By Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - SportJAMAICA'S FIRST truly public golf facility was launched with a handful of lengthy speeches and the like number of songs, from the National Housing Trust (NHT) Chorale, yesterday at its New Kingston venue.
The site, formally named the Cable and Wireless National Golf Academy, features a well-manicured driving range and pitching and putting areas and is expected to be a major step in opening up the game to general public.
Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, Portia Simpson Miller said, would dispell the perception that golf was a game for the "elite".
Simpson Miller also insisted the facility would provide a plethora of avenues for the island to advance itself - particularly through the golf tourism avenue.
"It can only add to our many tourism advantages," Simpson Miller said. "Here in New Kingston, surrounded by hotels ... we can attract locals as well as visitors. It will be a great setting for visiting golfers to meet their Jamaican counterparts," she said.
The academy will not be purely for golfers. There will be programmes in place to educate pro shop attendants, groundsmen, caddies and also assistant professionals.
"It will open up a whole new world of opportunities for participants to be employed locally and internationally. As a former Minister of Labour, I for partiam aware of the demand for experienced greenskeepers and caddies under the H2B programme in the USA," Simpson Miller said.
Golf as a driving force to enhance Jamaica as a tourist destination also was prominent in the Minister's speech.
"Since the 1950s, the sport has played a significant role in tourism. Not only here in Jamaica but also the Caribbean. We certainly have excellent golf courses and our staging of prestigious international championships has enhanced our reputation among golfers."
Although the academy was officially opened last night, it will not be open to the public for a few weeks.
Gordon Hutchinson, the Jamaica Golf Association's president, said seasoned golfers would use the facility at first to assist in ironing out any potential problems.
Also in attendance at the ceremony were the general manager of the Urban Development Corpo-ration (UDC), Marjorie Campbell, Cable and Wireless Jamaica president Gary Barrow, UDC executive chairman Vincent Lawrence and Wykeham McNeill, Minister of State for Industry and Tourism.
