Star Ian Poulter gives golf tips to 150 Hong Kong youngsters
The former Hong Kong Open winner put some kids through their paces at Tuen Mun Golf Centre
Ian Poulter’s 2.28 million Twitter followers are well aware of the talent being shown by the 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open winner’s 12-year-old son Luke.
Poulter takes great delight – and pride – in tracking his lad’s development on social media and knows first-hand how important it is for young players to get the right advice, early on.
The Englishman was quick to volunteer his own talents this week to the UBS Hong Kong Open community outreach programme which put more than 150 kids aged between eight and 11 through their paces with a introduction to the game at the Tuen Mun Golf Centre on Wednesday.
Poulter was joined for the Hong Kong Golf Association initiative by rising Chinese star Dou Zecheng.
“Great clinic today,” said Poulter. “It is very exciting for me too because I was once that age and to see so many kids here today, it is amazing. Golf is a great game and it teaches you an awful lot, life lessons, honesty, integrity, so it’s great.”
Local lad Samuel Lam, 10, left the event suitably impressed. “I really enjoyed the clinic today,” he said. “I had not tried golf before, and I found it a lot harder than I thought it was going to be as the clubs were really heavy. It was really fun though and I got to meet a few professional golfers. I usually play badminton but after today, I definitely want to try golf again.”
Kids from the HKGC’s after-school programme are being hosted on course Thursday and Friday, while some of the other stars in town for the main event will be running clinics for pros the Hong Kong Special Olympics Golf team and the Hong Kong Blind Sports Federation.
While entry to the event Thursday and Friday is free to all comers, title sponsors UBS are also hosting kids from the Hong Kong Council of Early Childhood Education Services (CECES) programme, and 5,000 tickets have been spread out among more than 30 local community groups.
