Moulding Jozi’s future golf champs
14 January 2016
Enoch Dineka will not forget Wednesday January 13 in a hurry.
This is the day when the 18-year-old Grade 11 Alexandra golf enthusiast was, courtesy of the City of Johannesburg, shown the finer points of the game by US-based professional golfer John Hahn during a golf development clinic at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club in Linksfield North.
Dineka was one of 50 learners from Alexandra High School who received guidance and tips from some of the local and international golfers taking part in the 10th edition of the prestigious Joburg Open being hosted by the City.
Dineka, who started learning how to play golf at the age of 12, could not hide his elation as Hahn took him through the paces on Wednesday.
“John was very patient with me. He even autographed a golf ball for me. I’ll be the envy of my classmates tomorrow,” he said.
Also in the group was 15-year-old Monica Mahlangu, who dreams of turning professional and becoming a megastar one day.
“I love the sport. It’s not violent like most sports and I want to represent South Africa one day and make a living from it,” she said.
The young golfers’ coach, former professional Obed Matlou, said his biggest wish was to see an Ernie Els or Tiger Woods emerging from Alexandra.
“Besides teaching these kids about the rules of the game, I also warn them not to be big-headed. I’ve rough diamonds and I know that soon one of them will hit the fairways in a big way,” said Matlou.
Bongi Mokaba, the City of Johannesburg’s Director of Events, said the City was planning to inject more resources into the development of golf in disadvantaged communities. She encouraged the youth to use the development clinic to learn as much as possible.
“We’ve been staging the development clinic for the past nine years. We need to ensure that these young learners someday turn out to be professional golfers themselves. For some it might be too late but there are other career opportunities they can tap into in professional golf,” she said.
There were shrieks of joy when Mokaba handed over 10 new golf club sets to Matlou, with the promise of more goodies to come in the future.