Growth on horizon for golf

There is only one way to guarantee the growth of golf across the globe and that is to make it more accessible. These are the words of Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A), Mark Lawrie, who was in Barbados last week for a quick visit with the Barbados Golf Association President Trevor Tasker as well as Minister of the Creative Economy, Culture and Sports, John King.

Lawrie, who is stationed in Buenos Aires, Argentina after the governing body of the sport opened its Latin America and Caribbean office back in 2014, said that golf was still a relatively small sport when the size of the region and its population were taken into consideration. Noting that there were 700 million persons across Latin America and the Caribbean, Lawrie explained that in comparison, there was a very small golfing population but a great potential to exploit in order to achieve growth in the sport.

During an interview with The Barbados Advocate and speaking specifically to Barbados, Lawrie said that the right circumstances could see major growth here. “Is there a lot to do in a place like Barbados? Certainly. Can a lot be done? Given the right circumstances, the right facilities, there’s a chance of an explosion over the next 10 to 15 years if we do things right. But you have to create the conditions, create the opportunities, and more than anything, create accessibility. There are people that look at golf and think ‘I’d like to try that game’, but they don’t know quite how to do it,” he said.

Calling for a complete overhaul of the sport, Lawrie said that it needed to make prospective players feel more welcome, but that the job fell to the federations across the world. “Golf needs to become user-friendly, it needs to become children-friendly, and this is a personal opinion – it needs to relax certain rules about dress codes and stuff. We have to adapt to the new world scenario, to millennials, to the way they dress, to the way they understand entertainment. If you think of it, what I’m really saying is that golf has to be fun, and if you make golf fun, most of the problems that some people worry about go away,” he said.

Taking the time out to notify the general public that the sport was good for players of all fitness levels and required no special athletic skill, he said that it was so versatile that it could allow a family to spend four hours of quality time together easily. With regards to Barbados, Lawrie said that this country, like other places in the world, had their work cut out for them. “I think the big task ahead of Trevor (Tasker) and his organisation is how do we put people in Barbados – and I’m talking about locals, those are the ones I want in golf – how do we put native Barbadians and give them the option to access golf? How do we create those opportunities? I think that is the challenge. And obviously The R&A as the governing body with the role it has to play in the region has to help them, but it is the job on the ground that’s going to make it happen.”

Having been to Barbados on several occasions, Lawrie said that the island had wonderful golf courses which were comparable to the best in the world and had a leg-up on many other countries as one of its facilities was very accessible to the public. “You do have a huge advantage, in that one of your facilities, which is the Barbados Golf Club, is fairly open and this gives you a little edge in thinking of the future and allowing more people to play golf. Obviously there is an opportunity there to explore, to expand, to improve and to use that facility as stepping stone for development,” he said.

Going on to say that over 60 million people play golf worldwide, Lawrie stated that the industry also offered scholarships and job opportunities and expected that Barbados had what it takes to move forward. “A federation in our eyes does a good job if it grows the game. It’s a slow process, nobody expects you to go from 0 to 100 in no time. It’s a long walk, like golf. All you need to do is not spoil the walk. It’s a good walk,” he said. (MP)