Game of golf needs effective promotion

Certainly the downfall has been and is mainly caused by the incumbent leadership as well as lack of awareness to the public. Many people are not aware of how the game is played and its subsequent advantages besides keeping good health and enjoyment.

As a result, Tanzania is missing out players who can compete at international level and the opportunity of exposing the country to tourism inflows.

Domestic promotion of golf ;leaves a lot to be desired. Golf courses remain few in numbers but even the available ones still do not have members who bring their children to learn the game.

Thank you Lugalo Golf Club for the hospitality of opening up an opportunity to welcome parents to send their children and learn how the game can be played.

However, this Lugalo is just a drop in the ocean when matched to the number of children who are available for training but lack the opportunity.

The Tanzania Junior Golf Foundation formed over a decade ago is nowhere to be seen as the country still struggles to attain its goals. We have young golfers who feature in domestic competitions but what they actually lack is the quality of play.

The same players when subjected to meet their foreign counterparts, fail to sparkle.

The TGU lacks strategy to groom youngsters who in future might join the professional ranks to minimise unemployment burden.

The kind of golf professionals we have in the country are half backed and cannot compete at the same threshold level with their foreign counterparts.

We need to send our amateur golfers in high-profile tours such as Sunshine and PGA European Challenge Tour like the Kenya Open before they can make an impact in big stage golf.

The rush to field our half-backed professionals into the PGA Challenge Tour will always end up in disappointment as our golfers have a lot to learn.

We have the mentors who can enable our golfers to break grounds but it does not seem we are making use of them to attain the much needed success.

Already we have a starting point in terms of breeding and nurturing golfers like the Moshi and Arusha Gymkhana Clubs have established themselves. Golf is not the kind of game as the old notion goes that is exclusively for the well to do ones. It’s a game for everyone as long as one takes initiative to engage into playing.

What next for the TGU is to intensify trainings to those few children who happen to turn out at the available training venues like the Lugalo Golf Club, Arusha and Moshi Gymkhana.

The union must stay focused on establishing tournaments with much insistence on gross scores rather than the net ones.

Sending our teams to feature in open tournament staged in nearby countries like Kenya and Uganda, will create an ambiance for the players to overcome phobia in the future. It’s a hard work but with cautious approach it can be done with remarkable precision.