KUCHING: Young golfers in the country will have the chance to improve their game with the launching of a high-performance golf academy at Kinrara Golf Club, Selangor, next January.
For a start, the academy will accept 15 golfers between 15 and 21 years old with a handicap of at least five and below.
As the course is not subsidised, each student will have to pay RM3,000 for the six months of training.
“The students will be subjected to vigorous training schedules. They will be playing golf all the time with a report card system,” Professional Golf Malaysia (PGM) chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said yesterday.
“The students will be tested in all aspects of the game such as their driving, their long iron shot, medium iron shot, short iron shot, putting and bunker shots.
“We hope to engage coaches who can impart the skills of course management and golf strategy, and we also hope to enlist the support of the National Sports Institute for sports science.”
Ahmad Sarji said the 15 students would be given access to play in the PGM Tour calendar of events and their performances would form part of their certification assessments after six months training.
“We hope this high performance academy will be the incubator to produce high performance golfers to play in the PGM Tour initially. Hopefully, being young, they can do well and I feel this is the only way to produce a crop of golfers with all the necessary skills and the ability to handle the pressure.”
Ahmad Sarji added that local coaches would be used to train the students and PGM was now advertising for a master coach and assistant coaches as well as for applicants for the course.
“There’s no substitute to systematic training. If you want to develop as high performance golfers, you must subject yourself to proper training under a high performance golf academy, and to exposure to a competitive atmosphere.
“We hope through this high performance golf academy, three-quarters, if not all, of the students will shape up well as professionals.”
Ahmad Sarji also said he would be organising a tri-partite awards presentation ceremony on Dec 23 for PGM, Malaysian Lawn Balls Federation and Malaysian Cricket Association to generate interests in the sports and give recognition to the players who had done well for the year.