Established in 2012 and held annually, with a brief hiatus owing to the Covid pandemic, the competition has become a much-anticipated fixture on the South African inter-schools golfing calendar.
The mind-addling thrill of chasing a little white ball around 18 holes set out over acres of manicured parkland – whilst not universally understood – is regarded as being the greatest sporting challenge around.
Golf is a lifelong sport. It levels the playing field and is the great equaliser, allowing the very young and the very old, the novice and the professional, to compete side by side. As the respected Bobby Jones once poignantly remarked:
“Golf is the closest game to the game we call Life. You get bad breaks from good shots, you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies.”
The fairways and greens of the golf course are the classroom of Life. Golf is a sport that teaches boys and girls skills that will encourage them to grow into true young ladies and gentlemen. A game in which honesty and integrity are foundational principles in achieving success and where accepting the bad breaks allows you to appreciate the good breaks when they come. And, if that were not enough, the game of golf creates and fosters friendships that can last a lifetime.
Schools play a pivotal role in the introduction of youngsters to the game of golf and to the development and support of our future South African champions.
Joe Kruger, Joshua Cunliffe, Matthew Carvell, Kyle McClatchie and Jared Harvey – to mention only a few – are true ambassadors of school golf. Having all represented their schools at the highest level in the sport they have gone on to become highly successful professionals in their own right.
The Junior Foundations and Provincial Golfing bodies, too, are of enormous importance to the growth of golf as a sport in South Africa.
It is this combined responsibility between schools and golfing bodies that will ensure the continued longevity and success of the sport in South Africa, and the ongoing stream of world-class Amateurs and Professionals that represent our country on the National and International stages.
