Golf club withdraws player from competition for being too YOUNG!

A golf club has come under fire for withdrawing a golfer from one of its competitions for being too YOUNG!

Aaron Cullen, 14, was able to enter a singles knockout at Prestbury Golf Club just outside Manchester. The club accepted his entry fee and included him in the draw for the tournament.

However, after the 11-handicapper won his opening match 4&3, the club realised its error and contacted Aaron’s family to inform them that he was being withdrawn from the event.

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It is believed Aaron’s parents appealed that decision but that the club committee opted earlier this week to uphold the original verdict.

A source with a good understanding of the incident told bunkered.co.uk: “The rules over who can and cannot enter competitions at the club are not as clear as they should be and, in any case, is it not the club’s responsibility to check who they are accepting entries – and entry fees – from?

“The boy won his match fair and square, so he is clearly good enough to be playing in this competition. It defies belief that the club would do something like this. What sort of message does this send to other juniors? At a time when the sport should be capitalising on post-pandemic demand and renewed interest amongst the younger generation, decisions like this are still being made at grassroots level. It’s massively unfair.”

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Not all clubs share this apparent ‘no juniors’ policy, of course. Three-time Ladies European Tour winner Carly Booth began her journey towards the pro ranks in 2003 when she won the Dunblane New club championship at the age of 11, becoming the youngest ladies’ club champion in Britain in the process.

bunkered.co.uk has approached Prestbury Golf Club for comment.

On its website, the club says: “We take great pride in describing ourselves as a true, traditional private members’ club. Our focus is on golf and delivering the best possible service to our members.”