Let’s begin with a confession. Being a pro myself, I’ve devoted most of the articles I’ve written for The News on Sunday on the various problems faced by professional golfers in Pakistan. I’ve also talked about things that can be done to develop and promote professional golf.

But let’s talk about the amateur scene this time.

Recently, the Karachi Golf Club (KGC) hosted the 14th Sindh Amateur Golf Championship in which leading amateurs from Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar took part. There were some good performances but personally I believe that with top national players taking part, the overall scorecards should have been much better.

The results of the championship were true reflection of the fact that like professional golf, the amateur scene in Pakistan isn’t up to the mark.

It was also evident at the Amateur Championship of Pakistan held in Lahore last year as a Sri Lankan golfer won the title while local challengers were unable to do well.

That’s a sad thing considering the fact that there was a time when Pakistan had a stronger amateur circuit. Golf used to be a family sport and the people who played it would bring their young kids to the golf club on weekends so that they could learn and play golf.

I still remember Ali Hai when he was eight years old. He used to spend a lot of time with me. In fact he would get coaching from me all day long at the KGC range. He would hit around 1200 golf balls in one session. At that time I had no gadgets or golfing software. Ali didn’t have the sort of golf equipment that is available now. But with sheer hard work and dedication he became the best amateur golfer in Karachi and later the best amateur of Pakistan. He won several national and international events before playing college golf in the US where he even served as the captain of his college which is a big achievement.

Pakistan could have produced many players like Ali Hai but the problem is that we never really managed to establish any academies or any worthwhile coaching programmes for junior golfers.

That should change. We have to find ways and means to promote junior golf so that it can become a nursery for good amateur golfers. The best amateur golfers, if they are good enough, can go on to become professionals.

That’s not happening which is why there are no golfers who can challenge the supremacy of players like Pakistan number one Shabbir Iqbal or Muhammad Munir. That is the prime reason why Pakistan golf, even at the national level, is not as exciting as it should be.

What we need are viable junior programmes in every major city of the country. That would be the stepping stone towards the formation of provincial teams in various age categories. These teams can be formed following inter-club competitions and once they are made we can have regular inter-provincial tournaments for junior golfers. Such programmes will make sure that we have will have at least 100 good players at a time. We can have similar set-ups for girls.

I know that this can be done. All we need is vision, dedication, professional approach and hard work to achieving what seems like a tough target.

I know it because I’ve seen it happening in Turkey. Till a couple of decades back, Turkish golf was way behind Pakistan. But the golf officials there chalked out a plan to give it a boost. They hired coaches like me to work over there with juniors and amateurs. I witnessed the transformation right in front of my eyes. Today Turkish golf is way ahead of Pakistan.

I hope that a similar transformation would take place in Pakistan too. It can be done but only if we are honest and sincerely want to change our flawed system. It can only be done if we are willing to put an end to favourtism. It can only be done if we are willing to bring the right man for the right job. It can only be done if we really feel for Pakistan golf. I hope that the people in power are listening.