2024 Junior Pennants season ready to tee off

24th Jan 2024

Mount Lawley and Royal Fremantle will begin the defence of their Junior Pennants Division 1 titles this Sunday, January 28.

Mount Lawley (pictured above) will be looking to complete a memorable ‘four-peat’ in the girls’ competition after securing back-to-back-to-back titles in a sudden-death play-off against Gosnells in 2023’s final.

Royal Fremantle (pictured below), meanwhile, won the 2023 boys’ crown after defeating Gosnells 4-1 in the final to land their first pennants title since 2016.

In total, 24 boys’ teams will compete across four divisions (with Div 2 being sub-divided into Black and Gold groups), with 16 teams and three divisions in the girls’ competition. Once again, well over 200 juniors have been nominated by their clubs to participate in this year’s tournament with handicaps ranging from +3 to 40+.

Teams will play up to five rounds of matches at neutral venues, with individual players facing off over 18 holes of matchplay (or 9 holes if one player or more has a handicap of 40 and above) in a bid to secure points for their teams.

Starting on January 28, the competition will be contested over five consecutive Sundays, with the titles to be decided on February 25. You’ll be able to keep up to date with the latest results at the GolfWA Junior Pennants online hub.

New policies in place for 2024

There have been substantial changes made to the Parent/Guardian Code of Conduct. Breaches of the code will now incur on-course consequences for players, which could include loss of holes or disqualification.

It is imperative that parents and guardians have a thorough understanding of the policy prior to the season commencing. It can be viewed here.

Updates have also been made to the Junior Events Caddie Policy. Caddies are permitted for junior pennants, with their role restricted to transporting the player’s bag and assisting in course maintenance. Read the policy here.

Explaining the policy updates, GolfWA Operations Manager Neil Goddard said: “Although examples of poor parent conduct are few and far between, a number of incidents in recent years have led us to updating our Code of Conduct in line with other sports.

“Our aim is always to allow junior participants in GolfWA events to develop their ability and passion for the game at their own pace and on their own terms. We hope all parents and guardians will respect the code.”