Nick Dougherty lobbies MPs for golf to be on par with football and rugby

Former DP World Tour player pays visit to Westminster to spread message about Golf Foundation initiative

Former DP World Tour player visited Westminster on Monday to share the message about the Golf Foundation's Unleash Your Drive initiative with MPs. Picture: Golf Foundation.

Nick Dougherty made a name for himself in golf hitting lob wedges among other clubs and now he’s turned his hand to lobbying at the House of Commons in a bid to secure the same recognition for his beloved sport as the likes of football, rugby and cricket.

The former DP World Tour player visited Westminster on Monday in his role as president of the Golf Foundation to enlighten MPs about an initiative aimed at using golf to improve the mental wellbeing of children in schools.

Launched last September during the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Unleash Your Drive is the culmination of five years of research and development that has been tested at both primary and secondary school level.

The programme incorporates nine key mental toughness tools that have been proven to benefit the mental wellbeing of young people, with the testing having discovered an average 17 per cent improvement in mental toughness in those taking part.

Though already taking place in some parts of Scotland, the Golf Foundation’s aim with this initiative is to get golf into every school in Great Britain and Ireland, with Dougherty’s visit to Westminster being the latest step in the bid to secure funding to allow that to happen.

“There is a need for what we can deliver, so it speaks for itself,” Dougherty, a three-time DP World Tour winner who is now a Sky Sports presenter, told The Scotsman. “However, we need to get not just our world to recognise that but the government as well because, if they get behind us and they start to treat us like they treat other sports, that will make a huge difference.

“We are never going to be football, but we need to cover some of that ground that we have this deficit at the moment and this starts in places like Westminster. My visit there was to shine a light on it and almost make it hard to ignore us. It’s about getting more people who are maybe not believers on board. I think if we can get to a tipping point with the momentum we are building and get them on board, then I think we really are going to see it soar from that point.”

During his visit, Dougherty presented the early findings of the programme as well as launching a Play In May initiative, which is encouraging every golfer in the UK to enter an event that will see the top 30 on an Unleash Your Drive leaderboard at the end of that month qualifying for an event at Wentworth Club in August hosted by Dougherty and the winner of that securing a spot in the BMW PGA Championship at the same venue the following month.

“I think we have made some great waves already,” added Dougherty, who is putting his heart and soul into the initiative. “But by getting people to pull together in the same direction at the same time, we can make this gain some huge momentum and a big part of that for me has always been government backing. We all know that in schools we massively push football, we massively push rugby and cricket to a degree as well. They are the biggies and our sport doesn’t really get a look in and a lot of that, I think, is down to the stereotype of the game and also the accessibility of our game.

“That’s what we are solving. We are making it accessible. We are showing that the game actually isn’t what the old stereotype is and the value of what it does for the mental health of these kids is so dramatic in terms of what it gives to other sports. It’s a no-brainer to try and give that opportunity to them.”