DP World has once again signalled its commitment to developing golf at UAE National grassroots level in the United Arab Emirates by supporting the visit of Jean-Jacques Rivet, the Head of Biomechanics & Sports Performance from the European Tour Performance Institute (ETPI) in Terre Blanche, France, to work with the UAE National Teams at the facility in Dubai.
The swing biomechanics expert will give the team guidance that will optimise their skills at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ ETPI, which is one of only two of the state-of-the-art facilities in the world along with Terre Blanche.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World said: “We're absolutely delighted to be able to support this fantastic initiative which offers us the chance to play a part in the development of our UAE National Golf Teams.
“The growth of the game in the region is extremely important to us and giving our local golfers access to a facility as admired as the European Tour Performance Institute offers them the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.
“I have no doubt that the knowledge and expertise of Jean-Jacques Rivet will be invaluable to our players.”
Rivet’s visit is part of a week long programme which has also seen the 21 of the European Challenge Tour players use the Jumeirah Golf Estates ETPI facilities and tap into the Frenchman’s expertise in preparation for next week’s crucial season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final in Oman. The highlight of the week was the one-day ICAEW Challenge Tour Pro-Am which took place on Wednesday October 28.
Yousuf Kazim, CEO of Jumeirah Golf Estates said: “It’s been a great week and we’ve enjoyed having the European Challenge Tour players, the members of the ICAEW, Jean-Jacques Rivet, and of course, the UAE National Team here.
“We are very proud of our world class facilities and it is our intention that local and international golfers of all standards and international golf federations and associations use the Jumeirah Golf Estates European Tour Performance Institute so it is more than appropriate that the UAE National Golf Teams have access to the facility.
“With this initiative we hope to play our part in producing the golf superstars of tomorrow.”
Rivet is excited about the prospect working with the players again having already hosted them at the facility in France where they trained for ten days in September in preparation for their recent performance at the Nomura Cup at Yas Links, Abu Dhabi.
“It’s great to visit our sister ETPI in Dubai,” said Rivet. “Like our facility in Terre Blanche, the facilities here are really state-of-the-art and amateur golfers in the UAE, as well as the professionals who visit here, are really fortunate to have a place like this to come and develop their games.
“The Director of Instruction, Mark Gregson-Walters and his team at the ETPI are very gifted coaches and I’m enjoying working with them and passing on some of our swing biomechanics techniques.
“I enjoyed hosting the UAE National Team in France in September and we did some great work so I’m really looking forward to continuing to develop some of the ideas we worked on and I’m sure they’ll get a great benefit from it.”
UAE National Team Head Coach Greg Holmes is delighted that his team are being given the chance to work with Rivet again, saying: “The team improved a lot from the trip to the Terre Blanche ETPI. Just using the body and the ground properly definitely benefitted them and helped control their swings.
“We had a great ten days with Jean-Jacques and it’s fantastic that the team will have a chance to work with him again this week.”
The Emirates Golf Federation thanked DP World for its support in this initiative in helping to develop the game at amateur level in the region, with Secretary General Khaled Mubarak saying: “We’re very grateful for the support that DP World have given over the years to helping develop the game of golf in the UAE.
“People are obviously aware of their title sponsorship of the DP World Tour Championship, The European Tour’s season-ending event which features some of the top professionals in the game.
“But their sponsorship extends far beyond the professional game and this is the latest in a long line of initiatives DP World have supported with the aim of helping our local amateur golfers to improve.”
