BGT finalist using Instagram to promote golf to girls

A finalist of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent is getting involved in a campaign to encourage more girls to take up golf.

Poppy Gerrard, 15, from the dance group MerseyGirls, has become the second BGT finalist to promote golf in the space of a few days.

Poppy and the MerseyGirls first hit the headlines when they earned a golden buzzer from judge Alesha Dixon in the audition stages. Now Poppy is using her fame to share her new love of golf with other girls.

Poppy was persuaded to go along to the local driving range at Moreton Hills Golf Centre on the Wirral with her dad and brother, where she was spotted by the eagle eyes of the head PGA Professional Daniel Adams.

Poppy enjoyed her introduction to golf and some healthy competition as she tried to catch up with the skills of her bother. Now she wants to be a role model for other young girls and encourage them to try something different and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

After talking to Daniel and her mum Kath, Poppy promoted a taster session for girls at Moreton Hills where the girls could come along to the golf centre, meet Poppy and take part in some dancing and golfing with her.

The places filled up in record time after Poppy took to Instagram to say: “When I have not been training / dancing with MerseyGirls I have been spending some time learning a new hobby. Golf is actually a lot harder and cooler than I thought it would be.” She then invited girls to join her at Moreton Hills to “hang out, take photos and have some fun hitting golf shots.”

Alison Lysons, England Golf’s Cheshire club support officer, said: “It’s really exciting to see someone like Poppy enjoying learning to play golf and wanting to encourage other young girls to try a new sport and become more active.”

Lauren Spray, women and girls’ participation manager at England Golf, added: “Poppy’s use of Instagram has demonstrated the importance of choosing the right way to communicate with youngsters and recruit them to our sport.

“By coming directly from Poppy, her peers have trusted her opinion and signed up to come along to have a go at golf. Poppy has presented golf in a cool, accessible way which has encouraged these teenage girls to take part and enjoy themselves. This is something England Golf is working hard to achieve through Girls Golf Rocks, our girls’ national recruitment campaign which we run jointly with the Golf Foundation.”

A few days ago, BGT finalist Les Gibson starred in this video for Frodsham Golf Club: