ABEOKUTA-- Bashorun Ladi Adegbite, the newly elected Captain of the Abeokuta Golf Club has bemoan the neglect of the sport by government at all levels, saying that the major sponsors of Golf competitions in the past were the government.
"The involvement of State Government in Golf at the Abeokuta Golf Club is not been as good as it as been once upon a time. Once upon a time, the major sponsor of Golf activities at the club was government.
"We hope that with the help of our friends in government, and a lot of our well wishers, we will be able to get some voice to the government to be able to encourage the sport.
"Sport in children is very important even if we can choose some school in the State to actually come join our workshop. We played the Governors Cup in the past but we haven't done that in recent times, we hope that would be renewed and we will be able to do that this year by God's willing", he added
Speaking further, Adegbite stated that although Golf has been described as an elitist sport, his administration is poised to encourage those interested to take up the sport.
"Golf is an elitist sport. People say so, to a certain degree may be it is and then may be it's not. The best golfers in the world started their carrier in Golf has cardies, that are usually from the humble beginnings, they grow into the game, they get good in the game and they become professional.
"Another way we are going to try and encourage people to come to the game is not only emphasize golfing as sport but their is a tool for exercise, the tool for learning, for listening. People that play golf will be lot more than physical. We need to be able to get that message to poeple and encourage people to come and play this sport.
"Golf recruitment is not cheap, membership is not cheap, the reason why is that we got fewer people play the game, it means everything is expensive, if more people play the game, it could probably more affordable, but like I said earlier, the best golfers in the world are not necessarily rich people, it's easier, when you get older, and you want some kind of game that is not high impact, so you'll attract a certain group of people
"You can have a good game of golf no matter what you do for a living, here the elite play golf, the not so elite play golf, golf is everybody game", he stressed
He however reteraites that his tenure as the Captain of the club is to further raise the bar, which be said, characterized his campaign.
"Raising the bar has basic way of saying let's uplift, let's do things better, let's do things differently, lets make our club more interesting and more attractive to poeple.
"Am hoping that we would be able to reach number one and become the first most preferred destination Golf in the whole of the West African coast. That's my vision that's my dream and I'm ready to start doing that. I often say that one day while am old, I'll drive past and be on the train.
"I have formed like seven committees, committees on projects, internal affairs, course management, IT and Publicity, membership disciplinary. That's another way of ensuring that there is a balance in governance. It's an opportunity to involve non executive members in our administration as advisers. Meanwhile its a call to service for a lot of them. Let everybody takes this club as their responsibility", he added
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