Vusi Shadrack Nyngwa was born in Ginsberg, a village in Buffalo City Municipality. Golf has captivated him since he took it up when he was 10 and now, many years later, he has the sole national marketing rights for any Sunshine Tour professional golf tournament that he sells in South Africa.
“I have a memorandum of agreement with the Sunshine Tour and an opening on the calendar for a tournament at East London Golf Club in 2025,” he said.
Nyngwa has a long history in the game. He played for the Border under 16 team in 1992, and was one of only three black players. However, after he passed matric, he said there was no money for further education so he and his golfing friends became caddies at the now closed Qonce golf course.
The members encouraged the youngsters, lending them their clubs on a Friday and he was soon elected, together with the other under 16 provincial players, as full members. They all played in the club’s league team.
However, golf is an expensive sport and after matriculating he found that to play he had to earn a regular salary, which was not possible as a caddie.
“I was apprenticed to an electrician, got my papers, then worked for Automated Fuel and Fleet Africa Systems, which had a contract to run the provincial transport fleet back in 2011, but then lost it. I joined Walter Sisulu University, working in fleet management, and studied part time at the University of Johannesburg, gaining a diploma in transport fleet management.”
He joined the Alexander Golf Club and was elected deputy president.
“By then I was wildly passionate about the game, and not just playing. I would take time off work and follow the tour, funding the trips by caddying or doing part time jobs at the tournaments.”
He decided that he wanted to be in the golf world, took a chance and, after a lot of work, was allowed to pitch a proposal to the Sunshine Tour to sell events.
“I was lucky to meet Thomas Abt, the commissioner of the tour since 2020. I discussed my marketing proposal with him and, after some time, he arranged for me to do a presentation to the board of the Sunshine Tour. To cut a long story short, I was awarded a three-year contract to market tour events.
“But Covid-19 stopped me working for two years. Fortunately Abt realised that I should be given an extended contract and it now expires in a few years.”
His first target is signing enough sponsors to run the Eastern Cape: Home of Legends tournament in East London Golf Club, where he is a member.
“I will market the event but Sunshine Tours will run it.”
He said ELGC is again in the country’s top 10 rated golf courses, a position it held for many years before the residential golf estate market took off, and it found itself competing on the ranking ladder with housing estate courses that had no shortage of funds.
“However, the club is in a position, quality-wise, to host a Sunshine Tour event, and I have a signed memorandum of understanding from the tour to hold what will be a money-spinning event for the club and the city.
“The event will not be a one-off, but will go into the tour calendar for a few years.
“This job involves meeting and selling to new people all the time, which I know can be threatening, but I love devising presentations that people can buy into once we have discussed all the benefits of the investments.
“As an under 16 provincial player I was already passionate about the game, but I never dreamed I would be lucky enough to make it my career,” he said.
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