Swiss national golf team tune up for the new season in Al Ain

Dubai: The Swiss national golf team completed a 12-day stint at Al Ain Equestrian Shooting and Golf Club, Abu Dhabi (AESGC) for an intensive winter training camp.

Summing up their experience, their national coach Richard Adsby said: ‘‘The camp’s objective was to transition out of the winter technical training phase and prepare for the start of the tournament season with lots of on-course work and performance based exercises. We also had a strong emphasis on soft skills and each player’s understanding the best version of themselves.’’

With AESGC’s outstanding 18-hole Championship Course, nine-hole Academy Course and 300 metre double-sided turfed Driving Range, coach Adsby said: ‘‘The facility at Al Ain gave us the perfect opportunity to do some great work with the premium condition of the Championship and Academy courses and their flexibility to let us set up the courses to test different skill sets throughout the week. The Academy Course is the ideal opportunity for us to really sharpen the short games of our players and get them into a competitive scoring mode ahead of the season’

The ideal winter UAE weather was also a huge plus point for coach Adsby and his budding young stars. ‘‘In Switzerland, our winter conditions do not allow us to train on grass or play on the course so we have lots of technical work and range or simulator time, with short game and putting generally only possible on mats. The facility here in Al Ain and, of course, the great weather in the UAE at this time of year has enabled us to really see where our players stand with less than a month until the Challenge Tour and the big European amateur events kick off,’’he added.

The team has, among others, young elite amateur golfers as well as Challenge Tour professionals - Jeremy Freiburghaus, Benjamin Rusch and Robert Foley.

Fifth trip for Foley

For Foley, it was his fifth pre-season trip out to AESGC, with four previous visits while studying at Stirling University. Foley appreciates the chance to sharpen up his game at AESGC: ‘‘The quality of the turf, the short game areas, even the range balls, it allows a very high level of practice. All of us love the Academy Course and we have all noticeably sharpened up our wedge games through using it. The Championship Course is superb, easily Tour level condition and we all looked forward to playing it every day. We’ve all had a great trip.

‘‘We were really happy with the work we were able to put in with the players here and thank all the staff at AESGC for their very welcoming hospitality. It really is a great facility for us to host our preparation camp and we hope to return again early in 2023,’’ concluded coach Adsby.