“Junior Golf has always been of particular interest to me. It was soon after winning the 1999 Open Championship that I began to seriously consider what I could put back into the game”. Paul Lawrie.

The aim of the Paul Lawrie Foundation is to offer all children the chance to have fun, experience the game of golf, improve their golfing skills and play to the best of their ability or interest. The Foundation also helps to ease the transition of juniors from simply participating in golf into the golf club environment.

The programme began with schools in the Aberdeen area and included coaching clinics and Flag Events for various age groups, sponsorship of the Scottish Schools and Area Schools Championships and also a Boys’ and Girls’ Matchplay Event.

Since its inception, the Paul Lawrie Foundation programme has given over eight thousand children the opportunity to play golf and it continues to grow each year. The scheme now has its own Order of Merit, comprising 18 Paul Lawrie Foundation tournaments, plus a further 25 local tournaments throughout the summer months.

By working alongside local area golf associations, the Foundation supports their work in developing junior golf, including sponsorship of their Junior matches and events. Together with Firstclubgolf the Foundation is attempting to give every youngster the chance to play and develop their golf.

The Foundation also supports ‘elite’ players as Lawrie, having come through the assistant-professional route himself, is committed to supporting young professionals in the difficult early years on tour. By supporting selected ‘elite’ players, the Foundation provides them with funded access to coaching, lifestyle management, fitness programmes, physiotherapists and nutritionists in order to allow them to concentrate on their game at this crucial time.

The support from the Ryder Cup European Development Trust will enable the Paul Lawrie Foundation to roll its programme out into other parts of Scotland, to replicate its success in Aberdeen, whilst continuing the development of the existing programme. The Foundation aims eventually to try to provide free golf lessons at European Tour events where Paul Lawrie is playing, in order to promote junior golf as much as possible.