THE Guyana Golf Association (GGA) continues its quest to ensure local students are exposed to the sport, with efforts to ensure that adults are also focussed on heavily during this developmental period. Among those areas of importance, some of which are crucial but are not limited, is making the game itself smaller by playing on shorter courses. This will allow an easier pathway to the sport and much quicker to play, whilst removing the high membership fees and improving access.
For many years the demand for bigger areas of land for longer courses with tee boxes stretching back to nearly 7 600 yards became the fashion despite the fact that, for the vast majority of people who swing a club, playing a course anywhere near that length is a lot closer to torture than enjoyment.
But now the tide may be changing. The recent release of the GGA 2020 report has been viewed as the first real step by the game’s main governing body to rein in distance and make the sport more sustainable. However, more can always be done and with the boom golf enjoyed during 2020, now may well be the time to capitalise by opening up more avenues into the sport, particularly for children and families alike. This is already something that the GGA has made moves on earlier this year, when the governing body announced plans to build a community golf facility in Crane/Vreed-en-Hoop on the West Coast of Demerara.

According to the GGA, the project “aims to redevelop several acres of unused rice lands to create a family-focussed venue that provides access to a uniquely designed course with challenging greens that will be floodlit for visitors to enjoy a wide range of golf activities, including shorter forms of the sport especially in the evening when it’s much cooler.” GGA president Aleem Hussain made it clear that facilities such as the one proposed in West Demerara (one of five nationwide) are very much aimed at making golf more accessible and are an example of the governing body acting on the overused “grow the game” phrase in a proactive manner.
In this case, smaller really is better – the sport immediately becomes more accessible to the masses, the GGA provides the clubs needed to play the course, the shorter distances allow children and beginners to be introduced to the game at a scale which suits them, and the maintenance of the course is far less expensive.
As a result, the overall goal, given the plans to develop more mini golf courses across the country, is geared towards making the sport more accessible and more sustainable for students and adults of all ages.