Development: Record number of visits by Consultants
‘The Juniors were a pleasure to coach’ – Alasdair Barr on COSTA RICA
During a year of unprecedented activity under the auspices of The R&A funded Golf Development Programme, the PGAs of Europe has successfully organised some 18 visits worldwide to emerging golfing nations including Botswana, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
As a result, reports from the appropriate PGA Professionals who make up the scheme’s pool of consultants/tutors have been processed by Tony Bennett, the PGAs of Europe’s Director of Education, and submitted to The R&A with recommendations on the way forward for each country.
One of the most recent fact-finding excursions was by PGA (of GB&I) Master Professional Alasdair Barr, who is among the most experienced of the consultants carrying out these development missions. Having already conducted such projects in India, Ecuador, Bolivia and Zambia he has now added Costa Rica to the list, having returned from the Central American outpost in early December.
While there he met with the leading golf officials and enthusiastic local professionals, conducted swing clinics with the pros, and also golf club members and the Costa Rican amateur elite squad. In his report Alasdair stresses his willingness to be part of an on-going programme of aid by The R&A and recommends that a ‘Specialist Coach, to help train the local professionals, is urgently required.
“The standard of coaching will have to be upgraded if the standard of play is to be improved,” he writes. “There is currently nothing in place to improve the knowledge, and particularly the communication skills, of the instructors. In the time I had available I took them through as much of the PGA Training Programme as I could manage, and also explained how to construct a lesson, be it a swing building or a diagnostic session.
“The Pros seemed to appreciate this and when I conducted the practical sessions there was quite an improvement by the end of the visit, all 18 professionals were very enthusiastic to learn and I would welcome the opportunity to work with them again. The Junior players too were very keen and it was a pleasure to coach them,” he added.
Similar recent duties were carried out by consultants/tutors David Johnson (in Botswana), John Heggarty (in Kazakhstan) and Piero Sabellico (in Turkey) taking the number of countries globally to benefit from The R&A/PGAs of Europe joint-initiative to approaching 40 in the last ten years or so.
‘A great passion for the game and its traditions’ – David Johnson on BOTSWANA
PGA (of GB&I) Master Professional David Johnson, pictured left, was the third consultant in the last seven years to visit Botswana when he undertook an R&A-funded trip there in November, and was delighted to discover a new impetus had developed since the previous, unsuccessful, attempts to install a development programme there.
Former PGA (of GB&I) Captain, Alan Walker (2003) and PGAs of Europe Education Committee member, Martin Westphal (2007) had been there, and had set out a way forward for the Botswana Golf Association, but despite recommendations and funding being forthcoming, progress had not been made.
“Most of the recommendations of previous visits had not been acted upon with the funds being misappropriated, previously supplied equipment disappearing and no junior development programmes put into operation,” Johnson reports.
Then he adds more encouragingly: “The present BGU Executive Committee particularly Andrew Hall, Mpho Kelosiwang, Roger Lal, Shane Granger, Ben Tobedza and Onel Mokgosi all have a great passion for the game, its traditions and associations particularly The R&A, The PGAs of Europe and their own Botswana Golf Union.
“The work ethic and code of conduct of the BGU is now excellent and they are working hard to try to move golf forward.”
Other Consultant Report Extracts...
‘A strong desire to do everything well’ – John Heggarty on KAZAKHSTAN
“Kazakhstan is a beautiful and diverse country. The people are so friendly and they have a strong desire to do everything well. There exists an enthusiasm, from the government down, to develop golf. Golf is a very young sport...the first golf course Nurtau Golf Club, was built in 1996...golf has developed where today there are 7 golf courses with approximately another 10 with approved planning.
“There is a drive and passion from the people I met but they are spreading themselves very thinly and do not enjoy the financial support from any external body to develop the game at grass roots, (Nutria Golf Club excepted)”
‘The enthusiasm & potential is very high’– Piero Sabellico on TURKEY
“In terms of friendship and passion for the sport, my experience with Turkish pros and amateurs was memorable. The enthusiasm they demonstrated is a good reason to believe in a brighter future for the game in Turkey.
“Half of the Turkish pros are university graduates in physical education and the other half have high school graduation, this mean the potential is very high, but they need scholastic preparation in terms of golf knowledge because they have been trained to teach on a driving range following practical examples with little or no explanation of the theory behind the game.
“I became aware that some people within the Turkish Golf Federation aspire to elevate the level of the Turkish golfer, and they realise that in order to achieve this they have to operate from within the organisation.”
