This week's European Tour event, the Tshwane Open in South Africa, will leave a golfing legacy for local communities.

The event, being held at the Els Club Copperleaf near Centurion, is providing the spur for local authorities to start a programme offering golf lessons to children from disadvantaged areas in the vicinity.

Municipal spokesperson Nomasonto Ndlovu told local media that the city would run development clinics teaching the game, and its etiquette, to children from six to sixteen. “Tshwane is proud to state that it is the first city in the country to undertake an initiative that introduces golf as one of the regular sports programmes in township schools,” she said.

The scheme has already started, with 50 children from local areas being brought to the Els Club for lessons the day before the tournament.

“Another element of the Tshwane Open legacy is the establishment of a foundation aimed at providing various benefits to Tshwane-based caddies across various golf courses,” she told the New Age.