Making golf more accessible to youth
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Golf Association (MGA) is making golf more accessible and friendly to the youths of today to ensure the continuity of the sport.
MGA president Tan Sri Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor and its honorary treasurer, Bryan Perera, said the association’s new project, the GoGolf programme, would help address this issue.
“There are about 2.1 million people from the younger segment who have expressed interest in golf, but were unable to find a suitable platform to get a head start in the sport,” said Anwar in an interview with NST Business.
“This is why we decided that it was high time we launched this programme to make the sport more accessible to the masses.
“It would also fulfil Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s mandate to promote golf not merely as an exclusive sport.”
The GoGolf programme is open to professionals, amateurs and beginners. Members will be entitled to special privileges at 129 golf clubs nationwide.
A GoGolf membership will also include instant provisional handicap status for non-National Handicapping System (NHS) golfers, letting them play at more than 100 golf courses.
Members are also entitled to online and mobile application golf bookings, participation in inter-club championships, loyalty reward programmes, discounts on professional golf lessons and access to member clubs facilities.
According to Perera, 70 golf clubs had confirmed their participation in this initiative.
“The dream is to have all the clubs join (the programme), but we understand that it will take a while.
“We believe that once those clubs who haven’t joined see the success of the 70 that did, they, too, will join,” he said.
Anwar said this new initiative was for the benefit of the youth of the country.
“Though MGA has worked diligently to maintain the integrity and legacy of the game, we are well aware that we need to change with the times, and this is why the GoGolf Programme is here,” he said.
“In developing GoGolf, we will have a platform that makes golf more accessible to Malaysian youth.
“We will also continuously communicate with them through social media and other platforms that they are familiar with.”
The GoGolf Programme, which was officially launched last month, had also enlisted Zurich Insurance Malaysia Bhd, Finexus Group and Bank Simpanan Nasional as its official partners, with several more partnerships still in discussion.