Golf body launches development handbook

By HENRY MORABANG
THE Papua New Guinea Golf Association yesterday launched a junior golf development handbook.
It is the first step by the sport to prepare for the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby.
Association president Stan Walker said the last time PNG won golf gold medal was at the 1991 South Pacific Games in Port Moresby.He said unfortunately those players were somewhat older now and the association was looking at repeating the feat in three years with an injection of new blood.
Walker said there were young people taking up the sport.
He said it was costly exercise to fly-in and fly-out overseas coaches to support the development programme so the association opted to use the best available players on the professional and amateur levels to get into coaching the junior programme.
The junior programme targets 5-18 year olds. In the past, the association had engaged Australian Graham Bolton, from Cairns. Botlon’s major task in the junior programme was the trainer-of-trainers course, to train the best players to use the manual to encourage young people to take up the game and train them in all facets of it.Walker said in helping train local trainers to overcome inconsistency, Bolton had produced for the first time in PNG sports, a golf development manual for Papua New Guineans.
The manual will be circulated to all the clubs for nominated trainers to establish their own junior development programme so the same techniques and training aids were used throughout the country.
After spending a few days in Port Moresby, Bolton will travel to Lae and introduce the manual at the Lae Golf Club, where he will conduct the first real session of Train the Trainers.
His sessions there will have representative from Mt Hagen, Madang, Rabaul and Kavieng.