The Golf Foundation has revealed that its Unleash Your Drive in Schools campaign has now been offered to more than 24,000 primary school pupils in 800 schools.
Funding from partners and individual donations have helped the Unleash Your Drive in Schools campaign to reach a wider audience, and be offered fully funded to 60 schools so far in 2024. The recent ‘Play In May’ campaign saw over £15,000 raised from golfers who either entered monthly draws since September or took to the course in May to support the mental wellbeing of young people.
In total, more than 800 schools have registered their interest in the Unleash Your Drive in Schools initiative to date, meaning more than 24,000 young people could have access to vital mental toughness training through an introduction to golf.
While every school can receive the package of equipment and resources at a heavily discounted rate thanks to a partnership with equipment provider Golfway, the Golf Foundation are also seeking to provide the programme as a fully funded offer to those who need it the most – the money raised across the initiative helps support this directly.
Unleash Your Drive in Schools, which launched in September 2023, is spearheaded by Golf Foundation President Nick Dougherty, and is aimed at changing the face of mental wellbeing in primary schools through the introduction of a specially created mental toughness golf programme. The six week programme can be delivered by teachers via digital resources, and uses specially adapted Golfway equipment to teach fun and inclusive games with mental toughness tools embedded throughout, to prepare pupils for life inside and outside the classroom.
Early studies have indicated a 19% rise in mental wellbeing among those who have participated in the initiative, with concentration, confidence, emotional control and determination all part of the areas that see improvement.
“We were delighted with the impact and support that Play In May added to our initiative,” said Brendon Pyle, CEO of the Golf Foundation. “Our mental wellbeing programme continues to have an impact in schools, and the more money we can bring in, the more schools we can offer support to without any financial barriers. The support from all our partners as well as Nick Dougherty and Tommy Fleetwood has helped us reach new audiences this year, and it was great to see the golfing community get behind our initiative and play golf to support what we are doing.”
To find out more, visit www.golf-foundation.org