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TuksGolf want to cultivate champions
TuksGolf want to cultivate champions who will be able to take on the rest of the world's best players with confidence.
If there is one thing that Llewellyn van Leeuwen (technical director and head coach at TuksGolf) and Emile Steinmann (senior coach at TuksGolf) do not like to hear, it is South African golfers singing the praises of their rivals during tournaments.
They want things the other way round. South African golfers should be the ones who play shots that leave their rivals gaping with admiration, they say.
According to Van Leeuwen, who has accompanied the South African golf teams as coach during the past few years, the golfing skills of our national players are no longer on par with other international players.
“The reason for this is that in other countries, young players are exposed to holistic coaching from a young age. This means that apart from good coaching, they also have access to sport scientists, dieticians, biokineticists and psychologists.
We would love to identify promising young players between 10 and 12 and coach them. Our main challenge will be to ensure that the players master all the basic techniques of golf by 16.
” TuksGolf is inviting parents of talented youngsters to contact them. It stands to reason that we will not be able to help everybody, though, there will have to be a selection process,” he said.
Johan Steyn, head of TuksGolf Academy, advises youngsters to work at developing their talent. Among the success stories are Zander Lombard, who finished in second place at the British Amateur Championships. It was only the third time that a South African player managed to reach the final in one of the most prestigious amateur tournaments in the world. It is also interesting to note that 12 of the players who have been coached by Van Leeuwen during the past few years were ranked number one in their respective age groups.
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