“Tee Times for Kids “
While Aditi Ashok’s heroic 4th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics has helped millions of non-golfers in India become more aware of the game, is it making existing golf club members more aware of the huge gap between facilities available to their juniors and competitors in more developed golfing nations ?
How many club golfers are aware that at most busy golf clubs in our major cities, where the majority of our talent lies today, most juniors struggle to get a game on the course on the weekends ? Some of our best and richest golf clubs strictly don’t even permit juniors to play on weekends – whether they are members’ kids or not.
We put forward a request to you, our readers who are members of nearly every club in India, that no matter how busy and crowded your club is, your club must reserve tee times on weekends for deserving juniors. Only if the members are willing to put the needs of our top juniors ahead of their own needs for tee times can our juniors keep progressing.
Kids have to attend school during the week and can barely get in 5-7 holes on weekday evenings. Unless they can play top class courses on weekends, year round, how will they ever realise their full potential ?
I urge our flagship courses like Delhi Golf Club, KGA in Bangalore, Royal Calcutta and others to show the way . Let’s start a “Tee Times for Kids” campaign. Perhaps in a year from now , the top 20 golf courses in India will each accommodate 20 kids on weekends which will give them a lot of encouragement and a huge incentive to work towards earning this privilege.
Only if we golfers prioritise the requirements of our juniors on our crowded top courses and driving ranges, will we be able to nurture the next generation of Aditi Ashoks.
Look forward to hearing back from you, our readers.
Happy Golfing !
Rishi Narain