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Only a few golfing clubs in the Middle East can lay claim to having a female PGA-qualified golfing professional on their staff. And, two of Abu Dhabi’s premier golfing facilities – Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, both managed by Troon Golf and owned by the Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) - can each boast just that!
Abu Dhabi Golf Club – home to the PGA European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, and the recently opened Gary Player-designed Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, have PGA-qualified staff as their Events Manager and Retail Manager respectively. And being PGA-qualified golfing professionals, both ladies also serve as instructors to female golfers on request.
Kate Phillips, who promotes events at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, qualified to play on the Ladies European Tour of 2004 and 2005, and earned her PGA qualification whilst on tour.
“My handicap was +2 when I decided to turn professional,” she recalls. “Having played for my country for 10 years as an amateur, I felt I was ready to move into the professional ranks.
“The qualifying school was in Italy. It was a two week intensive school starting with 200 competitors and the last 30 gained their qualification. It was a very gruelling week and as you can imagine, I was thrilled to earn the right to be a fully qualified professional - something I had always dreamed of,” she adds.
Nicole Tilley is a Level 3 PGA Apprentice with the PGA of America. Saadiyat Beach Golf Club – where she runs the Golf Shop - is the fourth Troon facility she has worked in, beginning with the Westin Mission Hills Resort and, more recently, the Classic Club - host site of the 2006, 2007 & 2008 PGA tour’s Bob Hope Classic, both in the Palm Springs area of Southern California. She recently received her five-year Service Award with Troon Golf.
Whilst at Westin Mission Hills Resort, Nicole organised the local Ladies’ League and increased participation from the previous year by 75%, whilst also helping in the development of new golfers through afternoon clinics. She also had a number of female students, each of varying abilities, whilst working in the US.
“I sometimes feel that women can relate more to a female teacher and relax a lot more,” she explains. “I really enjoy the teaching aspect as you are helping someone to achieve the goals they set for themselves.”
Both Nicole and Kate feel fortunate that they have managed to travel and see the world because of their golf. “I also feel very lucky to be in the job that I am now in, as it is based at one of the most beautiful and well known courses in the world,” adds Kate. “Abu Dhabi has fast become a major golf tourism destination, because of this club, and the facilities here want for nothing.”
Nicole is similarly delighted with the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, which she describes as “fantastic – an amazing design of a brand new course that will surely raise the bar for other golf courses in the years to come. With the coming on stream of Saadiyat Beach Club, both tourists and residents are discovering yet more options to play and now have yet another reason to visit the region. It almost goes without saying that this course is one of the world’s most exciting, emerging golf centres of excellence – as you would expect from one designed by the golfing legend, Gary Player.”
Both the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club are Troon-managed golfing facilities that welcome visitors to the Emirates. The 162 hectare Abu Dhabi Golf Club is now ranked in the World’s Top 100; whilst the 7,784 yard Saadiyat Beach Golf Club course is the only daily pay-and-play facility in the Middle East.
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