Dornoch Academy pupil aiming to be voice for golf in Highlands as she is selected for the Scottish Golf Young Leaders' Programme.
DORNOCH Academy pupil Jasmine Riordan wants to provide a “Voice for the Highlands” after being selected for the inaugural Scottish Golf Young Leaders' Programme.
The 16-year-old Royal Dornoch member is one of 11 young golfers from across the country invited to play a role in shaping the game for years to come.
Jasmine is a long-standing member of the award-winning Junior Section, having first sampled the game when the club embarked on an ambitious challenge to take golf into the local primary and secondary schools.
The ground-breaking Scottish Golf programme is aimed at young leaders in the 16-24 bracket, and she is one of the younger participants who will gather for the first time at St Andrews next month.
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Fifth year pupil Jasmine revealed club teaching pros Gary Dingwall and Ally McNaughton encouraged her to apply for the Young Leaders’ Programme.
“This is right up my street. I have enjoyed team-building courses in the past and I am looking forward to having input to this project,” she said.
“I’ll be balancing it with studying for my Highers and working in my parents’ Sandstone Cafe, where there’s a lot of chat about golf over coffees and cake.
“Golf is still seen as a male dominated sport, but girls are made very welcome at Royal Dornoch and nowadays the split among younger members of the Junior Section is pretty much 50/50.
“I might be seen as something of a role model and I’m looking forward to being a flag bearer for the Highlands.”
Jasmine trimmed her handicap from 23 to 13 last season. Her target now is single figures.
“I was seven or eight when a lot of my class took up the opportunity to sample golf,” she recalled.
“My parents don't play golf but my older brother Jamie does. I persevered with the coaching and I love the challenge.
“It is also such a social sport, and you meet so many people.
“The Junior Section won a UK award recently and that is down to coaches Gary and Ally. It’s so nice that they are seeing us grow up and develop our game.
“Most of our golf is played on the Struie but we also get out on the Championship Course. It is amazing to think we get to play on one of the world's best links courses, and one that figures on the bucket list of so many golfers.”
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General manager Neil Hampton and the pro team are delighted that Jasmine has been selected to fly the flag for not just Royal Dornoch but golf in the Highlands.
“It is wonderful that Jasmine has been selected for this role by the team at Scottish Golf. It is another feather in the cap for our thriving Junior Section and the club looks forward to supporting her in any way we can,” said Neil.
Explaining the new programme, Robbie Clyde, Scottish Golf chief executive, said: “We want more young people to take up golf - more girls especially – to enjoy all the benefits it can bring.
“In order that young people feel welcome in our sport we need to listen to their experiences, take on their ideas about how we can support their ambitions and showcase that golf can not only be a great sport to play, but it can provide a fulfilling career.”
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