Mossel Bay’s Pinnacle Point Beach and Golf Resort has laid out South Africa’s first SNAG (‘Starting New at Golf’) course.
The 6-hole course is under construction on the Resort’s driving range, and should be ready for the April holiday season. It includes four par-3 and two par-4 holes designed specifically for children.
SNAG was developed in the USA as a way of introducing young people to the game of golf. It uses clubs fitted with over-sized heads, and tennis balls (minimum diameter 65.41 millimetres, maximum weight 59.4 grammes) rather than traditional golf balls (minimum diameter 42.67 millimetres, maximum weight 45.93 grammes).
SNAG is already available as a training programme at Pinnacle Point, where PGA pro Quintin van der Berg offers classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“SNAG allows for full shots, pitching, chipping, and putting, and we provide all the equipment – so there’s no expensive outlay,” said Mr. van der Berg. “It’s just a matter of getting in and having fun.”
He said that the advantage of having a permanent course as well as regular classes is that parents and children can now enjoy the game together at any time they choose.
“While the kids are busy with SNAG, the adults can make use of the facilities at our Peak Performance Centre, with its putting and chipping greens; clubfitting and club repairs workshop under Master Clubfitter Charles Rich; SAM Puttlab; indoor teaching studio; and 3-D motion analysis, video analysis, and FlightScope 3-D Doppler Ball Tracking and FocusBand technologies.
“And of course there’s our all-important snack bar.”
While the SNAG course will open on the green, the plan is to make SNAG at Pinnacle Point even more exciting by adding mini bunkers and areas of fynbos rough at a later stage.
“We’ve cut the greens, tee-boxes, and fairways with the par-4s running to about 60 metres, while the par-3s are about 30 metres long. But when you hit tennis balls they don’t travel as far as golf balls, so the course will feel very realistic,” said Mr. van der Berg.
“It’s the logical way to introduce little people to the game: we’ve seen kids as young as four years of age taking to SNAG as if they were made for it.”
Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm welcomed the announcement.
“Golf remains one of the biggest draw-cards for tourism in the Southern Cape, and it’s good to see that its now available to kids, too,” she said.
“It’s also exciting to know that Mossel Bay is once again leading the pack: this is a first for South Africa, and from internet searches, it seems that Colorado in the USA boasts the world’s only other permanent SNAG course.
“The SNAG course at Pinnacle Point will make a real difference when golfers with young families make their decisions about where to go on holiday.” •