Former England striker Jay Bothroyd hopes swapping the penalty area for a new project on the fairway can help offer improved access to golf for young players and increase diversity participation levels.
Bothroyd started his football career at Arsenal, where he was part of the FA Youth Cup winning side in 2000, before moving to Coventry and then on to Serie A side Perugia ahead of spells with Charlton, Wolves, Cardiff and QPR.
It was while in Japan at Sapporo during the Covid-19 pandemic that Bothroyd – whose only England senior cap came against France in November 2010 when with Cardiff – started to take more of a keen interest in golf as a way to keep himself active under the restrictions.
Bothroyd – who is supporting Prostate Cancer UK’s Big Golf Race fundraising challenge this summer – now hosts a YouTube channel alongside PGA pro and coach Trey Niven, which looks to offer a new take around the sport and aims to break down any socio-economic barriers.
“When we started the OuttaBoundz Show, we just wanted to be as inclusive as possible, to show whether you have the money or not, there is a place where you can have the opportunity to play,” Bothroyd told the PA news agency.
“We want to show the next generation that golf is not just a boring sport for middle-aged white men – it is for everyone.
“Doing the shows, we travel around and are having fun when we go out on the course, speaking to someone about their own story – how did they get into golf?
“It is about being able to give anyone the opportunity to play golf. We want to help create those as well.
“Some people don’t have the money to go and buy clubs, so now we are working with organisations like the Golf Foundation where we are trying to help make that a possibility.
“We went into a college recently, and had something like 40 students there. The first question we asked was ‘how many of you have played golf before?’ There was one girl who put her hand up – and she had only played once.
“We put on a clinic, did some putting and chipping, everyone had fun. At the end of it, we asked if this was something they would want to try, and their response was ‘yeah, definitely. We want to try it now. It is not how we thought it would be.’
“Coming from someone like me who grew up in the same area as these kids in Tottenham, it just shows them that the opportunities are there.
“We want to make it all inclusive, to show that golf can be fun and is for everyone.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.
One in eight men will get prostate cancer, a statistic which shortens to one in four for black men.
Bothroyd’s father was diagnosed and treated for the disease last year.
“We want to help raise money for more extensive research,” Bothroyd said.
“I am still trying to understand why one in four black men will get prostate cancer compared to one in eight for others.
“We want to understand more – and what better way to do it than Prostate Cancer UK’s Big Golf Race, when we can play and raise money at the same time.”
:: Jay Bothroyd is supporting Prostate Cancer UK’s Big Golf Race, which calls on golfers to take on 36, 72 or 100 holes in a day and raise money to help save men’s lives. Visit prostatecanceruk.org/TheBigGolfRace to sign up.