The Saint Lucia Golf Association finished its summer programme on Friday at the Cap Estate Golf & Country Club, with 22 participants aged from 10 to 15 learning the fundamentals of the sport.
Golf pro Tim Mangal, the lead coach for the programme, told St Lucia Times that continuity was one of the main themes for the camp, which included some members of the association’s youth programme.
“Some of them it’s their first time, but most of them have done it before for a couple of months already,” explained Mangal. “They made quite a lot of improvements. We have worked on the basics again, made sure that everything is in order. We are looking forward to them keeping it going after the programme.”
With some senior competitive golfers ageing out of the game, this camp was a crucial step in helping the association build a new cadre of players. Mangal acknowledged that golf can be an expensive undertaking, but thanked Sandals Resorts International for their generous support of the programme.
“For us, what it is, we really want to bridge a generational gap. We want the juniors, the youngsters, to get into it. Yes, it is expensive, but I equate it to something like football. A footballer would buy a new pair of boots every six months if he plays a lot, or less than that. But investment in a set of golf clubs will last you years.
“The thing that may cost a lot of money is membership to the golf club here. However, Sandals has provided the golf course free of charge for juniors most of the time when we have those programmes. So that helps us to get the kids into the game.”
Mangal said the kids have been very receptive. One of the newcomers, just 10 years old, took to the game at once, he said. The fact that young people want to learn to play the game and want to put the work in to get better at it is encouraging to the organisers. Further interventions are planned in the coming months, but getting the kids on the greens competitively is a medium-term priority.
“The Golf Association plans to have those kids on a regular basis. When school reopens, we are going to continue the programme we do twice a week with the Corinth Secondary School and some kids from Grow Well. We intend to grow it even more than that. But the plan is to keep them going.
“We have the Eastern Caribbean Golf Championship every year. I want to send some of those kids to it next year, hopefully. Because they are old enough, the older ones are 14, 15 years old. They will be strong enough to play for the Saint Lucia team once they keep practising and playing the game. I mean, it’s a game that takes a long time to get good at, but with dedication, everything is possible.”
