Operations / Administrative Director of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Ghana, Alhaji Ahmed Padori says golf is a lifestyle and the best game in the world.
“Golf is unique, because you can even play with your enemy after the draw and later became very good friends, because you get to know each other while walking along the course” he said.
Speaking to Yours Truly during the 10th edition of the Gold Fields PGA tournament at Damang, he noted that everyone who plays golf is special and golf is the only sport that the professional golfers do.
According to him no one plays golf and mixes with football, basketball or tennis, because they put in everything to play and enjoy the game which is unique.
He expressed that golf has its own attractions and regulations, so they have their dressing like special caps, belts, trousers, shoes, tee shirts and language.
He said golf is a sport that also engages and brings players together, so it is a sport that unites and brings peace and love.
“Golf is also medicine because when you play you never get sick and can grow to a mature age” he added.
He appealed to the media to keep on promoting golf, and wished that one day a Ghanaian will become an African or world champion.
Alhaji Ahmed Padori who has been playing golf for the past 37 years recommended the game for young players and urged them to be disciplined and keep on playing because the rewards are enormous.
He said golf shapes the mind, because as you play, you think a lot about where to place the ball and how to enter the hole with minimum handicap.
He expressed that golf is not only about money or the trophies, but the contacts and links that one creates with influential people and the mind set that it moulds.
“You can even keep the trophies for your children and grandchildren to come and see”
He advised the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to allow players of the Black Stars to try golf when they are in camp, suggesting a serene place like Damang and play among themselves.
He revealed that players like Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Ruud Gullit, Steven Gerald, Gareth Bale ; Andriy Shevchenko. Andriy Shevchenko, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and others play golf.
He also tasked the media to organize a tournament and feel the game, as that is how they will know the real benefits and rules of the game, because the professional game is different from the amateurs in terms of scoring.
“I will be very glad to be part of a seminar for the media, and I think this must be done for journalists to understand the game to be able to sell the game” he advised.
He thanked the organisers of the Gold Fields PGA Championship as well as the sponsors.
According to him the tournament has been improving and getting better over the last ten years.
Alhaji Ahmed Padori is a professional golfer based in the United Kingdom. He said golf has taken him to many places in the world, and also won many tournaments.
By Sammy Heywood Okine
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