A swing in the right direction

Kolkata, Sep 14 (UNI) The IGU Junior's programme under the banner of Golftrade Sports Foundation is a swing in the right direction to remove the derogatory term of 'Caddie-pro' from the golfing lexicon.

A brainchild of golfer Indrajit Bhalotia, the junior's programme plans to promote six youngsters under the patronage of Mr L N Bangur.

While five of these boys are aged between nine and eleven years, one is 19 years old and all of them have shown remarkable spark for excelling in this putting game.

Samaresh Sardar, the teenager, is a caddie and a seasoned golfer and has won the caddie competition in RCGC just a week back.

Talking to UNI, Bhalotia said, ''You never know where the talent lies. We have to get maximum number of people across the society to play golf. Then only the sports will have a popularity and the numbers swell. It is a humble beginning as our resources are modest but we are sure of success.'' ''There are so many of the golfing legends from India who cut across the masses. Ali Sher, Firoz Ali and Ashok Kumar are just to name a few. In fact it was Ali Sher who put us on the golfing map by winning the first Asian On Tour,'' he said.

The effort is to remove the Caddie-pro term from the golfing dictionary, he said adding the snobbish, elitist divide that exists in golf has to go someday.

The students, who have been enrolled, come from extremely modest background. Tinku Haldar's father is a tempo driver, while Raja Haldar works as a ball boy in Tollygunge Club, Sumit Prasad's father is a van puller.

The other three are Sanu Prasad, Sonu Rai and Samaresh Sardar.

Excepting Sardar, all the other five collect stray balls on golf courses in Tolly and RCGC.

''Look they will never come for training if they cant get money out of it. The time they spent at Tolly Club or RCGC earning money will never be spent in golf practice. So we have to pay them to learn,'' he said.

The boys will be given golfing lessons twice a week and taught basic English. Their personality will be groomed so that they don't feel any complex when they mix with those who come from the richer section of the society.

The problem is elsewhere. While RCGC has opened up to the idea, Tolly Club is still very conservative about these boys playing along side with the boys from the richer section of the society. Bhalotia hoped that it wouldn't be a problem.

''But since this is under the IGU banner they have nothing much to do. They have to accept the boys. The divide has to go,'' he said.

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