Nick Dougherty and Golf Foundation team up with school to celebrate BMW PGA week

Golf Foundation and Nick Dougherty have teamed up with local school to celebrate BMW PGA Championship week at Wentworth.

The Golf Foundation is the Official Charity of the BMW PGA Championship for the first time this week, and President Nick Dougherty and the charity kickstarted the week by delivering some golf kit to a local school before welcoming the kids to Wentworth Club.

Working with the DP World Tour and BMW, the Golf Foundation benefited from the Eagles for Education initiative in 2024 – every eagle scored in the BMW PGA Championship saw the BMW Group donate £1,000 to the Golf Foundation to support their Unleash Your Drive in Schools programme.

After the professionals managed 89 eagles across the week, including the winning eagle sunk by Billy Horschel to secure the title, the Golf Foundation received an incredible £89,000.

Winkfield St Mary’s school in Bracknell was one of the many schools who benefitted from the 2024 impact, receiving access to the Unleash Your Drive in Schools programme from the Golf Foundation in the wake of the money raised at the tournament last year. 

As another week of Eagles for Education begins, Dougherty joined a session with the youngsters and caught up with the teachers who have seen the impact on the ground.

“We’ve loved delivering golf at the school,” said Emily Fazey, PE teacher at Winkfield St Mary’s. 

“It’s helped to show the kids that patience and resilience can make a difference in sport and beyond, and it’s been amazing to see. We’re starting an after-school golf club next week, that’s how much the kids have taken to it. It’s been amazing to bring the kids to Wentworth today, thank you so much to Nick and everyone at the Golf Foundation.”

This year, the charity are taking a further step in the partnership with DP World Tour and BMW by becoming the Official Charity partner for the week. Alongside Eagles for Education, this year will see the Golf Foundation run long putt, chipping and simulator challenges across the Spectator Village in order to raise vital funds.

Every £10 raised gets another pupil on the Unleash Your Drive programme, which sees six weeks of golf delivered that focuses on vital mental toughness tools. 

These will help to prepare youngsters for life inside and outside the classroom – since Covid, we know that one in five young people has a probably mental health issue, so early intervention to strengthen mental wellbeing is key. Early results from the initiative, which launched at the BMW PGA Championship in September 2023, indicate a 20% rise in mental toughness understanding among pupils who took part in the Unleash Your Drive in Schools programme.

More money raised through the BMW PGA Championship this year will see more youngsters gain access to the programme, and continue to fight the decline of mental wellbeing in young people.

Dougherty has been working with us here at GolfMagic on a new instruction series.

This week he gave us his top tips for better distance control on the greens. 

To find out more, please visit www.golf-foundation.org