How Rhino golf club empowers kids, stimulates peace in Plateau
Located in Lukuba Barracks of the 3 Army Division along Miango Road in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, the Rhino Golf Club has not only contributed to sports development, but has also empowered kids in several ways and has contributed to boosting peace in the state.
As a club owned and situated in the military formation, its activities has also boosted military-civilian relationships, ethno-religious socialization and sociocultural understanding.
This has tremendously helped in tackling the ethnoreligious crises occurring regularly in Plateau State and it has the capacity to do more in this regard. The reason is because the club members are made up of male and female, military and civilian alike, Christians and Muslims and a combination of different tribes and tongues. They come together regularly to play games, socialize and interact among themselves.
With respect to empowering kids, Rhino golf Club and its golfers have been children friendly. The children living in the neighbourhood of the club have been interacting with the club in many beneficial ways. They come around to carry the golfers’ kits while playing and they earn between N1, 500 N3, 000 each time.
Those children (referred to as caddies in golf) have also been learning how to play golf and the club regularly organize some form of contests form them and cash prizes and other gift items are won. Again, some of the children come around to sell things like soft drinks, sugar cane, groundnut, pastries, among other petty items. The club also takes care of the education of some of the kids.
Meanwhile, Rhino Golf Club comes more alive during tournaments. It’s just concluded tournament had about 150 amateur golfers from all over the country to participate in the 2017 edition of the club’s open championship.
The competition which was its fourth edition included both male and female golfers while the prizes cut across various categories. The prizes are for the Best Net, Best Gross 2nd place net and 3rd place net, while the categories are from 1-3 as well as the veterans and ladies.
At the tee off ceremony, the Captain of the Club, Major General Oluwaseun Oshinowo (rtd), said the competition structure is that which the players will play four in a team, called four balls, but that their scores will be individually submitted and recorded.
He said category one included those playing from handicap 0 to handicap 9, category two is handicap 1019, handicap three is 20-28, the female handicap 1-36 and the veterans handicap 1-28.
According to Oshinowo, the essence of the competition is for the golfers to come and play and improve their skills so that they could become professionals, adding that it also brings together golfers from across the country to get together and know each other and as well improve the club.
He commended the Plateau State Governor, Solomon Lalong, for being a golfer himself and as well supporting the sport and that his efforts have tremendously improved the sports in the state as well as the country at large.
Regarding the empowerment of the kids, the club captain said the club has been trying to impact in them in meaningful ways so that they will not just be carrying golfers’ bags alone and getting paid.
He said they have trained most of the caddies to play golf and that they would become better golfers than most of them, adding that Colonel Mosubu (rtd) organized a porting contest for the kids at the tournament where each one who ports the ball gets N1000.
He noted that some of the children are on scholarship in their schools and the club takes care of their schooling and nurture them to become gentlemen because golf is a gentleman’s game.
In his remarks, the Director of Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria, Samson Lawal, said Rhino Golf Club was established in 1992 and that it has seriously contributed to uplifting the state in many ways as well as enhancing peaceful coexistence.
The Lady Captain of the club, Celina Solomon Ringsum, said the club unites people both in Plateau State and Nigeria at large, and that the 24 female golfers who participated in the tournament came from both the northern and southern parts of the country.