ROOTS DEEP IN THE COMMUNITY

Photos: Matthew Harris

THIS is “Sustainable Golf Week” and Royal Dornoch Golf Club is delighted to highlight the GEO Foundation initiative.

The theme this year is “Golf for Communities,” highlighting how the sport Scotland gave to the world is making a real difference in people’s lives.

It’s not just about protecting and enhancing the natural environment – although Royal Dornoch’s dedicated greenkeeping team has been gathering awards under the sustainability banner.

The GEO Foundation is also emphasising the role golf can play in supporting players from diverse backgrounds, providing an opportunity to enjoy a healthy lifestyle in the open air and close to nature.

Neil Hampton, club manager, said: “While Royal Dornoch attracts golfers from all over the world to play our Championship Course, we are at heart still a community club.

“With that in mind, introducing golf to the next generation of local youngsters features high on our list of priorities.

“Our coaches have been taking golf into the local schools and the response has been most encouraging.

“Our successful Junior Section has won national accolades, and we are seeing girls and boys taking up a game which has always been part and parcel of life in Dornoch.

“But the club felt it was important to take nothing for granted. That is why we have committed time and resources to nurturing golf at the grassroots.

“On the sustainability front, we continue to liaise closely with Green Shores, the University of St Andrews and NatureScot on an innovative project aimed at preserving and enhancing the salt marshes on the shore of the Dornoch Firth.

“It has been wonderful to see pupils and staff from Dornoch Academy embracing the project.

“They have been bringing on plants in a polytunnel gifted by the golf club and we look forward to seeing the result of their green-fingered efforts in the spring.”