Mitchells Plain Golf Club (MPGC) has announced its first fundraising event for the year: a PRO-AM golf day featuring local sporting heroes, hosted at Erinvale Golf Estate in Somerset West on May 29, 2022.
“We are blessed to have the support of real-life sports heroes Scarra Ntubeni, Vernon Philander, JP Duminy and Herschelle Gibbs - who all hail from the same kind of impoverished communities we are committed to uplifting through golf - lending their selfless support and helping us provide our sponsors, donors and benefactors with a fantastic experience,” said MPGC co-chairman Jehad Kasu.
MPGC was established in 2019 with two core aims. The first is to take golf, a sport that remains dominated by white men and women globally, into communities that are somewhat, if not completely oblivious to its existence.
The second aim is to provide youth with a safe space to escape social ills such as crime, violence and substance abuse, while learning and cultivating a new skill. “We want to demonstrate that communities such as Mitchells Plain don’t have to be perpetually condemned to being the source of hideous headlines or criminal statistics; and that they are just as capable of delivering excellence when the playing field is level,” explains Kasu.
“Being able to identify with one’s childhood heroes is an important subconscious affirmation that helps build one’s self-belief, confidence, and ambition.”
MPGC will be offering event participants some great prizes, value-added gifts and “loads of gees”.
The club has also announced the media partners for the PRO-AM event, which include IOL, SABC Sport and a local radio station.
IOL Editor-in-Chief, Lance Witten said: “At IOL we believe in inclusivity, transformation, and social justice, so we leapt at the opportunity to partner with the MPGC as we share similar values with the club and its leadership.
“It was an easy decision to partner with MPGC, as we had already developed a fruitful relationship with its co-chairman, Jehad Kasu, through his Far From Par series of articles ventilating the challenges and hurdles on the path to transformation of the sport of golf, the attitudes that often hamper the progress of people of colour, and practical solutions to address inequality in the sport and supporting industry.
“IOL aims to build a more inclusive, representative and transformed South Africa, and this partnership echoes those values and is in the spirit of achieving those goals. “So, it just made sense for us to partner with the MPGC for its inaugural Golf Day,” said Witten.
The funds raised will be used toward purchasing much-needed vehicles, since MPGC members are currently transported to practice and tournaments in SAPS vehicles - a less than ideal situation.
An allocation will also go towards purchasing equipment and improving the practice facility in Lentegeur.
“We started a humble programme with less than 10 youth, and now boast a squad of nearly 50 members with a consistent attendance rate of about 60% - 70%,” continues Kasu. “From only hitting balls on an abandoned field every Saturday, our most promising members now get weekly on-course lessons from a PGA coach, sponsored by and provided at Rondebosch Golf Club, while getting to apply their learnings on their pristine venue. The Rondebosch junior development programme is passionately driven by the club’s vice-captain, Raj Lochan.
“Additionally, the team also received simulated instructional training from PGA coach Yusuf Raidhan at YR Golf Performance in Claremont, at no cost to MPGC, as part of his commitment to grow the game.”
Find out more about Mitchells Plain Golf Club here.
You can also follow the club on Instagram @mitchellsplain_golfclub, or contact Jehad Kasu on 072 3654 037 or email: [email protected] for more information about the upcoming Golf Day.