Chicks With Sticks at Abu Dhabi Golf Club

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Transcript

00:00So my name is Kieran Pratt, I'm the Director of Instruction at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

00:13We are here in Abu Dhabi and we've got the Chicks with Sticks starting tonight.

00:17I saw the program up and running on Instagram and that's when I just thought to myself,

00:22this Chicks with Sticks, what a great idea, how can I get something like this started

00:25at Abu Dhabi Golf Club?

00:27Granted we do have a pretty good ladies program already, I actually just jumped onto Instagram,

00:32messaged Jenny, the organiser of it and sort of things moved forward from there.

00:41My role here at the academy is that I look after obviously the Chicks with Sticks but

00:45also the ladies development program and then the juniors as well.

00:50So we've got five sessions running, we've got classes on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

00:55ranging from 6pm and they're every hour on the hour.

01:00We provide a lot of classes as well, so we've got beginners, we've got intermediate and

01:04advanced.

01:05We've got different levels in each so we'll run a beginner class, a beginner 2.0.

01:10So how that works is if they do one season with us, they start off fresh, five week program

01:15then they'll transition then into the beginner 2.0.

01:18So you're not going straight into like beginner, intermediate and then straight into advanced.

01:23You kind of work your way up towards so that there's not a massive jump in levels which

01:26is great.

01:27And I seem to have proven to be quite popular in that regard.

01:36I started here in September and we first started off kind of in the 40s whereas now we've kind

01:42of got close to I think it's 70ish ladies which is brilliant.

01:48A lot of the teachers are quite into it, that five week block seems to work quite nicely

01:55but we've got nurses, we've got lawyers working oil and gas.

02:00We've actually had a couple of local ladies in Abu Dhabi join the classes as well which

02:05is quite cool and quite unique.

02:07It's just a different sort of market in Abu Dhabi than what it is in Dubai.

02:13I was on my wish list for so long to learn to play golf, learn to play golf and individual

02:19lessons are really expensive.

02:21I didn't like the idea of being one on one with an instructor, I love the group environment

02:25of being here.

02:26This has been my second block, so gosh how many is that, eight weeks or so.

02:33I like the environment it's in, it feels very sort of like there's no judgement, there's

02:36no worries, everyone just kind of gets on and we all have our moments when we're not

02:41creating.

02:42No stress with that, it's just nice and calm.

02:46I suppose the main factor of it is that it's in a relaxed and comfortable environment you

02:50know.

02:51You can show up in comfortable clothing, you don't have to have that strict golf etiquette

02:56where you know you can't wear jeans or you have to wear a collar, it's like rock up in

03:02your gym gear, wear something comfortable.

03:04I think that's a massive attraction and definitely as well the environment as well.

03:09It's a great way for people to meet others and I know some of my friends are actually

03:13people who I coached when I first started off in Dubai.

03:19We're lucky here, we've got such a big driving range, we've got Trackmen Range which has

03:22just opened up, so we can kind of play the hinge where Jenny's from at Abu Dhabi Golf

03:28Club with a lot of the Irish school teachers.

03:30So we can literally give golf lessons to any of the ladies and they can continue to come

03:35down and use the facilities and feel a part of a membership even though they're not a

03:40part of the actual golf club from a membership perspective, so it's very, very inclusive

03:44in that way.

03:45It's been really, really cool to be a part of it from the start in Abu Dhabi.

03:48The thing that's good about it is it's a very social thing.

03:51It's a very light and easy, fun way for the women to get involved and started in golf.

03:57Well I'm playing golf nearly 12, 13 years at this stage and I've even seen the game

04:02change.

04:04This was never available to me, so to have this on offer where you can join a five week

04:09programme at an affordable price and get coached by fantastic golf coaches, if I may say that.

04:18Obviously our aim is to grow the game and we can do that with chicks with sticks, which

04:22is fantastic.

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