Get Ready For A Cracking Season

There is no doubt that the 2007-08 men’s amateur season will be the most competitive and exciting in the history of UAE amateur golf.

The standard played last season on the UGA men’s order of merit was of an exceptionally high standard and was epitomised by the way the amateur team took the professionals to the cleaners in the season-ending Dubai Golf Trophy.

As a losing team member, it is fantastic to see how the amateur game here has developed over the past 10 years.

When I look back to my earlier days in Dubai, there were fewer people and with that there were a lot less really low handicap (two or less) golfers, but aside from talking quantity, what is much more noticeable is the dramatically different demographic of golfer, in respect to age.

Bright future

It is our juniors who are the future and that is where our collective focus needs to lie for the development of the game here.

There are key elements that will make it happen and they need to be recognised in order to sustain this growth.

The UAE Golf Association (UGA) has done a tremendous job in developing youngsters, and with the assistance of the UAE PGA the opportunity to establish home-grown tournament players is now a very real prospect.

Father figures 

Aside from structure, playing opportunities and tuition there is another essential key element to aid this development process – and this hit home with me during the Dubai Golf Trophy – the role of the more experienced players that make up the UGA order of merit and active memberships of the clubs.

The Dubai Golf Trophy is “the event” of the year for both professionals and amateurs, and it was extremely noticeable how the experienced players took the youngsters under their wing and in a way fathered them through the pressure matches by offering support, advice and encouragement.

This is an essential element to the overall success of producing the next generation of tour pros from home-grown talent.

This kind of support is just one example of something that happens day-in, day-out, at each club, but no doubt goes unnoticed by many.

The UAE golf community and in particular the tournament players have to be given credit for the support and dedication they offer the younger players, no matter what standard.

Highly competitive 

The strength in depth of the amateur scene will be seen this season when Matthew Turner attempts to win his third Order of Merit in a row – a feat never before achieved.

Close on his heels will be the young and talented Joel Neale, Khalid Yousuf, Sean Thornberry and Eric Hesson.

The father figures to out-and-out competitors – Alex Charawani, Dave Wall, John Mills, Mukhtar Mirza, Steve Kelly and the Varkey brothers, Dino and Jay, to name but a few – will aim to show experience counts for everything.

The first event of the new season is at Sharjah Wand-erers Golf Club on November 2-3. The competition will be fierce, but who will win? An amateur or a pro? Watch this space.

I’m off to the range for some much-needed practice.