There’s a lot to be said for struggle. When Gary Player was eight, his mother died of cancer.

The experience helped his resolve.

For South African Golf Development Board member Vuyisani Makama, similar trauma and difficulty has helped shape his identity, and determination.

He’s a junior champion still learning his craft, but his talent is undeniable.

“Vuyi has the kind of grit that you can’t train,” says Michael Balderstone, who owns the Balderstone Sports Institute (BSI) at Huddle Park in Johannesburg that helps nurture and develop Makama and 84 other young golfers. “Many young players who have easier circumstances can lack that hunger to succeed”

Balderstone’s shadow looms large over the facility’s many aspirants, who include footballers and tennis players. Makama is a beneficiary of the bursary programme at BSI on account of his needs and problems associated with many black youngsters in South Africa: lack of resources, difficult home circumstances and baked-in challenges wrought by history.

Despite the challenges, the 17-year-old GolfRSA National Squad member recently won the Dimension Data U19 Open and represented Central Gauteng in the 2024 South African Inter-Provincial and Challenge Cup. This came on the back end of a successful 2023 when he was a member of the BSI team that won the SA High Schools Championship.

When Makama bounds into our meeting, his friendly face and cheerful manner soon give way to considered thought.

“Winning,” he says, “helped me prove to myself I can be there and hold scores I had been struggling to manage.”

Shortly after joining the academy in 2021, Makama’s talent became evident to Balderstone. Early gains involved polishing his technique, giving him structure and providing a full support team including a mental coach and fitness trainer.

“He’s developed into a very good player,” says Balderstone, a PGA Master Professional whose sharp eye has helped many youngsters carve a niche in the game. “Vuyi can miss every fairway and still post decent numbers. He’s just got the ability to score.”

Makama recalls how, as a youngster aged nine, he would follow his mum to corporate golf days, often skipping school to do so. He was instantly drawn to the sport.

Months later, the two found themselves at Krugersdorp Country Club where Makama played a shot into the water. He tried again. And again and again, until he got it right.

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“I liked the idea of competition, working out the weather conditions, what to avoid, and smart thinking – it all appealed to me.”

But it was only in 2019, when he played his first Central Gauteng event, that it dawned on him that he had significant talent. He played several SA Kids Golf events, scored a couple of top-three finishes and gave serious thought to going all-in.

When he had completed Grade 7, his mum suggested he ought to be able to look after himself. They shopped around before arriving at the Balderstone Sports Institute, which offered high performance training and education. Having a putting green mere steps from the classroom was the stuff of dreams.

There were challenges with transport – Makama lives 20km away – and there have been times when he could have been swamped. But the institute experience, and outstanding support of people like SA Golf Development Board Gauteng manager Andy Ostle, has brought balance and focus. Balderstone himself is a benevolent patriarchal figure, there to pick Makama up when he’s struggling with doubt or more practical issues.

Asked what it will take the young talent to reach the next level, Balderstone is happy that Makama is on the right trajectory and says he just mustn’t lose his footing. Having made the GolfRSA Squad in 2022 and broken through to win, he must continue to learn. More importantly, he must stay hungry.

Visions of a US college scholarship are fanciful given the outlay, which can run to R250 000 annually. The likelihood is Makama will stay in South Africa and hopefully graduate to the impressive Balderstone College programme after finishing matric this year, also through the academy (which runs a Cambridge Study Centre and GED curriculum).

Ranked 22nd in the GolfRSA Open amateur and 12th in the U19 golf rankings, he isn’t quite ready to pursue his pro card, so the idea is to gain some work experience – he begins a job at a golf shop in November – and work on his game in the next few years.

Makama gives due credit to Balderstone and his coaching team, preferring to do so by playing well and working hard.

His short-term ambitions are to crack the All-Africa team and to set a good foundation when he starts working. He’s won the Balderstone Sports Institute’s Order of Merit the past two years, and with it the associated Srixon sponsorship.

These are all vital building blocks, the foundation to an exciting future.

But it won’t get easier.

As Makama knows, nothing’s ever come easy.

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IMAGES: ERNEST BLIGNAULT/GOLFRSA