Sport was an escape from school textbooks for @ananyadatar_golf, even then golf was the least enjoyable as “I did not know how to play”, she says. Father @abhaygolf kept at it and ensured she accompanied him to the Bombay Presidency Golf Club. Ananya eventually fell in love as she got into serious practice and stays thankful for that. The thrill of winning across junior and amateur circuits was the elixir to keep going, and among the highs during that phase was meeting @annikas59 during a tournament in Mission Hills, China. “Listening to how she goes about her pre-shot routine was unreal.”
Ananya was in a happy space going into her Class X Board exams, supremely fit and playing her best golf. The three-month hiatus that followed was tough and soon she began to question her existence on the golf course. “I had lost touch and despite hard work, results weren’t coming in. My self-confidence was shattered and made me question whether I should consider making golf a fulltime profession.”
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Her angel in distress was again Abhay and he suggested Ananya explore a change in coach before taking a call. Pune was accessible and so was @laurencebrotheridge and paved the way for a metamorphosis in mid-2018. “My game started to show a lot of promise which helped me regain confidence. Thanks to the support from Laurence and his faith in me, I turned professional in 2019.”
Ananya has coped well with the great leap by posting several strong finishes @wgaofindia , including a win on her home course before lockdown. Well and truly on her way to creating a niche, her focus is often termed an obsession. Her counter to the naysayers is, “Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.”
Pic credit: Ananya Datar
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