Written in the Hamilton Spec by Garry McKay
E.J. Chuks rears back and with a mighty swing of the club sends the golf ball whizzing across the practice range at Oak Gables Golf Club.
“I like golf because you get to hit the ball as hard as you can,” says the 11-year-old Hamilton resident who is being introduced to the sport for the first time this week as part of a joint initiative by Oak Gables, City Kidz and the Courneya Group.
Ten inner-city kids aged 10 and 11 where chosen from the City Kidz program to take part in the week-long Ross Golf Academy Camp.
It was a new experience for Chuks, who has played soccer, basketball, tennis and even ping pong but has never had the opportunity to chase a little white ball around a golf course.
“I like playing golf but not when it gets this hot,” he noted yesterday as the kids wilted in the oppressive heat.
Stephen Ross, who operates Oak Gables, said they were looking for the right opportunity to get City Kidz involved in a golf program and it all came together when the Courneya Group, an Ancaster based financial services company, offered to get involved.
“We want to give an introduction to golf to kids who might not otherwise get that chance,” said Mark Courneya, a ski racing coach whose father Paul was heavily involved in the Canadian Open in 2003 and 2006 when it was played at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club.
“We both wanted to give something back to the community and you couldn’t find a better place to do it than here and with the Ross family.”
Ross said the players in the program, most of whom have never swung a club before, will learn all aspects of the game through Golf Canada’s Future Links program including grip, stance and swing. Besides hitting balls and putting, they also get the opportunity to go out and play a few holes each day.
Mark Courneya said they’ve had golf clubs donated to them for the young players to use.
They’re hoping to expand the program in the future to possibly include offering some of the City Kidz players the opportunity to some money off the sport by working in the Hamilton G&CC’s caddy program.
Ross said they will analyze how things went at the end of the week.
He’s hopeful that one or more of the players will have shown enough interest and ability in the game to want to continue through the summer.
Click here for the Article in The Spec (includes photo)
City Kidz Summer 2 Remember is sponsored by Canadian Tire; help us providing over 250 day and over night camp opportunities to children in Hamilton.
