Professional golfers have long been renowned for their charitable work, giving to people less fortunate than themselves. Such generosity can come in many forms, one of which is perfectly exemplified by European Tour Member Thongchai Jaidee.
The former paratrooper in the Royal Thai Army - in Singapore to compete in the Clariden Leu Singapore Masters - is a hero to golf fans in his native land for his success on the fairways which culminated in back-to-back victories in the Malaysian Open in 2004 and 2005. But to a group of underprivileged children in Thailand, he is a hero for a vastly different reason.
The 37 year old, who spent his own childhood in a basic two storey wooden house in Lop Buri, opened an academy in his home town in 2006 for day pupils from humble local backgrounds as well as for boarders from other provinces, to enable them to grow as people as well as learning about golf at the same time. The good news is that it is flourishing.
“I think my inspiration comes from the desire to create opportunities for the children because I came from nothing,” admitted Jaidee. “I became someone because of golf and I want to give the children the opportunity that I had.
“I visit as often as I can but I have staff to help take care of things when I am away. The one thing I want is to have the children spending as much time golfing as possible, both studying the game and practising properly with the help of the teachers.
“This should help them advance quickly and also, in transferring this knowledge, we are able to work on other important things such as how to learn about life itself, how to set targets in life and how to be successful. Working in this way, hopefully they should find it easier to live life to the full.”
Not only is his Academy important to him, but the grounds where the pupils are put through their paces are also very close to Jaidee’s heart.
“The golf course we use to practise on is an area of ground which used to belong to the military which, as you know, is where I started out,” he said. “I grew up playing on this course. It was where I began to develop my career and I will always see this place as somewhere that inspired me to develop even more.
“The fact that I am where I am today, doing things like this, means that I have achieved a lot for myself but it is always good coming back home. It makes me feel relaxed and happy – there is nothing like home.
“The children are also making progress which I am delighted about. In fact, everything is pretty good at the moment, when I look at the Academy and all that I have, I feel very happy and very content.”
It is unquestionably a feeling shared by the lucky children of Thongchai’s Academy.
