Dubai: Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has been given honorary life membership of The Els Club at Dubai Sports City as he sets out to improve his golfing skills.
Tendulkar, who retired from cricket last November as the most capped player and the leading run-scorer of all-time at international level, received the award from Dubai Sports City Partner Abdul Rahman Falaknaz during his recent stay in the UAE as part of the backroom staff of Pepsi Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians.
Tendulkar also used his downtime away from the cricketing action to take a golf lesson with Butch Harmon School of Golf (BHSG) Director of Instruction Justin Parsons.
And he later played nine holes of The Els Club’s championship course designed by multiple major winner Ernie Els, doing so alongside BHSG Teaching Professional Jamie McConnell.
Falaknaz said: “On behalf of everyone at Dubai Sports City, I was delighted to award Sachin Tendulkar with honorary life membership of The Els Club.
“Sachin has given so much to the world of sport, both through his performances and also the way he has conducted himself over more than two decades at the very highest level. Therefore, it was fitting for us to have given him something whilst expressing our thanks and recognition for all that he has achieved.
“We are delighted Sachin chose to come to Dubai Sports City as he seeks to develop his golf game and, in The Els Club and The Butch Harmon School of Golf, we have two of the country’s and the region’s outstanding facilities.
The Els Club General Manager Chris Brown added: “Having Sachin Tendulkar spend time with us and receive his honorary life membership of The Els Club was a huge pleasure, and his presence extends the list of star names we have had here over the past few months.
“That list also includes former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, Hollywood actor Will Smith and ex-Manchester United and Denmark goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.”
BHSG Director of Instruction Justin Parsons said that as some of the body movements of golf differed from cricket, making sure Tendulkar understood those differences proved to be the main focus of their two-hour lesson together.
“The main content of his lesson was the concept of golf as a rotational sport against batting in cricket which, with the exception of the hook or pull shot, is not,” he said.
“Sachin’s address position mirrored his cricket stance, so we improved that for golf and got him allowing his arms and shoulders to rotate the club around his body. He learned the movement quickly and made very quick progress.
“It is interesting teaching very high achievers like Sachin. They have the ability to quietly learn what you are asking of them and are very single-minded in their approach to improvement. Sachin has recently started to take an interest in golf and I am sure he will be able to attain a good standard.”
After speaking with McConnell, who played nine holes with Tendulkar, Parsons said the former cricketer’s potential to become a very good golfer was clear.
“Jamie said that, as you would expect, his hand-eye coordination was great and, combined with the determination he has to succeed, he can really improve his golf skills with time to achieve a competitive standard within the game.
“Sachin told Jamie that although he had played before, he had only played a handful of rounds in the past year or so. Given that fact, he did extremely well during their nine holes together, playing to a handicap of 18, which was fantastic.”
