual juniors and our results in County competitions have been outstanding.
2024 KK Smith Trophy Winners
A prestigious win against the best juniors in Norfolk.
2025 Bass Trophy Winners
A celebration of our developing, higher handicap team.
What about this year? We hope for more success but most of all, we want our teams to enjoy the experience,
know that they have done their best and show other clubs, what a great team spirit we have at Barnham Broom.
Practice needs to be purposeful and fun and that’s what we aim to provide with our social play opportunities and fun competitions. We give juniors the chance to play with other juniors of their own age and skill level, plus an opportunity to play alongside their parents or siblings.
Fun competitions are literally that and we often use the Academy 5 hole course for younger juniors or for practising particular skills. It gives every junior the chance to shine at something and who doesn’t want to be crowned the best putter of the day?
Next comes coaching! We offer subsidised group coaching to all of our junior members, and we use Tony Varney, our senior PGA professional to deliver this for us. Tony has a long history of providing fun coaching and lessons that hit the spot, and just importantly, he is really invested in encouraging and supporting juniors to develop their skills.
Tony is also available to give one to one coaching that concentrates on particular aspects of the game or works on a specific skill that needs more input.
The next stage is casual and fun play on the two courses at Barnham Broom, usually with the aim of the junior gaining their first handicap index. Once they have a handicap index, they can begin to play in competition and measure their ability against other players. Golf is unique in having a handicapping system that is worldwide and allows for any player to compete against an opponent and have an equal chance of winning. It means that a beginner can play against a seasoned player and if they play well to their level, they can often win. So even casual play can have a competitive element and many juniors find that this adds to the fun.
Our Junior club can guide our juniors through the process of earning an Initial Handicap Index by organising suitable partners and ensuring that juniors understand the rules that they must adhere to. After that relatively short process, juniors can play in competitions and start the job, exercising their skills and reducing their handicap.
Competition play is the next step for those juniors ready to move their golf on to the courses at Barnham Broom. The Junior club organises a range of competitions suitable for all levels of skill and experience and this allows juniors to develop their game whilst playing with other juniors who are at a similar level or in the same age group.
The juniors here play in stableford, medal, betterball and scramble formats – so sometimes as individuals and at other times as part of a pair or a team. This means that they learn the skills associated with different formats and also ensures that there is both a competitive element and an opportunity to have fun alongside their friends.
We introduce juniors to playing as part of a team with supportive adults and encourage them to start to understand the requirements of matchplay.
Within their first season of on-course play, we would expect them to have learnt the basics of all the formats, be able to manage their own tactical decisions, have a really good understanding of the basic rules and to be able to sustain their focus over 18 holes on the course.
Next comes the opportunity to represent Barnham Broom in external competitions organised by the County Golf Union or in friendly competitions against other Norfolk clubs.
Not all juniors wish to take this step but many do and we can support their efforts to get involved. We always have an organiser from the Junior club accompanying teams to other courses, providing support and encouragement and ensuring that all our juniors feel comfortable and confident in a different golfing environment.
Many juniors absolutely thrive on the competitive opportunities that this type of inter-club play brings and it is very rewarding to see the increasing levels of confidence that results from being part of this type of experience.
Norfolk County Opportunities
As experience grows and skills develop, it is possible for some juniors to become part of the Norfolk County development setup.
This offers specialised coaching and competitive opportunities and even the chance to represent the County. Our Junior club organisers can help with advice on taking this step and introduce juniors to the County Junior team organisers.
For those who really take to golf and continue to play through their teenage years, the next step is to take part in adult competitions and play. Our adult clubs at Barnham Broom welcome juniors who are ready to play in terms of their ability and who are also mature enough to feel comfortable and confident in the adult golf environment.
We have a documented process to facilitate that move that is designed to safeguard the junior player and ensure that the move is an enjoyable experience.
When a junior expresses an interest in adult play, the Junior organisers make an assessment of readiness, and if that is positive, the details are passed to the Men’s or Ladies’ club Captains for consideration.
Initial play is completed alongside a specially selected adult player, usually the captain or a committee member, and only when we are sure that the junior is happy and confident do we permit open entry into competitions.
Several of our juniors have now made this journey and only report a positive and an inclusive experience.
Sageguarding our Juniors is at the forefront of all our activities designed for juniors.
We understand our responsibilities in this regard and offer a firm commitment to parents that we recognise the
need to consider safeguarding in every decision that we make.
Our reference point is the Barnham Broom safeguarding policy, and all our organisers and administrators meet
the requirements of that policy.
The safeguarding lead for Barnham Broom Golf is Matt Towler, who is the Director of Golf at Barnham Broom,
and Matt works with the Junior club and us to ensure that our juniors are safe and happy in their golf.
Find the answers to the most frequently ask questions about junior golf.
If you can't find what you're looking for below, please Contact Us.
As with any sport, it’s best to start early, and you can always introduce your child or grandchild at any age to golf by taking them to the club with you. We generally advise children to be a minimum of 5 years old. Make it a mother/father daughter/son, or even grandparent and grandchild day!
You just pay the green fee on the day, and we allow children on the course so long as they are supervised by an adult and capable of managing a full round on the course without delay.
Alternatively, junior golf memberships are available at Barnham Broom from only £99 for the year.
The ideal age for a child to learn golf is around 5-6 years, but children as young as 3 can join private lessons at Barnham Broom. Our Golf Professional has years of experience in finding ways of making golf fun, as concentration levels can be limited at such a young age and not only will they learn but also to have fun while doing so.
If you are a golfer yourself, bring them with you to the driving range and let them watch safely, or head to the sports bar (or at home) to watch a golf tournament to spark interest. You could also go to one of Norfolk’s many crazy / mini golf courses, which offer a bright and colourful introduction to the sport.
Then, when they are ready, junior group golf classes are a great way for children to make new friends and for the professional to be able to assess progress. If they prefer a quieter space, then one-to-one coaching can be more productive.
With dedication, interest, regular lessons and practice, a young player’s improvement in golf can be swift. However, it all depends on the individual player’s enthusiasm, the amount of time and your budget; with the right input, your young person could be enjoying a full round within months.
Most younger juniors will need short but regular practice and attending weekly group children’s golf lessons to start with is an easy way to achieve progress.
The junior golf coaching programme at Barnham Broom encompasses all aspects of the game from putting & chipping to iron play and hitting their drivers, swing technique and on-course play to build their confidence along with problem-solving skills. They will also learn golf etiquette and the rules of the game, enabling them to play golf on the wider golf courses as soon as possible.
Equipment will always be provided if necessary for children’s golf lessons, until such a time as they have their own, so that we can easily encourage the children to ‘get into golf’. We ask that if you require children’s golf clubs, to provide prior notice, so we can ensure we have the right kit ready in good time for the lessons to begin.
We can also provide advice if there is an interest in purchasing new equipment for your child.
We do not offer free golf taster sessions at Barnham Broom; however, you can bring your child to our junior classes with our golf professional each Saturday at 12 pm for only £5. These lessons last 60 minutes and cover all aspects of the game. Our golf professional prides himself on making golf fun, and it’s a great passion of Barnham Broom to introduce youngsters to the ‘great game’.
