Growing junior golf in the deep south

By Neville Idour.

After 10 years working hard growing junior golf in Wakatipu, south Otago, through the unique establishment of the Wakatipu Junior Golf Club, Simon Boland took on the role late last year of Golf Southland junior golf co-ordinator.

So now his time will be split between the two areas. He seems to have an unlimited energy to devote to junior golf and the results have been exceptional.

He certainly wasted no time in his Southland role and almost immediately co-ordinated Golf Southland primary school zone tournaments which culminated in a final.

The series of events attracted hundreds of kids which was a huge start in growing junior golf in the area.

As Boland said: “I just want to see youngsters love playing golf while at the same time developing good life skills.

``Good attitudes to work, perseverance and having the right view of sportsmanship are all invaluable in life.”

Boland feels there is much potential to grow the game in Southland because of the support the community gives. The Southland Secondary School Championships attracted 100 players and a junior summer series he set up was also well supported.

An evidence of Boland’s outstanding support of junior golf is my seeing him at the various events in recent months in Dunedin looking after his teams of Wakatipu Juniors at each tournament, something the youngsters hugely appreciate.

Boland is himself a more than useful golfer having been a member of the Southland Masters team for the last five years. — By Neville Idour.