Golf Engagement Activation at Youth Olympic Games

Lausanne, Switzerland: With a fortnight to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the International Golf Federation (IGF) has announced details of Golf’s Engagement Activation, led by Athlete Role Model (ARM) Remy Bedu, a PGA France Master Professional coach and instructor for the IGF Technical Course for Coaches.

Golf is one of 10 Engagement Sports selected for Dakar 2026, alongside canoe-kayak, hockey, karate, modern pentathlon, shooting, sport climbing, surfing, tennis and weightlifting.

Unlike the 25 sports on the Competition Programme, Engagement Sports award no medals; instead, they are designed to introduce young people as well as the public in Senegal to new disciplines through hands-on activities and workshops.

Golf activation will run daily at the Engagement Sports area on Dakar's West Corniche for the duration of the Games, from November 1-13, with a special ‘Golf Focus Day’ on November 6.

Golf’s Engagement Activation will give visitors a genuine, hands-on introduction to the sport of golf through interactive stations. A short-game station will let participants practice their chipping around the green, while a dedicated putting station will focus on distance control – the fine touch needed to judge exactly how hard it is to hit every putt.

Adding an extra thrill, a state-of-the-art golf simulator will let visitors experience a full swing in an accessible, high-tech format.

As Golf’s Athlete Role Model for Dakar 2026, Bedu will lead immersive workshops for the students, as well as for general visitors, who visit the engagement site every day, through dedicated sessions, walking them through golf’s fundamentals, putting a club in their hands for a first swing, and sending them off keen to come back for more.

A golf coach for three decades in France and across the African continent, Bedu has built his career around a simple conviction: golf should be open to everyone, not reserved for those who can afford it.

He has taken the sport off the traditional course and into communities that rarely get the chance to play, finding creative, low-cost ways to bring golf within reach. That same drive to grow the game runs through his work as one of the IGF’s instructors, delivering the IGF Technical Course for Coaches across the continent, helping build coaching capacity and strengthen golf’s development at every level.

Whether developing grass-roots talent or supporting elite players, Bedu brings a personal and professional commitment to the sport, dedication that saw him named among the IOC’s Athlete Role Models for Dakar 2026.

 IGF Executive Director Antony Scanlon said: “Dakar 2026 is a historic moment for the Olympic Movement, and an important opportunity for golf. As an Engagement Sport, our role is simple: put a club in the hands of as many young people and visitors as possible, show them a game they may never otherwise have tried, and make sure they have fun doing it. Rémy's far-reaching coaching expertise makes him the ideal Athlete Role Model to lead that mission on the ground in Dakar.”

Bedu said: “Golf still carries an image of being closed off, and I’ve spent my career trying to prove otherwise, in my day-to-day work in France and during my various missions across Africa.

“Dakar puts that work in front of more young people than I’ve ever reached at once – many of them picking up a club for the very first time. Giving them a genuine first taste of the game, and a reason to want more of it, is exactly what this is about.”