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EEFF enters new phase
The Board of the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation (EEFF) has announced sweeping changes to the structures of the Foundation, the most important being a return to members remaining at home with their families and attending their local schools. The reason for this is to expand the reach of the Foundation to include a greater number of members.
“The hostel has been extremely successful and it allowed us to implement our programs efficiently, however, there is no doubt that we will be able to take on and look after a far greater number of members by allowing them to remain at home with their families. It is difficult to justify the enormous per capita expense for relatively few, when we can be helping so many more without changing any of our objectives or philosophies,” explained Hannes van Niekerk, CEO of the EEFF. “We have learnt an incredible amount about guiding highly talented young golfers and the Board believes that we should be using this experience to provide opportunities to more kids.”
From the beginning of 2010 talented young golfers will be eligible for two categories of support from the Foundation. All prospective members are expected to be attaining a high average at school, while the higher the ranking in junior golf, the greater the assistance provided by the Foundation in monetary terms. There will be an 'associate' category in the form of education and golf bursaries for talented young golfers in high school. Recipients of these bursaries, which will provide educational assistance and playing opportunities for one year, will be able to use these opportunities to improve their junior golf rankings to the point that they can qualify for membership of the EEFF. While the Foundation members would no longer make use of the hostel facilities on a full-time basis, the infrastructure would remain in use for Foundation life-skills and golf coaching residencies during the year.
“The Foundation has had a huge impact on plenty of our young golfers, which I am extremely proud of,” said Ernie Els from his American base in Florida, “I am excited about this new phase in its existence and look forward to watching the growth of our next intake of kids.”
Owner of Fancourt Dr Hasso Plattner added: “We remain as committed to our Foundation as ever and are sure that these developments will allow us to assist and guide a far greater number of this country’s talented golfers.”
The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation has been in existence since 1999 and has several past members playing successfully on professional Tours around the world, while others have gone on to successful careers in the golf industry and elsewhere through the educational assistance offered by the Foundation.
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