For years, the children of Maruapula have watched golf from a distance — the manicured greens of the Blue Tree Golf Course visible from their streets but never quite within reach. On Thursday, that barrier shifted. Bona Life, in collaboration with Excel Golf Academy, formally launched the Maruapula Loxion Golf Programme.
This is a youth initiative that aims to introduce about 100 children to a sport long viewed as distant, exclusive and reserved for the well-off. The launch unfolded quietly but purposefully, with a tone that suggested this was not just another corporate announcement. Bona Life CEO Phatsimo Keakabetse, who has only recently stepped into the world of golf herself, set the tone early.
Her reflections on the sport were less about technique and more about its deeper lessons — the kind that linger beyond the fairway. “I’m a fairly new although I use ‘new’ loosely — golfer,” she said with a warm smile, gesturing toward the children gathered near the practice range. “But what I’ve learnt is that golf is more than a sport.
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It builds discipline; it builds character; it’s a classroom on its own.” She spoke about golf’s quietly demanding nature, a place where honesty is not monitored by a referee but enforced by personal integrity. “When you want to know a person, play a round with them,” she said. “In golf, you learn to be your own referee.
You know when you’re wrong and when you’re right. These are values we need to instil in our children.” It was a message that seemed to resonate with the parents who had gathered for the launch, many of whom had never imagined watching their children swing clubs on a course they had long viewed as off-limits. Keakabetse thanked them for their commitment, particularly those who helped transport multiple children to training sessions — small gestures, she said, that reveal a community’s strength.
“Our sense of community is still intact,” she added. “And that is why programmes like this can thrive.” The programme itself grew out of a simple but revealing observation: Maruapula’s children live closer to a golf course than most in Gaborone, yet few have ever set foot on it. Excel Golf Academy coach Mpho Kelosiwang spoke plainly about that contradiction.
“Golf is traditionally perceived as a sport for the rich,” he said. “And I don’t think any of us doesn’t want to be rich, but accessibility for the middle class has always been a problem.” He explained that the academy identified a real gap — a community within sight of the sport yet separated from it by cost, culture and a lack of structured pathways. “Last year we commenced the programme,” he said.
“Our objective was to have 100 kids playing. Up to now, three come every Sunday.” The number three seems small, but Kelosiwang insisted it was a beginning rather than a measure of success. For him, the point is creating a foundation sturdy enough to grow.
He said the decision to have children in the programme train alongside the academy’s junior golfers was deliberate — an attempt to dismantle the social distance that often surrounds golf. Children from different backgrounds, he said, should learn together, compete together and view each other as equals. The programme’s next phase aims to expand even further.
Beyond athletic training, Kelosiwang said plans are underway to incorporate academic support, creating a space where children learn both in the classroom and on the course. “When they come here, we want them to be drilled academically as well,” he said. For parents, that holistic vision feels especially meaningful.
Many expressed gratitude that their children are being given the chance not only to engage with a new sport but to claim a space that once belonged to others. Parent Dikeledi Roy captured that sentiment simply. “Thanks to PGA and Bona Life for seeing our children as the future,” she said.
“We thank them for investing in Maruapula kids. We are indeed pleased.”
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