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Young mind for old club!

September 20 - 26, 2017
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Gulf Weekly Young mind for old club!

Gulf Weekly Kristian Harrison
By Kristian Harrison

The Middle East’s oldest golf course is driving ahead with plans to revitalise its facilities after appointing a new Head PGA Professional to nurture the kingdom’s passionate players.

Rory Young has landed in Bahrain to replace his good friend Matt Chalmers, who has left to take up a new post in Singapore, and says he can’t wait to start putting his plans into action.

Young said: “I’m delighted to be here in Bahrain at such a brilliant course with more than 80 years of history.

“My main reason for coming is to grow the club and appeal more to the community. There are plenty of golf lovers in Bahrain, and we want to add to our current membership base of 300.”

Young, 32, grew up in the Scottish town of Montrose, a quaint east coast resort steeped in golfing history. It houses the fifth oldest golf course in the world, the Montrose Golf Links Medal Course, dating back to 1562.

He took up golf at the age of 13 when he started vigorously pursuing sport as an outlet from the daily grind of school. He originally took up rugby and squash, before settling on golf as it allowed him to spend a lot of time outdoors, and also meet new people.

He became a fully-licensed teaching professional at 19, and his 14-year career so far has taken him to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Al Ghazal Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, another sand course like Awali.

The course in Bahrain is the oldest in the Middle East and is hugely popular with its members for its challenging ‘Awali bounce’ and the unique ‘browns’ instead of greens, made from a sand and oil composite.

Young explained: “I’ve been fortunate to work on a sand course, and from my experience, it makes you a better golfer because you have to hit the ball better. It’s transferred into my game and I’m a much better golfer now than three years ago.

“Recently, I was looking for a change and I was good friends with Matt Chalmers, and when he was moving onto Singapore he put me in touch with Awali’s Club Captain, Paul Anderson, and we discussed my goals for teaching and his goals for the club. They lined up nicely and when offered the opportunity, I gladly took it.

“Being around different people is fantastic, and I’ve already given my first few lessons. I’ve been lucky to meet people all over the world and travel with the sport. I’m delighted to be in a position to give something back, whilst also helping others to fall in love with the game.”

While a teaching professional is different than a PGA Tour professional, favouring helping others over outright scoring, both require an extremely high skill level. To become a teaching professional, you need a minimum handicap of three and to achieve a certain amount of scores throughout the training.

Young himself still loves playing golf just as much as teaching, competing as much as he can. During his time in Abu Dhabi, he won several events on the UAE PGA circuit.

Aside from teaching, he plans to help oversee the development of Awali Golf Club as it continues its drive to create a community culture for families and casual golf lovers.

The first of these is the installation of floodlights on the driving range. Testing and positioning is currently underway, with the soft opening expected to take place in the next couple of weeks. This will allow the club to appeal to full-time workers who can hit the driving range after office hours until the new closing time of 9pm, as opposed to being limited to weekends, very early mornings or lunch breaks.

Secondly, launch monitors will be introduced to supplement coaching. Not only will this help players improve their swing and driving ability, but it will provide a virtual simulator that can even be used indoors during the hot summer months.

Young said: “I’m looking long-term at developing the coaching base over four-to-five years. There’s a lot to be done and I don’t want to do one season and move on. It will take some time to see the changes come to full fruition, and I’m looking forward to being here for the long-term and seeing them in action.”

Club Captain Anderson echoed these statements, and expressed his delight that the improved facilities will allow the club to focus more on friendly competition. He said: “One of the key things in our club’s constitution is to promote golf in Bahrain. Hiring Rory is part of our mission this year, as he’s the perfect fit to supplement our drive to create a family-focused golfing culture.

“He brings a vast golfing skill-set with him, and so with the enhancements we’re making to the club and driving range, we’re well provisioned to provide both golf instruction and experience.

“It’s our 80th anniversary this year, so more than ever we’re looking at celebrating with some exciting events and creating more casual social leagues, moving away from just going to the range and hitting balls. There’s plenty planned, and we hope to share details very soon once they’re finalised.

“In fact, the new driving range provides us with some opportunities for competition. Look out for newly-painted targets and surprising additions such as gongs! It’s an exciting time to be a member of Awali, and with such an experienced professional as Rory on board, it’s only going to get better.”







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