Junior Golfers at an Albatross event
Editor’s Note
While our readers are keen to follow the progress of India’s star international pro players like Aditi Ashok, Shubhankar Sharma, Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar and others, the need of the hour is better systems to produce many more just like them.
Take the example of Thailand, who’s players were on par with India twenty years ago, but have now moved far ahead of India, particularly on the women’s side, primarily because of the sheer number of top class facilities and financial support available to their promising juniors.
On the other hand, Indian juniors are largely left to support themselves when it comes to coaching, access to practice facilities and international tournaments.
While building more courses is a complex issue and takes a long time, surely increasing the quality of skilled coaches, providing access to the best golf courses and international exposure is something that our clubs and golf institutions can address.
Last week, in this column we asked our busy city clubs to provide more “Tee Times for Kids”. While we repeat that request, we also need a system in place at each club to upgrade the skills of our coaches and send more of our top ranked juniors to international tournaments, without the cost being borne entirely by the parents.