Burnley Leisure ‘putts’ Sport England funding to good use

`It’s a hole in one for Burnley Leisure Trust as it gets £75,000 from Sport England to create a golf short game practice area at Prairie Sports Village.

A mini-golf area will also be created, specially designed to suit players of all abilities from beginners to experienced golfers, providing somewhere the whole family can enjoy.

Leisure trust bosses say the area will also provide the missing link for golf tuition at the Prairie especially for children and complete beginners, school groups and holiday clubs.

It will also help enhance the trust’s Active Adults programme for those players who find it hard to play a full course.

Paul Foster, Burnley Leisure’s head of development, said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment, which will help to expand the leisure offer in Burnley. The mini golf area will be designed to encourage more families with children to get involved in playing golf from an early age.

“It will also provide visitors with something to do whilst their other family members are taking part in other sports at the Prairie, such as football, golf and rounders.”

The new short game practice area will complement the driving range allowing visitors to not only practice their full golf shots but also work on the short game aspects of golf, such as putting, chipping and bunker shots.

The short game practice area will include a large synthetic putting green, chipping areas, and bunkers.

The mini-golf area will consist of up to nine miniature golf holes, featuring twists and turns, slopes and other challenges to provide fun for the whole family and build interest in the game of golf.

Work on the new facility is set to start soon and is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

The grant to Burnley Leisure is among more than 90 local sports projects across England to have won funding from the Inspired Facilities programme, which is part of its Olympic and Paralympic legacy programme.

The competition for funding this year was extremely high with 364 applications submitted asking for £42million of investment with only £9.9million available.

Sport England’s Inspired Facilities funding is helping to upgrade facilities, club houses and changing rooms across the country and help inspire more people to get active.

Sport England property director, Charles Johnston, said: “The Inspired Facilities Fund has had a huge impact on grassroots sport across the country. Since 2011, we’ve invested £102 million into more than 1,920 projects to improve and refurbish sports clubs and transform non-sporting venues into vibrant community sports clubs.

“It’s great to see Burnley Leisure join the long list of successful organisations and clubs to benefit from this fund.”

 

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