Lincolnshire named County of the Year at the England Golf Awards 2021

Lincolnshire was named County of the Year at the England Golf Awards 2021.

The clubs, counties and individuals that made a significant and positive impact on the amateur game in the past year were honoured at the event, sponsored by adidas Golf.

Lincolnshire earned the praise of the judges for promoting women’s and junior golf, getting the nod ahead of rivals Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Cornwall.

In 2020, 22 of the Lincolnshire’s 45 clubs signed up to The R&A’s Women in Golf Charter.

The same number of clubs were also awarded HSBC Golf Roots Centre accreditation – highlighting a drive to promote junior golf in the county.

In the past year, the Lincolnshire Ladies’ County Golf Association also amended its title to replace the word ladies with women – a small but significant and modernising touch to reflect the more inclusive, open for all philosophy that the county is keen to portray.

Overall, over 1000 new juniors were introduced to golf in Lincolnshire in 2020 through participation programmes and almost 200 of these youngsters subsequently joined clubs as academy or full members.

The county also formed a new 15-strong junior volunteer team in 2021 – the Lincolnshire Girls Golf Squad – with the junior girls themselves playing a prominent role in shaping the aims and objectives of the group.

In 2021, the county will run five GolfSixes leagues involving 264 juniors 130 of whom are girls.

For the first time, the ceremony was held virtually and streamed via the England Golf YouTube channel.

Broadcaster and avid golfer Naga Munchetty was the host for the night when winners of seven categories were announced live to an online audience of finalists, well-wishers and golfers from up and down the country.