The golf season is in full swing, at last! We have a lot to look forward to with exciting events scheduled to take place for amateur golfers locally and soon we'll welcome the world's ‘golf heavyweights' to Dubai and Abu Dhabi as the pros get ready to take to the course at the Omega Ladies Masters, Dubai World Championship, Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Emirates Airline Invitational Pro-am and, finally, the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. It sounds overwhelming, doesn't it! The UAE turns into a huge ‘golf festival' for the next three months! Virtually like the city of Monaco that turns into a race circuit every year during the F1 Grand Prix.
Golf is very much alive! This is certainly the energy that I'm receiving. Which brings me back to thinking, where are the lady golfers that have completed their golf coaching programme, and most likely men and juniors too?
Sources have said that apparently one golf academy is currently putting 60 ladies through a beginner golf programme and another is rumoured to be coaching a group of 40 ladies — fantastic! But why are we not seeing them on the golf course?
Not ready yet
A scenario I personally faced when I took up golf for the first time and signed up for eight lessons at one of my favourite courses. The PGA Pro was excellent — he got me to swing a club like Tiger Woods, fine, not nearly, but in my swing analysis video my swing was compared to that of Tiger's. Coaching progressed well, I finished my eight lessons and received a firm Scottish handshake at the end of my coaching programme. I was ready to hit the greens dressed looking the part, with new sparkling white shoes, shiny clubs and the latest collection in Callaway golf bag, all the ‘bling' a girl can wish for.
I was wrong, although I may have looked the part and managed to swing a club and not miss the ball, I was far from ready to go out on a golf course and play an actual golf game. This is when Women's Golf Middle East was born and meeting Sandy Meyer soon after, we shared the same views — she as a PGA Professional and I as a beginner golfer.
The game can be intimidating when you first start out, and that's just being able to play, let alone knowing the rules and etiquette of golf, which span the pages of a book thicker than the Oxford dictionary and lo and behold if you break any of them especially if you are paired with men.
Become a member
Women's Golf Middle East offers a wide range of golf, social and networking activities for new and experienced lady golfers, a welcoming environment, golf education and player development, unique golf experiences, and numerous discounts and savings, all part of the many benefits of becoming a Women's Golf Middle East Member. Lady golfers can visit the website, www.womensgolfme.com, for more details on our activities and annual membership, starting from November 1.
This will be my last column for a while. For those of you who enjoyed reading the weekly golf column, thank you for your readership and often positive feedback! For those who have not enjoyed it as much, I have good news for you and I hope you like soccer, because from next week on some soccer dude will replace my golf column and we look forward to reading some chitchat on the soccer scene!
Happy Golfing!
