CNN
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aamir malik is a man in love Golf. Yet golf didn’t always love him back.
A devoted sports fan since his childhood in Kingston upon Thames, London, he was drawn to golf long before he played his first round of golf. swing, But not knowing anyone else to play, Malik settled for a side view.
That all changed in 2012, when his former boss invited him to try his hand at the driving range.
“From the first ball I thought, ‘This is it. This game is unbelievable,'” Malik, now 38, told CNN.
“I’ve played a lot of games, but there aren’t a lot of games when you go to bed and you can’t wait to get back up and play again.”
Eventually, Malik was ready to take his game to the next level. Joining a municipal club in 2017, he started participating in Sunday morning tournaments.
It was at these events that the “uglier side” of the game was increasingly revealed to Malik, who felt alienated by club culture and the jarring conflict of his Muslim faith.
The discomfort would begin before a ball was even hit, as Malik says as he questioned his refusal to place bets on home competitions, as gambling is forbidden in Islam. Outside of the curriculum, stepping aside to observe salat – the ritual Islamic prayer performed five times a day – added to his concerns.
“You would feel scared, shocked. How are people going to react?” she remembered.
“We always made sure we got out of the way, but you were made to feel very, very uncomfortable.”
His discomfort was compounded by the usual tradition of clubhouse drinking after competitions. As Malik does not drink alcohol, he was left to hand in his scorecard and make an early exit.
As he improved and played more prestigious courses, the discomfort often turned to outright hostility. Malik, who is Pakistani Decent said he has experienced racism on the golf course.
“You turn up and immediately you can feel the vibe and the atmosphere, the way you’re talked to, the way you’re treated,” he said.
“And you’re just like ‘Wow,’ just because I have a beard, I’m brown, and I don’t look like you, you probably think I can’t play or you don’t think I know manners.
“It really frustrated me because you feel it, you feel it, you grow up in it, you know how it feels. And it’s not until you’re in the middle of a straight fair I don’t hit – when you smoke a drive – then people think, ‘Oh, he can play,’ and by then it’s too late.
Malik’s passion for golf was not dampened by his experiences. On the contrary, they encouraged him to seek out other British Muslims who shared his love of the game.
In December 2019 Malik, encouraged by the “pockets” of interest he had seen on his travels, came up with a name for his new venture – the Muslim Golf Association (MGA) – and sent out invitations to a charity golf day at The Grove, an iconic venue . just outside london.
The first edition of the MGA will be open to all religions; Prayer facilities will be provided and there will be no liquor or gambling. Malik was taken aback by the response. Within 24 hours, all 72 places were booked, with over 100 people on the waiting list by the end of the week.
The event, held in August 2020, raised £18,000 for the charity, and the sight of over 60 players praying together in the forecourt of The Grove marked a watershed moment for Malik.
“It was just amazing to me,” he said. “We can bring people together, feel safe and comfortable and just be on our platform.”
Since then, the MGA has partnered with the Marriott hotel chain to stage the Tri-Series tournament starting in 2021, with winners of this year’s edition securing an all-expenses-paid trip to the Turkish golfing paradise of Belek .
Malik said, “I looked at golf and thought, This is a game played by white, old, rich men, period.” “Now we have an opportunity to really show the world that non-whites can play this game and we are very good at it.”
For Malik, the overwhelming response to MGA events among Muslim women has been equally exciting. After launching a trio of pilot sessions in Birmingham last year, 1,000 players have already signed up for women’s tester events scheduled across the country over the next two months.
Malik believes Muslim women in the UK are being prevented from participating in more sports by the lack of all-female facilities and sessions.
The MGA has no dress code, meaning that women can play in niqab (face veil) and abaya (long robe) if they wish, and it specifically designates sections of the courses for their exclusive use for tasteful events. rents hotels, to ensure a comfortable experience for the kids. new player.
“The response has been absolutely incredible, mindblowing,” Malik said. “I tell women, ‘I don’t care what you wear, how you look, just come in with a smile and a pair of trainers and we’ll take care of the rest.’ We haven’t done anything revolutionary, we’ve just made it accessible, and the demand is incredible.”
To date, MGA events have attracted over 1,300 participants. Looking ahead, the organization aims to take its efforts to a global scale to reach as many new players as possible.
Growing up, Malik had to look to other sports for Muslim role models such as the England cricketer Moeen Ali. From Muhammad Alito Kareem Abdul-Jabar, to mohammad salahCountless Muslim athletes have gone on to have illustrious careers in a range of sports, yet professional golf offers a comparative paucity of examples.
According to a survey cited by England Golf, the country’s governing body for amateur golf, just 5% of golfers in England are from ethnically diverse groups.
By forging links with groups such as the MGA, Richard Flint, England Golf’s chief operating officer, believes barriers contributing to the lack of diversity in the sport can be understood and broken down.
“No one should feel uncomfortable walking through the doors of a golf club or facility because of their age, race, ethnicity or gender,” Flint told CNN.
“As a modern, forward-thinking organization, we want golf to be open to everyone and change the negative perceptions the game has held in the past.”
While Malik hopes to see Muslim players competing on the professional tour soon, he says he did not form the MGA to produce the Muslim Tiger Woods.
“If it happens as a byproduct, great,” he said. “But if we can get the golf industry to take a long, hard look at itself and make itself accessible, open and diverse, that’s a great achievement.
“The golf course doesn’t discriminate. The ball doesn’t ask what colour, race or gender you are…yet it is a very closed club open to very few.
Malik believes it is time for change. “Golf has a lot of extraordinary values and traditions that I still think it needs to perpetuate, but it has to develop … if it is to open itself up and allow other cultures and traditions to be part of all the great things in this game.” Letting things happen can be absolutely wonderful.”