Young people benefiting from synthetic putting green in Jamaica

Artificial turf Golf

Having tested the installation of the first synthetic turf putting green in Jamaica, junior national golf coach Jason Lopez is confident that it will lead to better projections for the country's youngsters at this year's Caribbean golf tournament in the Cayman Islands.

"In order to be competitive you have to be good at all aspects of the game, and I noticed that we were losing aspects of the game and competitiveness to  other countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic," said Lopez , who has been the head coach of the junior golf team for the past six years, he told The Gleaner . "It's not a case of them (the junior golfers) not knowing what to do, but simply not having a place to practice.

We've been fighting to beat the three main islands, so what we're really trying to do is get into the top three and I think we can do that. The installation of the synthetic grassIt's  as simple as it looks and it's going to give the kids in Kingston the edge they need to get into the top three?

Jamaica will be looking to send 14 representatives to the championships.

with most of the team that will be selected after this month's National Amateur Golf Tournament at the Cayman Golf Club from the 23rd to the 26th.

In 150 mts2 ? five holes of putting green have been located in the Constant Spring Golf Club. The funds to carry out the enterprise come from the members of the junior golf community Jamaica Boilers and the Lopez`s  Company, Swing Solutions.

"It may have been an expensive undertaking  to disburse, but the things I don't have to do anymore is see where I keep my money in the long run," Lopez said. "This product is guaranteed for a decade, but it will last forever and I don't have to fertilize it, remove the weeds, plus all those other things they have to do to maintain a real field.

There's no tangible benefit,  the main benefit that's really important to me is the development of children's play. «

The facility is not only accessible to Constant Golf Club or Golf School members,  the general public is also free to enter at any time and use the area.

"This (the synthetic turf) is part of the club, and whether or not you are a member of the club, you  can come and play golf, so this is really  for the benefit of golf. «