European Seniors Tour Player Philippe Corsaletti inspires East Africa’s rising golf stars

Dar es Salaam. European Seniors Tour player and golf coach Philippe Corsaletti has arrived in Uganda with a clear mission: to inspire and develop the next generation of golfing talent in East Africa.

A certified coach with both the PGA of France and Switzerland, Corsaletti landed in Uganda at the beginning of July to lead a two-week junior golf camp at Toro Golf Club in Fort Portal.

The camp, organized in partnership with Afriyea Golf Academy, is one of Uganda’s leading junior golf development programs.

With decades of international playing and coaching experience, including time as a member of the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club in Tanzania, Corsaletti is no stranger to the region.

But this visit is about more than technical instruction. It’s about introducing young players and local coaches to tools and methods typically reserved for the professional ranks.

Technology meets talent

For the first time in Ugandan junior golf, the TrackMan system, a world-class radar-based swing analysis tool used by elite golfers globally, is being utilized at the grassroots level.

The compact device tracks a wealth of data, including clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle, spin rate, smash factor, and carry distance.

“The goal is not to turn children into robots,” said Corsaletti during one of the sessions. “It’s to give them information they can understand and use. The data supports the coaching; it doesn’t replace it.”

Until now, junior golfers at Toro Club have trained largely through instinct and repetition. The introduction of TrackMan has added a new dimension, allowing players to better visualize and understand their swing dynamics.

For 15-year-old Richard Kirungi, the experience was transformative. “At first it was a bit intimidating seeing all those numbers,” he admitted.

“But once Coach explained what they meant, it felt like I could see my swing from the inside out. I realized I was swinging across the ball more than I thought.”

Building local capacity

Before the juniors stepped onto the range, Corsaletti conducted a focused training session with local professionals Happy Robert and Richard Baguma.

The goal was to equip them with the knowledge to interpret the TrackMan data and integrate it into their regular coaching routines.

For the coaches, the session was eye-opening. The ability to analyze swing metrics in detail is set to elevate their instruction and give young players more targeted feedback, a crucial step in developing talent capable of competing on the international stage.