Former Ekurhuleni captain Caitlyn Macnab has kept her place in the GolfRSA Women’s National Squad.
The promising golfer is part of an elite team which sees a few known names returning while seven new faces join them. She has been part of the national set-up since 2018.
The class of 2023 features three groups. With eight members from last year’s programme graduating to higher tiers, the Elite Group will consist of 12 players and the B-Group has six players.
The C-Group, the most junior division, is where the new inductees who have earned their invitations will start their journey with the GolfRSA National Squad.
“We are delighted to welcome our seven new inductees to the opportunity to benefit from the GolfRSA National Squad system,” said Womens Golf South Africa president Sarah Braude.
“The men’s and women’s national squad provide a platform for talented golfers to further develop their skills and test themselves through local and international competition while enabling GolfRSA to produce stronger national teams.”
Another Ekurhuleni player Lisa Coetzer graduates from the C-Group to the B-Group. She joins Gia Raad, Alessia Goussard and Jasmine Furstenburg in the group.
The seven new members had their first taste of the programme during their first national squad camp held at Serengeti Estates recently.
“We invited the new inductees to join our first camp of the year at Serengeti Estates, where they were introduced to the national squad coaches and consultants, given proper assessments and had the chance to mix with the Elite, B- and C-Group members already entrenched in the programme,” Braude said.
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“We were also fortunate to get former squad member and now professional golfer Kaleigh Telfer to do a Q&A with the players. Kaleigh is a former SA Women’s Amateur Stroke Play champion who represented South Africa at international level at the Youth Olympics, the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup, the World Amateur Teams Championship and she was the first South African golfer to receive a coveted invitation to the inaugural Augusta Women’s Amateur Invitational.
“It was wonderful to have Kaleigh share her experience and knowledge with the squad members and talk about her college years at Auburn University and the road to becoming a tour professional.”
The GolfRSA Men’s and Women’s National Squads are well supported by an effective group of professionals. In the women’s squad, this responsibility falls to national coaches Val Holland and Anna Becker-Frankel, biokineticist Bianca Bloemhof, sport psychologists Grant Flaum and Shaun Landsberg, and Costanza Trussoni, who runs the Trackman analysis with the squad members.
“These individuals work hand-in-hand with the players’ own coaches and support teams towards giving the players every possible opportunity to improve and advance,” Braude explained.
“In addition to individual attention, we host several camps during the year with high-intensity training and evaluations, sometimes with smaller groups and on other occasions, with the whole squad.”
The GolfRSA National Men and Women’s Squads were launched in 2015.
“The GolfRSA National Squad system provides a valuable platform for South Africa’s talented young golfers to receive the best preparation possible,” said GolfRSA CEO Grant Hepburn.
“South Africa has a long history of producing world-class golfers and, since the introduction of the squad programme, our amateurs have done us proud on the global stage. In addition to a spate of victories in highly-ranked international events, many of our graduates have successfully transcended to the pro ranks and in the last five years, have achieved victories on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Challenge Tour, Sunshine Tour, Sunshine Ladies Tour and the Big Easy Tour.”
