Most of us in Asia have heard or read about initiatives to grow the game of golf. The thrust is perhaps most aggressive in the Western hemisphere where golfing bodies have embarked on ambitious drives with programmes monikered under labels like Golf 20/20, Get Golf Ready and Golf 2.0.
We also accept the fact that golf is a global game and therefore, the challenges are the same although it may vary in degree from region to region.
The issue at stake though concerns growing the game of golf and in Asia, given the absence of any real regional body that governs over the direction of the game’s future, the time is right to start doing something meaningful that can play out over an Asia-wide platform.
The 2012 Asia Pacific Golf Summit will lead the thrust to get a serious movement in place and it is simply called ‘INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF GOLF’.
It is simple enough for all to understand and this is how we hope to see it play out.
There are three critical areas which need to be addressed and it is more of a building blocks concept than anything else.
The building blocks are:
Introduction of golf in schools’ sports curriculums.
Developing sustainable junior golf development programmes that reach out to a wide audience.
Getting certified golf coaches and properly structured golf academies.
The Summit will witness three of the best professionals in the business articulate their case on how Asia can take charge of its own destiny to help grow the game. The professionals are:
Terrence Anton – co-Founder and President of SNAG Golf – the man who single-handedly started a global movement to have golf taught at schools.
Tony Meechai – President of Tony Meechai Golf Academy – a Thai-American PGA professional who is spear-heading golf programmes for juniors in Asia.
Brian Mogg – President, Brian Mogg Performance Centre – recognised as amongst the best in the business and the coach who delivered Asia’s first Majors winner – Y.E. Yang.
Collectively, these three top-ranked international experts will work on a programme that will provide Asia with a roadmap to grow the game of golf. These are men who don’t pull their punches. They speak their minds and deliver results. Here’s a sample of Anton’s stand on growing the game:
“Globally, golf has been contracting the last few years with no end in sight. Golf is at a critical juncture where actions have to be taken to ensure growth and retention of new players. Golf organizations cannot continue with the same ineffective programming that neither attracts nor retains new players. Albert Einstein once said; ” Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is a sign of insanity”. The insanity has to stop!
INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF GOLF is going to be a great debate – provocative and transparent. But the mission is a simple one – to cut through the bureaucracy and come up with a template that is easy to implement Asia-wide and one that is both sustainable and results oriented.
Come listen to the big debate at the 2012 Asia Pacific Golf Summit. Registration is now open and you can reserve your seat on by clicking here.
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