For the second year in a row, the Fourteen Clubs Golf Academy is looking to make an impact in the local community, beginning at the primary school level.
Club director Georgette Rolle said Wednesday, that the club is going back into the public primary schools with the hope of broadening their horizons, while teaching them the fundamentals of the sport.
Currently there are three schools involved with the after-school program including Eva Hilton, TG Glover and Palmdale Primary schools.
“In our first years, we had about 60 kids enrolled in a year-long program, however, we quickly realized that they all were from private schools,” Rolle said.
“Through our nonprofit junior golf camps, we saw the talent from a lot of kids in public schools and saw it as a great opportunity to find some diamonds in the rough. When we get to see these kids blossom, it’s what makes us want to dive in and continue with this program.
“What we do is go in for 10 weeks, and we teach golf during the physical education classes. We see about two to three kids that are developing quickly, pull them out and put them in our program on a scholarship. And that’s the start of our feeder system.
“The other kids are also welcomed to come and join the program, and we will try and figure out a way to help them be a part of the program for free. We want to show them you don’t need to have a lot of money to play golf, because I sure didn’t.”
According to Rolle, the kids enrolled in the program practice at all four local golf courses for free, which has allowed them to blossom socially as well.
“You would see the kids that may be less fortunate be a bit more tentative when we are around the courses,” she said.
“Fruit and water, which is complimentary, they would hesitate or ask to have some when other kids would just grab it. So little things like that we help them with. Just to be more comfortable in certain settings. It is more than just golf, we want the kids in the program to know that we are behind them every step of the way.”
Rolle’s program includes complimentary sessions, golf review/practice, knowledge of the courses, scoring, long and short game.
The academy works directly with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in this initiative.
