Golf has been undergoing a quiet transformation. It is shedding its tag as an elitist sport, overwhelmingly played by affluent white folks. Indications are that in years to come there will be more black faces at local and major international golf tournaments.
This will be thanks to the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB), which runs a programme that aims to make the sport accessible to more young black children from disadvantaged communities.
Most of them are learners drawn from schools across Gauteng province. Every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, these enthusiastic and passionate youngsters descend on Huddle Park Golf Club in Linksfield, Johannesburg, to hone their skills.
Of those who are part of the initiative, two teenage girls, Letty Maluleke (15) and Katlego Mhlambi (14), are displaying exceptional talent.
They both hail from poverty-stricken Alexandra township, within shouting distance of Sandton. Exposure to golf from a young age seems to explain why they are streets ahead of their peers in the programme.
For example, Maluleke caught the bug from her sister, who plays golf for leisure. ‘I used to watch her practise and sometimes accompany her when she went to play with her friends. What I like about golf is that it is a gentle and majestic sport,” said Maluleke.
She is a grade 10 learner at Bhekilanga High in Eastbank, Alexandra, and said she joined the programme only last year. She said her teachers, who were aware of her passion for the sport, hooked her up with board.
Since then she has not looked back and is growing in confidence. ‘I am beginning to master some of the finer aspects of the sport. I now know how to handle my club and I am familiar with the course and understand some of the terms golfers use, such as birdie, par and eagle to mention three,” said Maluleke.
Maluleke learned from her amateur sister, but Mhlambi was luckier. Her father, Thomas, who is the board’s regional coach in central Gauteng, is a professional golfer.
‘I remember I was very young then, but would accompany my father wherever he went. While he was busy he would give me a ball and makeshift club to play as well,” she said.
Mhlambi is a grade nine learner at Marlboro Gardens Combined School and started to play golf earnestly in 2003. ‘The secret to doing well in this sport is to practise as often as you can,” said Mhlambi.
She makes sure she does not miss any foundation competitions (which are played by those who have advanced up to, and beyond, level three).
Of the five competitions she has entered, she has won three already and was runner-up in two.
But why golf, of all the sports? ‘I like the way they play it, but mostly their clothes — they are beautiful and I really like them,” she said. As with any aspiring golfers Maluleke and Mhlambi worship golfing phenomenon Tiger Woods.
Mhlambi’s father is positive the two are destined for great things. He says playing golf needs patience and composure and that these are the values he is inculcating in the youngsters. ‘I try to be innovative and come up with ways to make the sport more appealing and interesting to them.”
He said part of the programme is to motivate learners to work hard academically. ‘It would not be wise for them to excel only in golf without backing it up with a sound educational background,” he said.
Thenjiwe Sithole, the board’s Gauteng development manager, is happy with the enthusiasm shown by young people from poor communities.
She said they operate in nine regions throughout the country and across Gauteng in areas such as Randfontein, Soweto, Alexandra, Soshanguve and Springs.
Sithole is pleased that more golf clubs in the province have embraced the initiative and contribute equipment and facilities for the purposes of training the youngsters.
Golf at school
Northlink College for further education and training (FET) in Cape Town has designed a programme aimed at studentswho want to play golf and study.
Through the project the institution brings this expensive sport to youths who ordinarily would not be able to afford it. The college’s golf director, Graham Hinton, said he uses his experience within the industry to secure ‘fantastic discounts and deals” to accommodate financially needy students.
The school was established in 2000 after a steady loss of ‘many of our top national and provincial players to golf scholarships in the United States”. It had to come up with a competitive programme modelled on the same principles as the US collegiate system. This seems to have worked because the school now boasts learners from all over the world, including Uganda, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom, Cameroon and the US.
Students can choose from various options. The first is to study for a three-year sport management diploma and play and study golf. The second is to complete grade 10 to 12 and play golf and the third is to join the golf school of excellence, which is purely about golf.
Hinton said 99% of the students are fresh out of school, but the programme does not have an age limit.To date 211 students have gone through the programme.
He said the biggest challenge was when ‘students only wanted to play golf and lost interest in their studies”, something they could not tolerate as ‘academics and the golf go hand in hand”.
Hinton said golf is becoming popular partly because of ‘tigermania” — the fame Tiger Woods brought to the game. Other reasons include:
Golf is a life skill and a clean and honest game;
It is 90% mental and 10% physical;
It teaches you a lot about life — after just one round you will know a lot about the person with whom you are playing. — Thabo Mohlala