• 2 days ago
Read more Golf in UAE stories here:
https://gulfnews.com/sport/golf-in-uae

Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV

#UAEnews #golf #sports
Transcript
00:00So my name is Kieran Pratt, I'm the Director of Instruction at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
00:13We are here in Abu Dhabi and we've got the Chicks with Sticks starting tonight.
00:17I saw the program up and running on Instagram and that's when I just thought to myself,
00:22this Chicks with Sticks, what a great idea, how can I get something like this started
00:25at Abu Dhabi Golf Club?
00:27Granted we do have a pretty good ladies program already, I actually just jumped onto Instagram,
00:32messaged Jenny, the organiser of it and sort of things moved forward from there.
00:41My role here at the academy is that I look after obviously the Chicks with Sticks but
00:45also the ladies development program and then the juniors as well.
00:50So we've got five sessions running, we've got classes on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
00:55ranging from 6pm and they're every hour on the hour.
01:00We provide a lot of classes as well, so we've got beginners, we've got intermediate and
01:04advanced.
01:05We've got different levels in each so we'll run a beginner class, a beginner 2.0.
01:10So how that works is if they do one season with us, they start off fresh, five week program
01:15then they'll transition then into the beginner 2.0.
01:18So you're not going straight into like beginner, intermediate and then straight into advanced.
01:23You kind of work your way up towards so that there's not a massive jump in levels which
01:26is great.
01:27And I seem to have proven to be quite popular in that regard.
01:36I started here in September and we first started off kind of in the 40s whereas now we've kind
01:42of got close to I think it's 70ish ladies which is brilliant.
01:48A lot of the teachers are quite into it, that five week block seems to work quite nicely
01:55but we've got nurses, we've got lawyers working oil and gas.
02:00We've actually had a couple of local ladies in Abu Dhabi join the classes as well which
02:05is quite cool and quite unique.
02:07It's just a different sort of market in Abu Dhabi than what it is in Dubai.
02:13I was on my wish list for so long to learn to play golf, learn to play golf and individual
02:19lessons are really expensive.
02:21I didn't like the idea of being one on one with an instructor, I love the group environment
02:25of being here.
02:26This has been my second block, so gosh how many is that, eight weeks or so.
02:33I like the environment it's in, it feels very sort of like there's no judgement, there's
02:36no worries, everyone just kind of gets on and we all have our moments when we're not
02:41creating.
02:42No stress with that, it's just nice and calm.
02:46I suppose the main factor of it is that it's in a relaxed and comfortable environment you
02:50know.
02:51You can show up in comfortable clothing, you don't have to have that strict golf etiquette
02:56where you know you can't wear jeans or you have to wear a collar, it's like rock up in
03:02your gym gear, wear something comfortable.
03:04I think that's a massive attraction and definitely as well the environment as well.
03:09It's a great way for people to meet others and I know some of my friends are actually
03:13people who I coached when I first started off in Dubai.
03:19We're lucky here, we've got such a big driving range, we've got Trackmen Range which has
03:22just opened up, so we can kind of play the hinge where Jenny's from at Abu Dhabi Golf
03:28Club with a lot of the Irish school teachers.
03:30So we can literally give golf lessons to any of the ladies and they can continue to come
03:35down and use the facilities and feel a part of a membership even though they're not a
03:40part of the actual golf club from a membership perspective, so it's very, very inclusive
03:44in that way.
03:45It's been really, really cool to be a part of it from the start in Abu Dhabi.
03:48The thing that's good about it is it's a very social thing.
03:51It's a very light and easy, fun way for the women to get involved and started in golf.
03:57Well I'm playing golf nearly 12, 13 years at this stage and I've even seen the game
04:02change.
04:04This was never available to me, so to have this on offer where you can join a five week
04:09programme at an affordable price and get coached by fantastic golf coaches, if I may say that.
04:18Obviously our aim is to grow the game and we can do that with chicks with sticks, which
04:22is fantastic.