Stephen Gallacher thinks his outstanding career in golf would be “a waste of time” if he didn’t put back into youth golf.
The five-time European Tour winner and Ryder Cup players has marked the 10th anniversary of the formation of his Foundation by the opening of a gleaming new centre of excellence at Kingsfield Golf Centre near Linlithgow.
‘You’ve got to give back’
TOTAL CLASS…👏🏽👏🏽
An outstanding day @kingsfieldgolf opening the @sgfgolf Centre of Excellence
Huge thanks to everybody for their support (l-r) 🙌🏽@stevieggolf@RamsayGolf@CalumHill_golf@connor_syme@grantforrest93 @robert1lefty @louiseeduncan @MarcWarrenGolf
⛳️🏴🏌🏼♂️😎 pic.twitter.com/MO4ZdBzYnH
— Bounce (@bouncespmgt) November 3, 2022
The indoor facility, featuring trackman booths and a state-of-the-art practice putting green, is open for booking by the public.
But the primary intention is to open it free to schoolchildren not just from the Foundation’s base area of the Lothians but from all over Scotland.
Gallacher hosted a grand opening of the new facility this week – and the regard the 48-year-old is held by his peers was evident as fellow Scots Tour pros Louise Duncan, Marc Warren, Richie Ramsay, Robert MacIntyre, Calum Hill, Grant Forrest and Connor Syme all turned up to lend their support.
But it’s the need to spread the game out to those who don’t have the opportunity that most drives Gallacher.
“You speak to the boys, all our parents played golf and were club members,” he said. “This is trying to get the people who have never played, or whose parents don’t play golf. The best way to do that is get to school level.
“I’ve been lucky. I’ve had 26 years on tour, played golf all my days. My uncle (Bernard) obviously had an unbelievable career as well.
“You’ve got to give back to the game. If I didn’t give back, it would be a waste of those 26 years for me.
“Look at Bob. He won one of my tournaments only a few years ago. That’s great, but it’s a by-product. It’s all about getting more people playing golf.
“The Scottish guys are all thick as thieves on the tour. I’m lucky a lot of my peers have given up their time to support me with this.
‘They all see the importance of it. They were all young as well – and we’d all have loved to have a facility like this.”
‘We can’t miss these people’
Great to have @PencaitlandPS and @haddingtonpspta School’s back at @castleparkgc for more golf lessons from SGF, PGA coach Jane Connachan. Great work girls and boys 👏🏌️♀️🏌️⛳️#golffoundation#arnoldclark@stevieggolf @ScottishGolf pic.twitter.com/J44M1bAfIc
— Stephen Gallacher Foundation (@sgfgolf) November 2, 2022
Gallacher started his Foundation as a mirror of his close friend Paul Lawrie’s in the North East, and like he former Open champion it’s been a massive commitment.
“Paul started it all. He’s put a lot back into the game. It can be time-consuming. My wife helps out with a lot of the finance side of things.
‘My manager Iain Stoddart does a lot of work as well. We’ve got the right people to run things, coaches and the guys running the events. We get great backing from benefactors and raise a lot of money from dinners, pro-ams and the like.
“It has to be at school level. We might miss these people who could have been among the best in the game yet never had the opportunity to try it.
“I don’t want to have any excuses. We’ll provide the clubs and the balls and the place to learn, and the coaching is free. We’ve got minibuses to bring them from the school and take them back.
“I’d love something like this in places all over Scotland.”
Lawrie’s Golf Centre in Aberdeen is one, and the R&A will shortly complete their Lethamhill project in Glasgow. But Robert MacIntyre thinks we need “20 or 30 more of these”.
‘It needs to happen more around Scotland’
Just thankful to be able to do what I do for a living 🥰 thanks again 👍 https://t.co/HHzMGLlrvg
— Robert MacIntyre (@robert1lefty) October 7, 2022
“This is an unbelievable facility,” he said. “It needs to happen more around Scotland.
“We need more places, plotted round the country, to give us more of a chance in the winter time. Watching the kids in there, just now, we would never have had that growing up. It’s great.”
Bob actually won a Gallacher Foundation event coming through, and still has a photo at home of the trophy presentation.
“Stevie’s been brilliant. That’s the best indoor facility I’ve seen in Scotland. It needs to happen more often.”
Bob has his own ideas for his own future Foundation, but it’ll have a broader scope than golf.
“I’m from a small community, there’s not a lot of opportunity,” he said. “I’d feature on any sport, any musical instruments, anything.
“If there’s a chance of a career in anything, then giving young people from my community the opportunity is how I’d go about it. It wouldn’t just be golf.”
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