Holyrood golf course putting the work in to groom young golfers

Riley Furey, left, the golf pro at The Willows Golf Course in Holyrood, checks out the swing speed and other data on his brother Coady Furey’s cut using a FlightScope monitor. Craig Westcott photo

By Craig Westcott

Now that it has its own golf professional on staff, The Willows golf course in Holyrood is expanding into lessons and participation in Canada’s First Tee program, which encourages children to take up the gentleperson’s game.

Last month the course erected a hitting net to allow golfers to warm up before hitting their first ball on the number one tees. It helps make up for the lack of a driving range at what is arguably the prettiest 9-hole course in the province.

“It’s there for everybody’s use, but it’s also there for me to give lessons,” said Riley Furey, the club pro. “It’s something that The Willows has needed for years, because it’s pretty hard to go up to the first tee box and have that be your first swing of the day. It’s a difficult par 3, so this is a really big asset to have at The Willows.”

The practice area also has a hitting mat and a FlightScope Mevo+ launch monitor for Furey to give lessons. The monitor uses 3D Doppler radar and high-speed image processing to measure data about your golf swing.

“So, I can see your club speed, swing speed, I can see your angle of attack, your club pass,” said Furey. “There are over 20 different data categories that it shows me. It makes my job a lot easier.”

Furey has Sundays and Mondays booked for giving lessons. “But I’m available pretty much any morning, because I do mostly evening shifts (in the pro shop),” he added. 

Furey recently spent some time working with the head pro at Humber Valley Resort, PGA Atlantic Coach of the Year Wayne Allen, and three other instructors, helping train some of the young people trying out for Newfoundland and Labrador’s Canada Summer Games golf team. More than 20 young golfers aged 18 and younger attended, hoping to earn one of the spots on each of the two-person male and female teams.

“It’s a big race for the top two, and there was a lot of great players out there,” Furey said, adding that despite the competitive aspect, the three-day camp had a friendly environment. “They were all friends; they were all trying to help each other. It was a really fun camp.”

The other big development at the Holyrood course this year is its participation in the national First Tee program sponsored by RBC, which introduces the game to children. Only two other courses in this province offer the program; Glendenning in St. John’s and Humber Valley Resort.

“It doesn’t focus fully on golf, it’s more so using golf to teach life skills” said Furey. “It is for development, and they will gain a lot of skills from it, but it’s not competitive, the focus is not really on getting incredible at golf, it’s more so teaching you how to have fun through golf, and learning life skills through golf.”

Furey has two groups of 12 participating in the program at The Willows, including a group of seven to nine-year-olds, and a 10 to 12 age group. There is a registration fee, but for those who have trouble meeting it, RBC has a fund to help cover the cost.

“It’s a really, really fun program,” Furey said. “It’s going to be out on the golf course on the number one green and number five fairway. That’s close to the bathroom and pro shop and there is a nice long area to drive balls, with a green and bunkers.”

Each group plays for an hour every Wednesday for six weeks. The club also has a junior golf program on Wednesday mornings. 

“It takes a lot from the golf course, businesswise,” Furey admitted of those hours the course is devoted to teaching young people and not selling tee times to regular golfers. “But the juniors are the future, so it’s not too much to give it up for what it will return in the future.”