It’s been five years, and yet, stories from the COVID days — of new skills acquired, passions followed, or ventures born — keep cropping up quietly in our every day conversations. One such new chapter was entered by Ananthi Vivek when she signed up for a summer camp at the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation (TNGF) course in Chennai.
It was not just a summer camp but a way to explore a new sport. “I started [playing golf] just before COVID at a summer camp. It was something that I just started on the side because I was anyway playing a lot of other sports. And my granddad used to play golf. He would say, ‘If you can play golf, you can play anything.’ That’s how I kind of got into it.”
A year later, during the mayhem of the pandemic, Ananthi decided to take golf seriously because it was the only sport she could play in the open space. The golfer also has an expertise in a number of reaction-based sports like squash, tennis, and basketball, “But in golf, the approach is very different. It makes you think and strategise , and you’ll never really have the same shot to hit twice,” says Ananthi, who was trained by coach Jayanan at TNGF.
She adds, “The lifestyle the sport offers — the holistic gym training, the physical conditioning and the mental training — requires different aspects to be good at.” Soon, golf became more than just a game — an indispensable part of her.
Other side of the coin
The more she grew familiar with the game, the more she understood the lack of easy access, infrastructure, and guidance for young golfers like her in the city. Chennai has been far from ideal for budding golfers, she says. Hence, she moved to join the TSG Academy in Kolar where she was under thes guidance of coach Tarun Sardesai. Ananthi points out, “We do have a lack of coaches and a lack of facilities in Chennai. We used to have two golf courses, and now, we only have one. The local government has uprooted one golf course, and it is upsetting.”
Ananthi thinks that golf is a sport that can become big in India; and the government with its initiatives, can instil confidence in individuals to do so by giving access to spaces, increasing recognition, and supporting the players with their travel. She also suggests that the government can create a programme, or they should outsource the task to private entities. “Many academies and coaches in India want golf to be accessible at the grassroots level. That’s the only way you can grow this sport better.”
The only kind of golf popular in Chennai is simulator golf, wherein individuals play in a room — in front of a big screen — with a monitor to track their shots. “It’s important for the government to see that this [golf] is something that could make the state bigger in terms of sport,” the golfer stresses.
Beyond the inaccessibility, at a personal level, for a player to be a “good golfer”, consistency is the key. Consistent, not in terms of being present on the course, hitting shots and the same shot repeatedly. But, “It’s more about making sure you approach the shot with the same routine each time; its about making sure you eat the right food every day, the same way. It’s about going to bed, waking up on time every day,” Ananthi notes.
Camp to championship
This discipline has got her into winning the Nepal Amateur Open in Nepal — her final amateur event before college — the one that opened her World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). “It was my last event run for the season. I went in with the mindset that I wanted to win so that I would have this for college. Things worked out for me.”
About the win, Ananthi shares, “Once you open the [WAGR] account, every tournament you play, adds to your points. When you have a world ranking, you will get more invites to play bigger events. And when you play bigger events, you become a better player.”
After this world ranking and multiple wins, Ananthi is set to compete in the US collegiate circuit while continuing to train with her Indian coaches remotely, and plans to turn professional after college. This 18-year-old is committed to playing NCAA Division I women’s golf at the University of Colorado Boulder.
She chose Colorado for more than just the facilities. “From the athlete’s point of view,” she says, “Colorado has a great programme to offer. Secondly, I really got along with the coach. She sees that by my second or third year, I have the potential to be one of the best athlete on the team.” Ananthi met her new coach Madeleine Sheils at a US tournament called the FCG Callaway World Championship.
Under the new coach, in a new space, and with new competitions to look forward to, Ananthi aims to sharpen her skills and consistently post better scores. “I think I will get the best exposure.” As soon as Ananthi gets to the college in early August, the qualifiers and the tournaments will start by August end or September beginning.
After years of steady growth, Ananthi sees golf for what it can truly be. She has placed the sport on a pedestal, and she admits that it has made her career concrete. “After starting golf, I realised that sport doesn’t have to be something people only do for fun.”
She has a message to convey to those who view golf as an elite sport or a retirement hobby: “It can also be something that juniors start and become professionals in.”