Ghana

 GGA organises seminar for sports journalist

The Ghana Golf Associa­tion (GGA) in collaboration with its governing body R&A on Friday held a one-day workshop for sports journalists to keep them abreast with the new rules of the game and to collaborate to give the sport more attention.

Held at the Bok Nam Kim Golf Club in Burma Camp last Friday, the workshop which was divided into two sessions, brought together media practitioners from the print, electronic (radio and tele­vision) as well as the wire service.

In the first session, the pres­ident of GGA Leonard Kwaku Okyere with Honorary Secre­tary Solomon Allotey, Honorary Treasurer Rodney Oddoye, and the captain of Bok Nam Kim Golf Club, Col. John A. Okai (Rtd.) took participants on a practical exercise around the course to understand the structure and topology of the course and what it means at every stage of the course.

All participants were allowed to experience the range, learn the basics of golf, be introduced to the type of clubs used at every stage of the sport, how to grip the golf club, and pre-shot routine, and have an opportunity to try some strokes on the fairway.

In the second, the media was taken through the terminologies of the game,

understand the terminologies so that they can speak the language of the sport, reporting, the perspec­tive of a golfer to the journalist, what the journalist should cover, and how they should go about the coverage on and off the course.

Addressing the media after the sessions, Mr. Okyere, expressed gratitude to the participants for availing themselves of the knowl­edge-sharing process, which he believed would go a long way to shape their reportage while helping their readers and viewers to better understand the sport.

He debunked the notion that golf is a sport reserved for the rich in society.

“Golf can be played by anyone and everyone just like any other sport, and it is not as expen­sive as perceived out there.”

He implored members of the media to join the various golf clubs around to widen the scope of their work in terms of golf reporting.

In a chat with Times Sport Mr. Allotey, stated that reportage on the sport was quite low, so the interaction was to get the media to understand the game, introduce them to it, and get them on board. BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY