Greater Noida (UP), May 13: Reputed European PGA coach Dr Donato di Ponziano today said golf will become popular in India only with the opening of more public golf courses which do not charge a fee for teeing off. "There should be more golf courses outside resorts to spread the game to the street," said Ponziano who is a conducting a seven-day coaching camp at the Jaypee greens golf resort here, in the national capital region, from May 11 to 17. "If you look at England and other continental countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, there are more public courses in UK than in the other countries," Ponziano said identifying it as the key reason why the sport is so popular in England. "Right now we have only one public golf course in the country and that is the DDA golf course at Lado Sarai, near Qutab Minar, in New Delhi," said wing commander Satish Aparajit, secretary general of the Indian golf union. Aparajit said the Lado Sarai course is the first step in the right direction and hoped more such greens would come up in the country.

Dr Donato, who is conducting the camp annually in India from 1996, said the over the years there has been a giant leap in the standard of golfers from the subcontinent.

"I came to India in 1996 with a lot of dreams and 90 per cent of them have become a reality," he said praising new stars Jyoti Randhawa, Amandeep Johl, Harmeet Kahlon and Shiv Kapur.

Bureau Report