Dubai: Tom Hall, the 25-year-old Assistant Golf Services Manager at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, was among the delegates attending the second International Congress of Golf & Health,’ in association with NHS Scotland and The R&A, last week at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh just after The 150th Open Championship. In an interview with Gulf News, Hall shares his experiences:
QUESTION: How was the experience for you Tom?
TOM HALL: It was a quick visit for me, arriving on Monday and leaving on Wednesday, back to Dubai. The schedule of the two-day Congress was a dinner on Monday night followed by a full-day session on Tuesday.
The Monday dinner involved over 100 delegates with an engaging Q&A session involving representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), The R&A, Scottish Ministry of Health and the DP World Tour.
I must personally thank and congratulate Dr Andrew Murray, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of the DP World Tour, for his role in making the Congress happen, along with other participating partners. Andrew was exceptional!
At the dinner and Tuesday session, the latter attended by around 200 speakers, officials and delegates, I met pros wanting to grow the game in all areas and all ages, orthopedic surgeons, policy makers in governments with visitors from USA, Netherlands, Australia, Czech Republic, the UK and the IOC plus delegates from all over the world.
What was your overall take on the two-day event?
It was a focused networking event, bringing like-minded people together. The buzz and energy throughout was that everyone agrees with the concept ‘Golf is good for all.’ I displayed my poster stand around the sessions and met so many good people.
I explained my concept of transition from full-time work to full-time retirement through golf club membership and golf participation. I received lots of great feedback.
I am now in touch regularly with all the delegates and speakers that I met and we will continually update each other and will see what collective and collaborative progress we can make in this golf space when the next Congress takes place in two years.
What’s next for your project?
I am determined to ‘Go to Market’ with this project. To take it from a theory to real life was always going to be the challenge.
My ultimate dream is to set up some regular gatherings from September, 2022, at Dubai Creek, with both invites as well as word of mouth, to get these 50-plus age group, both guys and gals active, make new friends, and through the platform of golf get them engaged and involved.
I will be promoting both the health benefits of the game as well as the mental wellbeing for all. They will not be Club members or active golfers, they already appreciate the golfing benefits, it is the large group of others. There is no other sport, in my opinion, that works better than golf for this activity and this age bracket.
From day one, I want to educate this new group that we can all immediately putt and see how the principles of the game work, with the best player in the world capable of missing a six foot putt and a complete beginner capable of holing the same putt – that is the beauty of golf.
Finally, I must thank both Dubai Golf and the Emirates Golf Federation for their personal and financial support to make this trip happen.
