The growth of golf in new and, sometimes, unexpected regions is spreading ever wider thanks to The R&A and The PGAs of Europe working in partnership to help them lay down sound educational foundations.
Among the new countries currently on the agenda for visits under the Golf Development Programme are Jordan, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh and Slovakia, while Israel and Uruguay are scheduled for further visits.
The fact that such a culturally and politically diverse set of nations from three different continents can be supported under the same umbrella scheme must speak volumes for the escalating attractions of golf as a community benefit.
The number of countries to have been aided in this manner by revenue surpluses from the staging of The Open Championship, now approaches 30 with more in the longer term pipeline.
Both Israel and Uruguay have already begun the process in varying degrees but Jordan, Bangladesh and Slovakia are newcomers.
Trinidad and Tobago have been visited by Tony Bennett, The PGAs of Europe director of education, while Association director, John Little has been to Bangladesh to initiate a programme there.
Tony Bennett has recently been at St Andrews for meetings with The R&A to discuss the fine details of the scheme and to ensure that it continues satisfactorily. As outlined in the recent 18-year history of The PGAs of Europe, entitled Coming of Age, the Golf Development programme has become one of sport’s most successful enterprises in terms of spreading best practices on global scale.
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