Denbighshire & Flintshire County Girls Order of Merit
10th February2010

Denbighshire and Flintshire Girls Association will be teeing off the 2010 golf season in earnest on Friday the 19 th of February, with the first event of the newly formed Order of Merit taking place at Prestatyn Golf Club.

With support from Golf Development Wales, Qioptiq Ltd and other companies along with a small group of parents of girls from various clubs, Gaynor Jones the D and F Girls County Team Manager has formed the Order of Merit to enhance on the girls competitive calendar, in what is to become a big year for Golf in Wales with the staging of the third biggest sporting event in the world, The Ryder Cup being staged at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport in September.

The Order of Merit will be a series of 11 competitions each played at a local golf course, starting at Prestatyn on 19 th February. The best 8 scores for each girl from the 11 venues will count towards the overall Order of Merit. The final presentations will be held at Rhuddlan Golf Club on 18 th September 2010 .

Prizes will be awarded for best gross and nett at each meeting as well as the overall competition winners.

The aim of the Order of Merit is to encourage more girls to participate in the sport. It's a wonderful opportunity for girls from different clubs to meet each other and foster friendships as well as gaining valuable experience of playing new golf courses in a competitive yet friendly environment," said Gaynor.

Dilwyn Griffiths, Golf Development Officer for North Wales added: "The team responsible for girls golf in D and F under the great leadership of Gaynor Jones and Kim Harcombe, the secretary, have been influential in the development of the sport especially by junior girls for a great number of years. The fruits of their labour are in abundance, with some of the junior girls having progressed to the National Squad and even further to gain professional success on the Ladies European Tour.

"The creation of the Denbighshire and Flintshire Order of Merit will assist clubs throughout the region in recruiting and retaining new and existing junior girl golfers and the efforts of D and F should be highly commended." Griffiths added that it was fantastic to see private sector support via Optiq Ltd and others being used to support the development of sport in the region.

The Order of Merit is open to any girl under the age of 18 with a handicap of 36 or less who is a member of a golf club in any of the three counties (Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham).

Should you wish to receive any further information about the Order of Merit, or support any of the events or Junior Girls Golf in particular please contact Dilwyn Griffiths on dilwyn.griffiths@golfunionwales.org

Order of Merit events 2010: