Kirkcaldy community golf club hails success of mental health awareness week initiative

Club chairman, Martin Christie, has a go at Park Gowf.

An initiative by Kirkcaldy-based Dunnikier Park Community Golf to help address loneliness has been hailed as a resounding success.

The charity marked Mental Health Awareness Week earlier this month with a series of taster sessions of Park Golf - a massively popular sport in Japan and the United States, but which is virtually unheard of elsewhere.

Played with just one club over a short course, Dunnikier made the decision to bring the game to Scotland earlier this year after one of the organisation’s founding members learned of its huge following overseas.

This former school has been converted into a stunning 3-bedroom house combining ...

It was decided to give it a Scottish flavour by calling it Park Gowf, with its ‘hame’ at the six-hole 2019 course at Dunnikier Park.

Martin Christie, chairman, said that the decision to become involved with Mental Health Awareness Week had been hugely rewarding.

He said: “The theme this year was loneliness, which is a real problem for so many people for all sorts of reasons, including the isolation brought about by COVID.

“We thought that offering taster sessions of Park Gowf would allow us to show how this simple game can bring people together, giving them the chance to meet others while having fun in the fresh air.”

“A number of local organisations took up our offer, including Alzheimer Scotland, Active Fife, Nourish Family Support Centre, the Salvation Army and Sporting Memories.

“In addition, we invited Fife Chamber of Commerce to take part and were delighted when a large number of their members came along to try out Park Gowf.

“In all, around 100 people attended the various free sessions led by our volunteers and the feedback we’ve had has been tremendous.

“Everyone really enjoyed this novel form of golf, with many saying they can’t wait to have another go.”

Alzheimer Scotland are now taking part in established sessions of Park Gowf on a regular basis and it’s expected that other organisations in the area will soon follow suit.

Martin added: “This has been a really successful initiative and I’d like to thank all those who took part, not forgetting our volunteers who helped make it all possible.’’