@gurjotbadwal04 has come a long way from the times when a trip to the golf club was an outing and watching elders play gave the impression that the sport was for old people. The perception changed as now she is enamoured. Grinding it out like any other junior got her a share of rewards. “I had podium finishes on the IGU tour and represented the country in tournaments like the Sri Lanka Open Amateurs,” she says.
A turning point was in June 2019 when she “decided to move a step and play professional golf @wgaofindia”. Unlike many, the changeover from amateur golf was nothing major but required a change in work ethics, “full-time commitment and work on and off the course”. “Once you’re a professional golfer, people actually look up to you,” was among the takeaways apart “playing the leader group in my first event at the Bangalore Golf Club and a number of top 10 finishes”.
Also Read:- Stumbling and learning, not stopping Shabeg from getting better
Sport is never “all sunshine and rainbows” and Gurjot was to realise that soon. In a brief span, “there have been times when I wanted to give up because I wasn’t performing well”. But her genes (hailing from a family of international athletes) kept her going. Writing poetry was another stressbuster. “I pen whatever I perceive and helps me deal with frustration after a bad round. We all have in-built mechanisms and mine happens to be this.”
Intrigued by the struggles an athlete endures in the mind, Gurjot is pursuing a Masters in Psychology and is an ardent activist, lending her voice through ‘We Are A Ray’, a group that addresses mental wellness and social issues that often go unheard.
Golf defines Gurjot but her motto, “You are your sun, if you give up, you dim your own light,” spurs her to draw a bigger picture. Hence, the endeavour to “help people in all the ways I can to live better in the long run so that no one ever goes unheard”.
More Read:- Stats not livelihood Shamin’s worry, but all’s not lost
