Senior Captain David Wylie raises £530 for the Trust

David Wylie, Seniors Captain at Marlborough Golf Club has named England Golf Trust as his annual charity – and has raised £530 at his first event.

The funds were collected at a raffle held during the Marlborough Golf Club Senior Open. ‘The members were fantastic and donated lots of prizes. It helped that we had a star prize, a fourball on the Hotchkin at the National Golf Centre, Woodhall Spa,’ says David.

An added incentive to buy tickets was a free golf ball. Raffle tickets were priced at ‘£5 a strip, buy two and get a free golf ball’.  The golf balls with the club logo cost £1.50 each, getting the extra strip meant an additional £3.50 a time,’ he says.  It worked and almost everybody buying tickets bought £10 worth.

David discovered the work of the England Golf Trust while attending England Golf Captains and Seniors Series events around the country, keen to help as concerned about how tough it can be for some young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into golf.

Which is why the senior captain for 2023 has named The England Golf Trust as his captain’s charity.

‘There is grass roots support to increase access to tennis, football and many other sports – identifying and bringing on young talent from all across society.  I wanted to raise funds to support this work in golf,’ he said.

Although David isn’t from a golfing background himself, he took up the sport while studying anatomy and pathology at St Andrew’s University, in Scotland. He went on to teach physics at a school for the deaf in Newbury while playing golf at nearby Donnington Valley Golf Club.

After switching to teaching media studies instead of physics, he set up a business producing educational resource packs. He then launched a radio station and taught skills for life to adults before retiring early to play more golf and travel. David was Club Captain at Donnington Valley then moved to Marlborough Golf Club more recently.

He is delighted to support the work of EGT and is looking forward to his year of fundraising for the charity.

‘England Golf Trust have been helpful in supplying pop-up banners, recipient profiles, charity cans and even a quality golf shirt in my size embossed with their logo.’

‘I’m hoping to both raise much-needed funds for the charity as well as increase awareness of the charity and their work.’