Congratulations on your election as the new Captain of Abeokuta Golf Club (AGC).
Ques: What are your plan for the Golf Club?
Ans: I have formed like seven committees, Committees on projects, Internal Affairs, Course Management, IT and Publicity, Membership Disciplinary, that’s another way of ensuring that their is a balance in governance. It is an opportunity to involve non executive members in our administration as advisers. Meanwhile its a call to service for a lot of them. Let everybody takes this club as their responsibility.
Another side on golf which we hope that we are going to improve on is that we are going to be encouraging what we call a corporate challenge, we would have local companies that actually have teams that would play for cups, it’s a way of getting them to be aware of Golf, and to be part of it so the winner get the cup. And it gets some space in the course to be able to advertise wears, that’s works a little bit, so hopefully we will do that this year
Ques: Golf has been described as an elitist Sport. How would you encourage people ( particularly the young ones) to take up the Sport?
Ans: Golf is an Elitist sports, yes many people say so, to a certain degree, may be it is and then may be it’s not. We have all kinds of sports played by different groups of people, but if you know what Golf is about, you the probably change your mindset.
The best golfers in the world started their carrier in Golf has cardies, that are usually from the humble beginnings, they grow into the game, they get good on the game and they become professional.
Another way we are going to try and encourage people to come to the game is not only emphasis golfing as sport but their is a tool for exercise, the tool for learning, for listening. People that play golf will be lot more than physical. We need to be able to get that message to the people and encourage people to come and play this sport.
Golf recruitment is not cheap, membership is not cheap, the reason why is that we got fewer people play the game, it means everything is expensive, if more people play the game, it could probably more affordable, but like I said earlier, the best golfers in the world are not necessarily rich people, it’s easier, when you get older, and you want some kind of game that is not high impact, so you’ll attract a certain group of people
You can have a good game of golf no matter what you do for a living, here the elite play golf, the not so elite play golf, golf is everybody game.
Ques: There has been plans to expand the Abeokuta Golf Course in time past, what are your plans to differently up the game in this regards?
Ans: Am not sure we have immediate plan in extending the Golf course because it’s not exactly necessary, we have some work that we have to do on the course. Reticulation like I said before is very important. Reticulation is the irrigation and ensuring that there’s water through out the course to be able to make the greens and fairways work better.
We have the road construction which is going in one side of the course which seems to have taken small part of the course, we may need to do some construction over there just to make sure the course is playable. But the major thing that we need to do is the completion of the fencing of the post in other to make it safer to contain the area in reducing the risk of encroachment, all of this we will do our best part. A lot of this is dependent on funding.
Ques: What’s your call to the state government in making Golf as part of developmental sport in Schools also making it attractive to more people in general ?
Ans: The involvement of the State Government in Golf at the Abeokuta Golf Club is not been as good as it as been once upon a time. Once upon a time, the major sponsor of Golf activities at the club was government . We hope that with the help of our friends in government, and a lot of our well wishers we will be able to get some voice to the government to be able to encourage sport.
Sport in children is very important even if we can choose some school in the State to actually come join our workshop. We played the Governors Cup in the past but we haven’t done that in recent times , we hope that would be renewed and we will be able to do that this year by God’s willing.
Ques: Your campaign theme was “raising the bar or to raise the bar”, what are significant plans to ensure you truly raise the bar working with your new executives and members as a whole?
Ans: Raising the bar has basic way of saying let’s uplift, let’s do things better, let’s do things differently, lets make our club more interesting and more attractive to poeple. Am hoping that we would be able to reach number one and become the first most preferred destination Golf in the whole of the West African coast. That is my vision, that’s my dream and I’m ready to start doing that. I often say that one day while am old, I’ll drive past and be on the train.
Ques: What is ( are ) your best wish (es) for Abeokuta Golf Club?
Ans: My wish and desire for Abeokuta Golf Club is to be first class golf destination on the West African coast. I want it to be a place where people will come far and wide, to see and to play and to have a good time
