Golf club members are teaming up with Prostate Cancer UK

A major new golf competition is being launched that will see thousands of golf club members raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.

HowDoWeBeatIt is seeing UK golf club members log their best scores on all 18 holes at their golf course between now and September 30, and this will raise money for the charity, as spokesman Barry Dyett, from HowDidiDo, which is running the competition, explained: “More than 20,000 golfers take part in our annual Titleist Order of Merit and a similar number participating in HowDoWeBeatIt would raise a significant amount of money for a very worthwhile charity.

“Golfers will log their best scores on all 18 holes at their golf course, with the ‘eclectic’ resulting in their best theoretical scorecard. And participants, who will have the HowDoWeBeatIt stamp, including the iconic Prostate Cancer UK Man of Men logo, alongside their name on the website, will have their best ‘eclectic’ round calculated automatically by the HowDidiDo system.

“All money raised via the competition – and various associated events – will be donated to Prostate Cancer UK, while the 16 golfers who, within their handicap category, record the best eclectic score at their club over the six-month period will be treated to a grand final at the amazing Trump International Golf Links, on the Menie Estate, near Aberdeen – ranked in the UK’s top 10 golf venues.

“Prostate Cancer UK resonates with us at HowDidiDo because it largely affects men over the age of 50 – and our average golfer is a 51-year-old man. So there’s a great deal of synergy between a golf community like ours and the charity.

“We would encourage HowDidiDo members to wear the prostate Cancer UK Man of Men pin badge and participate as they will be playing their medals anyway – and they can do so in the knowledge they’re helping save lives and may earn themselves a trip to one of the UK’s top golf courses.”

With more than half-a-million club golfers, from HowDidiDo’s 1,800-plus registered clubs across the UK and Ireland, using the website regularly, HowDoWeBeatIt promises to be hugely beneficial for the charity.

In the UK, one in eight men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives. Older men, men with a family history of prostate cancer and black men are more at risk – and if you are the latter, the statistics are even starker: one in four.

People are largely unaware that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. It’s a huge issue that cannot be ignored. In 2017 one man an hour will die from prostate cancer in the UK. That’s more than 11,000 men per year. Prostate cancer is set to become the most commonly diagnosed cancer of all in the UK by 2030.

James Beeby, director of fundraising at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Golf is a great fit for Prostate Cancer UK both in terms of awareness and fundraising, and, over the last four years, we’ve raised more than £1million through golf events alone.

“We want to raise awareness and fund ground-breaking research to help fight the disease. That will help us provide dedicated support and information to men and their loved ones.

“We’re delighted to partner with HowDidiDo, and golfers who sign up to this new challenge are the perfect example of Men United, our team of people joining together to fight a common opponent: prostate cancer.”

The charity’s recent partnership with the European Senior Tour has seen it raise awareness within the golf community at the Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open, building on the charity’s successful engagement with golf club captains, the Prostate Cancer UK Open Championships in England and Scotland, as well as working with well-known golfers Ian Woosnam, Ronan Rafferty, Sam Torrance, Andrew Murray and Barry Lane.

HowDidiDo, which recently launched a new-look website and top-rated smartphone app, holds data from in excess of 53 million rounds of golf, along with the handicaps, results and scores of more than 1,300,000 UK golf club members.