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The 2009 Island Games are scheduled to take place in Aland, a tiny island off the coast of Finland, from June 24 to July 5. As in previous years, the Bermuda Golf Association is again planning to send a men's and a women's team to these Games.

The 2009 teams will be decided by way of a playoff which are to be held on Monday and Tuesday coming, March 9 and 10. While there are clear rules in place regarding who is eligible to participate in such playoffs, I understand that the Secretary of the BGA was asked to invite several other people to take part in the playoff.

These invitations, so the talk goes, were made on the back of honourable intentions.

Apparently, the date by which the BGA was required to submit the names of the Bermuda players to the Island Games was brought forward to March 25. This put the BGA between a rock and a hard place and the decision was taken to broaden the scope of playoff players.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The BGA can do without the disharmony that hockey in Bermuda has recently brought upon itself. Hopefully, the golfing fraternity will once again show its honourable character and support the BGA in its decision regarding the Island Games playoff.

As it happens, Bermuda golfers have fared very well at the Island Games. However, the quality of competition in golf at the Island Games is less than stellar. While I suppose it is better to finish at the top than at the bottom, frankly speaking.

I believe our strong positioning is more a function of the quality of the competition participating at the Island Games rather than a reflection of our abilities.

That is not to say that our representatives aren't decent players, for they most certainly are, however, a better measure of our abilities can be found in our positioning in the biennial Eisenhower Trophy.

There we have historically finished towards the top end of the lower quartile, in other words, towards the bottom.

That should come as no surprise to anyone and I only include it here to say this - we should not get too excited about winning the gold medal in the Island Games in the sport of golf.

We need to find a better fit for our players and, in my opinion, we would be much better off participating in the Hoerman Cup, a team match for countries in the Caribbean.

Historically, the BGA have shied away from this event, due apparently to the need to host it in our first year, and thereafter on a rotation basis. The Hoerman Cup would quite possibly be a much better test for Bermuda golfers than either the Island Games or the Eisenhower. The Hoerman Cup may even provide interest to the Department of Tourism who just might provide some much needed financial support if the event brought people to Bermuda.

The question that should be addressed is one of cost/benefit analysis - are our golfers receiving benefit and challenge commensurate with the costs of sending them to the Island Games and the Eisenhower rather than sending them elsewhere?

At the end of the day, it is quite possible that our players just might get a bigger bang for our buck if they competed in the Hoerman Cup.

Things are what they are until they are something else and, if nothing else, The Hoerman Cup must be worth looking into.[[In-content Ad]]

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