Michael Balderstone, who is based in Johannesburg, started the daunting task last month. He holds his training sessions fortnightly. Over the weekend, he taught 13 golfers, including 13-year-old girl Unami Mogocha, at Gaborone Golf Club, how to swing and produce the desired results. He also taught them how to handle pressure during a match. While the senior national team is preparing for Zone V1 tournament to be held next April in Zambia, the juniors are sharpening their skills ahead of the All Africa World Junior Qualifiers in Japan. BGU intends to send eight golfers to the Zone V1 tournaments, or even more if funds are available. Acting BGU executive secretary, who doubles as the senior national team manager, Joseph Marudu told Mmegi Sport that they found it fit to engage Balderstone because of his vast experience. "The man is an expert in golf and we believe he will assist us," Marudu explained.
Some of the golfers trained last weekend included Phenyo Lekgoa, who graduated from being a caddie to a seasoned golfer, Charmton Makoko, Ishmael Nfila and Steward Smith. Experienced Peter Podise from Francistown Golf Club and national team captain Diane Lucas (Orapa) could not attend due to other commitments. Other juniors trained were Triman Granger, Leroy Pearman, Wandu Marudu and Mogocha. Despite that two senior national team players could not attend, Marudu was impressed after the training session. He said they would have loved all golfers to benefit but expressed hope that those who miss the opportunity would catch up next time. "Our golfers have different problems and we want Balderstone to address that," added Marudu. He said this does not mean that local coaches are not capable but BGU felt it was important to bring in a more experienced individual so as to improve golf standards in Botswana.
