Golf operator goes extra mile to get beginners golfing

Britain’s largest golf club operator, Crown Golf, which runs 22 venues, has taken a never-seen-before approach to get people who haven’t tried golf to take up the game.

You can now play at one of its courses even if you don’t have any golf equipment.

The operator has decided to allow anyone to hire golf clubs for free, after calling club hire “outdated”. Furthermore, golfers will be given free balls and some tees, and they are being told they do not have to wear golf shoes.

“Crown Golf has dropped club hire fees at its venues in a bid to attract as many newcomers as possible to the sport and also to attract lapsed players back to golf,” said a spokesman.

“The free club hire deal includes three golf balls, a pitch mark repairer and some tees to get you started. Trainers or smart sports shoes will also be deemed acceptable.”

The initiative started in August and was accompanied by the Twitter hashtag #noclubsnoprobs.

“It’s another barrier lowered,” said Rob Climas, the group’s director of operations. “Making a profit from club hire isn’t why we or most other clubs are in business, and we realised that charging for club hire felt a bit outdated these days.

“If you’re beginning to experiment with golf, or perhaps you’ve let your old golf clubs go over the years, this is ideal for you. Across the group we have plenty of clubs to lend out, so we thought we would put them to use and save our customers some money.:

To access the free club hire deal, golfers are asked to put down a £20 refundable deposit before they play.

See www.crown-golf.co.uk/freeclubs for details of the 22 Crown Golf clubs offering free club hire.