TRYALL, Hanover — Jamaica’s junior golf programme, once among the best in the region, is still trying to rebound from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Allison Reid, junior golf chairperson for the Jamaica Golf Association.

With physical movements basically brought to standstill during the pandemic which began in 2020, a lot of junior players who were still new to the game had moved on. But she said there is a drive to revive the programme across the island.

Prior to the pandemic, Jamaica’s junior programme, she said, had been on an upward trajectory with players being awarded scholarships to United States colleges as well as playing internationally.

“We’ve had a very successful programme. We’ve had — since I have been involved — eight players who have gone on to play college golf. We have children that play in the Jamaica Open, juniors that travel abroad to play in different events and do well. “[But] the children either went away to school, or they played other sports, or they just stopped playing sports altogether,,” Reid, who has held the junior golf chair for the last 13 years, told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

Kevin Cunningham, the director of golf at Half Moon Club in Montego Bay, had taken on the role as national junior coach.

“[He is] committed to being the Jamaican national coach, and he has done something that we’ve never really done before. He is working with the children from now, [preparing them] for next year. He’s not waiting until close to the tournament,” she said.

“Once you start having tournaments and you start having events, the children go to school and they come in and say, ‘I won a trophy at golf’, and then all of a sudden others want to play as well.”

Allison Reid, Jamaica Golf Association’s junior golf chairperson (Photo: Paul Reid)

She said they started with 14 children last year and that number grew to 40 by the end of the year.

“This year we’re looking at about 60 children,” she added.

Reid said most of the children are between the ages of eight and 12 years old.

“But that is where we start, that is how you build, and that’s how you get them into the correct habits and learning the game the right way,” she said.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers had contributed a starter kit, which she said has been introduced in some prep schools.

Additionally, she noted Sandals Foundation’s programme in St Ann, and another such initiative in Manchester.

“COVID kind of broke things and so everybody is on a rebuild now. And I think in another year or so, we’ll have more children competing from all over. So right now in our tournaments, we have children from Ocho Rios and Kingston and Montego Bay that compete in our events,” Reid explained.