‘Concern’ over locals being able to access golf courses

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The lack of accessibility to facilities has displaced the local golf community in recent years and the issue took centre stage as the Bahamas Golf Federation hosted an executive from the sport’s governing body worldwide.

Mark Lawrie, R & A Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, met with BGF executives and local stakeholders to address several issues with regards to the sport’s development.

He noted the Bahamas as one of the island nations in the region that have been recognised for its struggles with accessibility to facilities. “The perception that golf is only high end is actually a disfavour to the sport. I think the first question that comes to mind in our perception is accessibility and I have used the Bahamas over some years when I talk about my concern of locals being able to access golf courses.

“You are in an area where resort golf is something that has obviously developed exponentially over the years, so access to golf is something that needs immediate attention if you want to keep the game alive in the long run for Bahamians. Tourists can play their golf whenever they want,” he said.

“When we talk about this region we often use the Bahamas as an example of how disassociated golf is from the locals. In my mind, if I had been the government, I would have sanctioned these resorts to bill a percentage to go into developing golf from what you make and an amount of tee times would have to be allocated to juniors. If there was a proposal to that effect and nobody has heard you then that needs to change.”

Lawrie was executive director of the Argentine Golf Association for more than a decade and played a very important role, not only for the AAG but also for the entire region. He is recognised as one of the most influential golf administrators in Latin America and is a well-known figure among the national associations and golfing bodies throughout the region. In 2014 he was appointed as the R&A’s Director for Latin America and the Caribbean and has been able to build on his work serving the game since then.

The growth of the Latin America Amateur Championship, in particular, has provided a platform for the top players to shine and offers a huge incentive for other young players to follow in their footsteps in the years to come.

“I was here two years ago, I went to see the public facility (The Baillou Hills Complex Driving range) and I thought ‘this is a fantastic opportunity’ but for these facilities to go a step further, you definitely need to have different actors coming together, it’s not a one-man show. I think the concept of the driving range and a small course is great and it’s what you need to start someone in the game of golf but if you are going to create a public facility it needs to be sustainable.

“It can be from direct involvement from the government, a sum of different alternatives but at the very least you need to have a government that is willing to give you concessions for a period of time to allow you to invest.

“It’s very difficult to expect anyone to help out, I include the R & A, if there is not a rise in terms of how long the public facility will be available. Can someone come in tomorrow and take it away from you? If the answer is yes, the chances of people getting involved are extremely limited. This particular facility was engineered in terms of trying to create opportunities for juniors, which ties into what I said earlier which is juniors accessing proper facilities, proper golf courses. So if you don’t create opportunities it is very unlikely people will become more involved at all.”

The R & A regulates and sustains the development of golf in Latin America and the Caribbean. The St Andrews-based governing body was formed the in 2004 by The Royal And Ancient Golf Club which was itself founded in 1754. The R&A works with 156 national affiliated associations serving 30 million golfers in 143 countries and operates in three key areas: Governance, Championships and Development. The R&A administers the Rules of Golf, the Rules of Amateur Status and Equipment Standards throughout the world, apart from the US and Mexico which are in the USGA’s jurisdiction.

The R&A reinvests the revenues generated by the commercial success of The Open in developing the sport and supports its affiliated national associations in delivering initiatives to help increase participation, often in emerging golf countries, and promote sustainable management.

That can include supporting the development of accessible and affordable public golf facilities such as those at Japeri in Brazil and San Bartolo in Peru. “When the R & A looks at giving grants, our first question is ‘Is it sustainable? Is it here today and will be here 10 years from now?’ What the Bahamas can put together I’m sure the R & A will be willing to support. We will help junior programmes that bring kids into the game, we are very keen to see more women integrated into the game. We come in at the two ends of the sport, the grassroots and at the top. Hopefully federations and clubs are doing the delivery in between, but all of them working in relative unison to grow the game,” he said, “There is a lack of communication between federation and governments and maybe you need to continue to pursue the objective of changing it, to ensure this dialogue is better than it is.”

When the Baha Mar project gained control of the former Cable Beach Golf Course, it left leaving local players and the BGF with few options and no legitimate home for local golf in the country. “The government should have come in and issued one caveat to these resorts - ‘We are going to give you all these tax benefits, you are going to create all this employment, its all great and fine but there is one caveat - your golf club creates an opportunity for access.’ That should have existed and it seems like that opportunity was missed.,” Lawrie said, “Social responsibility from the resorts is what should have been there from the beginning. If you are going to come in, rake money in because you have this fabulous property on our islands, you need to give back. And it’s not just creating jobs you need give back to the sport that generates parts of your income and I think a huge opportunity was missed there. But still the consciousness and social responsibility of a corporation is not something I would give up on.”

Former BGF President Craig Flowers said after exhausting all options, meeting with local resorts like the Atlantis and Albany seeking course access yielded no results, the idea for the driving range was born out of necessity.

“I took personal interest in meeting and speaking with various entities to bring it to their attention about the lack of access. Paradise Island was the home base where the junior programme was created under Fred Higgs. After it was renovated and went into resort mode, 99 percent of our members could not afford to go into the gates,” he said, “We understand the business market that is required but to completely ignore all presence local play on the properties which you are building is disrespect. Access to these properties has been like getting through a stone wall.”

The support and maintenance of the driving range is also something that the BGF noted has been neglected by their counterparts. “We brought the heads of all the major properties in Nassau together as we were developing the driving range. They checked the facilities, the grassroots and said everything was great. Paradise Island was supposed to put together a business plan to encompass all of the necessary needs for the way forward for the government to look at. Lyford Cay was supposed to provide us with equipment, Baha Mar was supposed to give us the maintenance going forward, Albany was supposed to inject the necessary funds to buy the new equipment, everyone was on board,” Flowers said, “I came and I was amazed and they all agreed that this was the way forward. We left there and we were supposed to have a meeting 30 days later to follow up. It’s been over 3000 days and still, nothing has come to fruition.”

Flowers, took on the responsibility of extending the driving range at the complex into three hole course to assist in providing an alternative site for local golfers, particularly the junior players, to further improve their skills in the game.

“All of these private properties around the Bahamas that want the exclusivity in the resort, why don’t they build a little course for us someplace that is maintained and we will go away. We won’t even come to your properties, we will just have someplace we will have access to where we can play and not be shut down. All of the other alternatives have added to naught,” he said, “That is why I took it upon myself when the land was issued to us to say we can find something to do on our own. We don’t need these foreigners involved. No matter how small it was at the time it was all Bahamian. We had been pushed around so much and been so annoyed that I had decided to do it on my own.”

The Bahamas Golf Federation is set to host the 2019 Caribbean Association Junior Golf Championships July 22nd - 27th at the Albany Golf Course. Locally, they will host the 2019 BGF National Amateur Golf Championships sponsored by Royal Fidelity Bahamas May 23-26 a the Lyford Cay, Albany, Royal Blue and Ocean Club Golf Courses.

“I understand the frustration, but if there’s one thing you cannot do is give up,” Lawrie said, “There has to be ways around the issue, there has to be a door. Eventually, there has to be someone in the public service that sees the value of it. It can’t be that everyone is blind to the problem.”