Efforts by Junior Golf Foundation Kenya (JGF) has received a boost after batch of 24,000 golf balls were donated by DP World.
The golf balls received are part of the DP World ‘second life’ container initiative that has been on a journey mission to collect used and unwanted golf balls to give back to grassroots golf and grow the game.
The professional tour balls kindly donated to JGF have come from the European Tour group’s Challenge Tour, who wanted to support the DP World initiative with a substantial donation of balls following an event in the UK. The golf balls, delivered through DP World’s logistics network, will go a long way in improving and supporting the standards of Junior Golf in Kenya.
They are being distributed to 30 golf clubs across the country to help in nurturing talent in Kenyan juniors starting from the age of 5 years old. JGF already has 47 coaches countrywide to teach juniors on how to play the sport and has also distributed golf club sets to clubs around the country as training tools for the juniors to learn the game.
Danny van Otterdijk, Chief Communications Office at DP World said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Junior Golf Foundation in Kenya and other countries who have an interest in growing and popularizing the sport of golf from the grassroots all the way up to the professional level. This is just the beginning and we are proud that the second life container initiative is having an impact on communities around the world in our ambition to grow the game. A huge thanks to those at the Challenge Tour for supporting a project that will benefit thousands of junior golfers in Kenya.”
Maria Grandinetti-Milton, Head of Sustainability at the European Tour group, said: “We have been supporting the DP World second life container initiative for nearly two years now across the European Tour group’s various Tours, and this latest donation from the Challenge Tour will have a real impact in supporting young talent across Kenya. We want to make this great game more accessible, and the DP World programme is making great strides in doing just that across multiple continents. We already have a DP World Tour tournament in Kenya and this major donation could be a catalyst for helping more young Kenyan players tee it up in the professional ranks one day.”
On his part Hon. Ababu Namwamba, Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports said, “This is part of the Government’s implementation of the bottom up policy. This donation will help in transforming Kenya into one of the powerhouses of Sport in the World. We currently have Michael Karanga ranked 83rd amateur in the World and such initiatives from our partners like the DP World and the European Tourwill help us have more Karanga’s in Kenya and take the continent and the World by storm. I am happy to note that these are some of the things that we agreed on with the CEO of the PGA European Tour Keith Pelley sometime in mid November last year in Dubai during the DP World Tour Championship and we can see the results. Thank You very much for supporting Kenya and we look forward to many more interactions and partnerships towards growing golf in Kenya. I would also like to congratulate the four ladies who represented Kenya during the just concluded EACAAT championship in Kigali, Rwanda finishing 2nd overall. Important to note that out of the 4, two of them Namely Ashley Awuor and Bianca Ngecu are both Juniors and are already representing our country at that level. We are for sure in the right path and we encourage more partners like what NCBA Bank are doing with our juniors to onboard and see these over 180 juniors here today from as young as 5 years old fly the National flag high and even make a living out of it as professionals in the near future. Very well done Regina and your team from Junior Golf Foundation”
On her part the Junior Golf Foundation President, Regina Gachora expressed her joy and appreciation for this kind gesture. “These balls complete our junior training program full circle as now children will have access to golf balls, golf kits and well trained coaches to grow the Sport. We will be implementing a program where we give balls to the golf clubs in exchange for giving free range balls to our juniors to play with at the range. At the moment our Junior Golf Members can access the range for $1. The largest expense is paying for golf balls at the range. With the exchange program where we give balls to the golf clubs for their use in exchange for free, range balls for our juniors will allow golf to be more accessible and inclusive to our juniors. We will also distribute the balls during our junior golf tournaments which will be highly appreciated by our junior players.”
Over the course of the 2022 & 2023 DP World Tour season, DP World’s container has now collected over 230,000 golf balls, redistributing them and giving them a second life in grassroots golf. Most recently the container visited The Ryder Cup in Rome ahead of its final stop of the 2023 season at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
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