The Captain One Golf Society, a group of golfers and non-golfers in partnership with the PRA River Golf Links, has officially outdoored the Shama Kids Project, a program set to train vulnerable kids in the game of golf.
The Captain One Golf Kids Project is focused on nurturing golf talents in the country while ensuring golf is introduced to kids in every golf club across the country.
The Shama Kids project attracted kids from the communities within the catchment areas of the golf club and would be trained by resident professional golfers of the club.
The founder and owner of Pra River Golf Links, Prof. George William Kofi Intsiful, gave a brief historic background of the golf course and mentioned that plans are underway to upgrade the facility with a clubhouse with middle- and high-income residential facilities to meet international standards and practice.
He commended the members and leadership of the Society for their proactiveness to train the young ones to fill in the ageing gap in the sport.
Chief Patron of the Society, Mr. Lee Mensah, who officially launched the project, reiterated the importance of training a new pool of talents for the future of the game. He advised the kids to take their training seriously and adhere to the instructions from their coaches.
He mentioned some of the benefits of playing golf and urged the kids to take up the sport to get more opportunities.
Competition Secretary, Mr. Solomon Harvey, advised the girls to put in effort to be better at the sport and hinted at plans to launch the project across all the regions and train kids to play the game of golf.
“We have been organising our own tournament, which includes the kids. And hopefully next year we will have one, and by then you would have known the basics to compete.
‘’As you know, golf trains you to be punctual. We also get health benefits when we play golf,” he stressed.
A resident professional golfer, Kofi Instiful, will be training the kids at the Pra River Golf Links for the project.
Ayishatu Aminu, a beneficiary and an ambassador for the Captain One Kids Project, from Safe-Child Advocacy, Kumasi, shared her testimony with the kids and stated the Captain One Golf Kids Project has been one of the best things to have happened to her.
She said before joining the project, she had a perception that golf was for the rich, but that notion has been debunked since joining, saying, ’With golf, what you need is discipline, determination, and dedication to the course.’’
She urged the young ones to embrace the opportunity given them, and they will go far as she is now able to meet and greet important personalities in the country whom she wouldn’t have met in her life, but because of golf, she is able to walk on the same course and chat with.
In a speech read on his behalf, President of the Captain One Golf Society, Pius Ayeh Appiah, expressed excitement over the event, saying, “Captain One always wanted to bring golf to everyone, especially children, so they would capture the interest from the beginning and grow to become professionals.”
That he said would also demystify the idea that golf belonged to the elite in society because the Kids Project offered the opportunity for children from different backgrounds to play.
Mr Appiah noted that they will continue to give out their best for the project to give hope to the young talented but needy golfers and appealed to corporate bodies, civil society organisations and individuals to also come on board to support the project.
After the launch, the girls were taken through the basic golf practice, the equipment used and other lessons for beginners.
