Calm, polite, and soft-spoken; 13-year-old golfer Gareth D’Oyley shared how his journey of playing competitive golf began.
“I first picked up a golf club when I was five or six, and I played my first golf tournament when I was eight or nine years old,” Gareth said on February 8 after school at the Bryanston Country Club. “When I started playing competitively, I realised that I want to do it a lot. It was very fun, and that’s probably when I realised that I had the talent.”
Gareth, who began his schooling career at Crawford Sandton where he is now in his first year of high school, credits his mom as having influenced his love for golf.
“I had plastic clubs when I was a child,” Gareth said, recalling the gifts from his mother. “Then I started coming to Bryanston Country Club for the Saturday clinic, and it just kicked off from there. I also played this junior golf at school – it was on Fridays, and we used to play on the field where we used to do fun activities.”
Most impressively, Gareth has also won awards and accolades for his golf games as a competitive player.
“I won the chairman’s award for SA Kids’ in 2021. In that season I won ‘most improved player’,” said Gareth. “I’ve also won most valuable player for a quadrangular in Mpumalanga for the U13s. I came third in the Little Pepsi contest, which was in the United States, and then I also came third in the State Farm tournament which is also in the US.”
Gareth listed Fancourt in George and the Gary Player course in Sun City as his favourite places to play golf thus far in addition to the Bryanston Country Club. When he isn’t at school, or playing golf, Gareth enjoys spending his time out in the waters fishing.
“I enjoy fishing. It’s a getaway for me if I just want to relax, or do something relaxing on the weekend,” Gareth said. “I go fishing, and it just makes me happy, I guess.”
The next tournament for the young golfer will be the world qualifier at Huddle Park in February.
Xolani Gambu from the South African Kids Golf Association praised Gareth for his diligence in honing his golf skills.
“His golf has improved so much, and the future is bright for him,” Gumbu said, sharing his belief that Gareth would become a professional golfer. “He is a hard worker and very disciplined. Children who are golfers are more disciplined, and they pay attention to detail. When you play golf, you need to focus, and keep quiet when others are teeing off or it is your turn to do so.”
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