By Alex Coop
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Iron play excellence wasn't required during an introductory session hosted by Southeast Newcomer Services (SNS) at the Woodlawn Golf Club on Aug. 25.
An easygoing, non-competitive environment was established on Monday evening, which 10 people, most of them new Canadians, some newcomers to Estevan, entered.
"A couple of months ago we had left in our office a sign-up sheet for anyone who was interested in learning golf, and we had a lot of people sign up," said Sarah Mehler, program manager at SNS a few hours before the golf session began. "This is kind of our first attempt at getting newcomers involved in a Canadian sport or activity."
Mehler noted she would like to see this initiative branch out to other approachable sports during the winter, like curling, and maintain that focus on fun.
"That's the main emphasis," said Mehler. "There is a focus on learning the sport, but at the same time it's all in good fun. I don't even know what I'm doing, so I'll be learning a lot too," she laughed.
The program manager at SNS also said that because many of the event's participants are newcomers, they share that same sense of unfamiliarity. She added a lot of them are registered clients with their office.
"They don't have to feel vulnerable because we're all in it together, it would be different if it was a golf tournament with just a few newcomers," said Mehler.
The newcomers group was lead by Woodlawn Golf associate golf professional and golf shop manager Amanda Minchin, who said the "very informal" event, was an excellent way for newcomers to ease their way into the community.
"It's another way of welcoming people and showing them a different avenue of getting involved in our community," she explained.
As the golf session started, Minchin asked the newcomers whether they've ever played golf before. The answer was a resounding no, which as a result, led to a very informative putting tutorial led by the associate golf professional.
Zia Abdul, who moved from India to study in Vancouver in 2011, recently moved to Estevan to work at Sask Power. He heard about the Newcomers golf session through word of mouth, and decided to come out and interact with others in his situation.
"I was nervous when I moved to Vancouver, and I became nervous when I moved to Estevan. You always get that feeling when you move somewhere new," he said, adding he found comfort in being in one place with others who were new to the area as well.
The opportunity to learn the game of golf was also very appealing to Abdul.
"I've never played before, but I'm interested in it," he said.
