The Zimbabwe Golf Association (ZGA) recently trained 400 coaches throughout the country in what was termed ‘Train the Trainer courses’ which were meant to equip the trainees with the right skills to introduce golf to the beginners.

“This programme had been on the cards since 2020 but was stalled because of COVID-19 but we are happy that we have finally managed to undertake it and we believe that it is critical in enhancing the number of people that are taking part in Golf.

“We deliberately targeted a large number school teachers especially those at primary level because of the age group that they deal with whom we are convinced are critical to our sport because we know that they will be with us for a long time to come’ said Tirivashe Nheweyembwa the Zimbabwe Golf Association Administrator

The programme was conducted by qualified instructors in Harare, Bulawayo, Hwange, Victoria Falls, Gweru, Masvingo, Norton, Chegutu and Mutare. A total of 400 participants underwent the 2 days programme.

‘This programme is important in that it equips the trainees with the Golf coaching and the fundamentals of Golf like what is a golf course, equipment used in golf,  the technical language applied in golf and safety among other key topics covered.

‘ We were also able to cover the practical aspects of the Game wherein we took the course participants to the golf courses so that they could familiarize themselves with  it and we even explained to them such terms as Tee Box, bunker, hole, hazard and other such important terms’ added Phillip Tshuma one of Course Instructors.

After the courses that were ran across the country, as the ZGA we are  going to ensure that we supports the trained coaches in reaching out to the ultimate target group who are the young aspiring golfers in schools and clubs.

‘These courses were not fly by night events and as such this year (2023) we are going to monitor the activities of the Trained Coaches and also support their activities,  later on during the year, we also going to hold an intermediate course for some of the Coaches especially those who would have done well with  the programme’ Nheweyembwa said.

It is now our appeal to the Trained Coaches to utilize the acquired knowledge by ensuring that they introduce golf to the young people, it is by doing so that we are able to increase the number of Golfers in the country.