As the official title partner of the DP World Tour, DP World has been on a mission across the season to collect used and unwanted golf balls and give them a second life in grassroots golf projects around the world.
Unveiled at the Dubai Desert Classic in January, DP World created a revolutionary shipping container that has been steadily filling with golf balls from various stops across the DP World Tour season. Along its journey, the second life container has stopped in Belgium, Holland, Sweden, France, the UK and has now come full circle, arriving back in Dubai for the season ending DP World Tour Championship taking place at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai.
The 130,024 golf balls have been collected in numerous ways, with donations from DP World Tour players, fans, professional golf ball divers, ball-collecting dogs, and children’s golf ball hunts. It’s now time to give them a new life, with DP World joining forces with several golf organisations to support initiatives that provide a platform for the game of golf to grow around the world, making golf more accessible to all.
DP World has focused on three key areas of growth for the sport – golf for the disabled, junior golf, and women’s golf – hoping to inspire and encourage more people to take up the sport. The organisations that include projects in South Africa, Kenya, India, UAE and across Europe will now receive a proportion of the balls.
Representatives from all five organisations came together to celebrate the occasion ahead of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. Among them were the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, Republic of Kenya, Hon Ababu-Namwamba, DP World’s Chief Commercial Officer, Daniel van Otterdijk as well as 2-time DP World Tour winner, Kurt Kitayama from America and reigning G4D Tour champion, Brendan Lawlor of Ireland.
A proportion of golf balls will be distributed to the South African Disabled Golf Association (SADGA) and the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA), two organisations working to ensure the sport is fully inclusive.
Lily Reich, Operations Manager of the SADGA said, “At the South African Disabled Golf Association, we are desperate for golf balls so it’s incredible that DP World is able to help alleviate that financial pressure with this fantastic initiative. Golf has afforded many of our members a second life in sport which aligns beautifully with the vision held by DP World.”
Craig Stirton, SADGA’s Media Liaison added, “The motto of SADGA’s first swing programme is ‘kids with a brighter future through golf’ and we feel that the donation of these golf balls thanks to DP World will go a long way in terms of helping us achieve that.”
Tony Bennett, President of EDGA commented, “With Golf for the Disabled developing at an exponential rate, it is very timely that this support has become available for some projects where greater access to golf balls and facilities will make a big difference.”
Irishman, Brendan Lawlor, World No 2 on the Golf for Disabled Tour (G4D) and representative of Golf Ireland said, “Golf for the Disabled has developed enormously in Ireland over the last few years. Earlier in the year, I was proud to participate in the Irish team that won the EGA European Championship and with this donation of balls from DP World to EDGA and Golf Ireland, I look forward to seeing new individuals with a disability try our great game.”
Hoping to inspire the next generation of golfers, DP World also partnered with two organisations promoting the sport among young people. The Junior Golf Foundation in Kenya and The Golf Foundation in India, both aim to encourage and support more children to play golf and compete in tournaments, regardless of their background.
Hon Ababu-Namwamba, EGH, Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, Republic of Kenya said, “This initiative will have an incredible impact on the Junior Golf Foundation in Kenya. These balls will help to demystify the game of golf and secondly, they will open the opportunity for many young people who look at golf as a closed elitist sport that you can’t access. It’s feels very special to selected by DP World as a beneficiary, it’s a very strong message from the corporate world that you have a role to play and who knows, we might just have the next Tiger Woods emerging from Kenya.”
Kanana Muthomi, a 10-year-old junior at the Junior Golf Foundation Kenya, was delighted with the news, “It’s going to be very nice that lots of these golf balls will be coming to Kenya. More of the underprivileged kids are going to get the chance to play and it’s going to encourage more junior golf. In Kenya not all kids get the chance to play golf so this will give more opportunities for them to play the sport I love. Thank you to DP World for the golf balls.”
Amit Luthra, Founder and President of the Golf Foundation India said, “These golf balls are like gold nuggets for us, with the price of golf balls being so expensive, this initiative from DP World is a huge help for the children of India to continue playing golf. It’s an honour for us to be chosen as a beneficiary, the Golf Foundation India has been recognised for our work in the promotion of sport and this initiative will go a long way in helping us continue to do that.”
Daniel van Otterdijk, Chief Communications Officer of Group Communications at DP World, finished: “Through our sponsorship of the DP World Tour, we wanted to find both a meaningful and memorable way to give back to the sport. This initiative has been a great way for DP World to showcase our logistics and supply chain capabilities and expertise. Now the collection has come full circle we are delighted to support organisations that need them most, helping share the joy of playing golf and celebrating that here in Dubai. We look forward to hearing about how the balls have been put to good use in growing the game around the world.”
The DP World golf ball container has made its final stop for the season at this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, where the world’s best golfers are battling it out to finish on top of the DP World Tour Rankings on the Earth Course on Jumeirah Golf Estates from 17-20 November.
To find out more about the DP World golf ball container please visit: www.dpworld.com/dpwtcontainer
