Under the new route, the establishment launched a Golf Academy with the aim to make the sport accessible to anyone with an interest in learning, improving their game or developing towards competitive performance. The launch took place over the weekend at the Phakalane Golf driving range. Speaking during the event, Phakalane Golf Estate captain, Tsoseletso Magang said they have been talking about developing an academy for a while. She said the nature of the sport is that if you do not have grassroots, a place where people come to learn the sport, you will not have proper development for the sport. She said it is important to have a structure because people always come to them to ask where they can acquire the skills to play the sport. “We want to develop our coaches.
Teaching is important because you do not want people to start off with wrong techniques especially golf which is a technical sport. You want them to have the correct techniques, which is why a golf academy is important. “It is important to start, if you do not attarct kids to sport, they never pick it up and a sport like golf is not easily accessible,” she said. “We felt that as we start the academy, we needed to bring in the aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). For the past few weeks we have been working with Matebeleng Primary School and introduced the kids to golf.” Magang added that the proceeds from the charity tournaments that they are hosting will go towards the CSR project. She said the intention of the academy is to expose communities around Phakalane to golf and give them an opportunity to interact with potential sponsors. Meanwhile, Botswana Golf Union president, Derrick Musa said the academy is a seed that is needed to develop golf in the country.
