How Golf’s Becoming a Family Game for Anna Darnell, Resort Director at The Grove
How did you get into golf?
I started playing golf at the age of 5 with my dad and my brother and my grandad. We would always go away on family golfing holidays together as we grew up, and spent most of our time doing this in Ireland and short breaks across the UK.
Do you have an early memory from the golf course that is particularly special?
For me at the age of 13 to have 2 hole in one’s in one year was particularly special.
How do you create work/life balance between your career in the golf industry and family life?
I think in any industry it can be difficult nowadays to ensure you have work/life balance and particularly in the hospitality industry the job has become much more demanding. In general, I ensure my days off with family are spent doing things together, whether that be visiting parks, seeing family and spending time with friends. My daughter has just started taking lessons in the last year, so I’m hoping this means we can start spending time as a family together out on the course like I did with my parents.
Does your family play golf with you? If so, how often do you guys play?
Myself and my husband both play but with our daughter not ready to go on the course yet we struggle to play together, sometimes we would go out for a few holes with her on the buggy and she would hit a few balls. We regularly go to top golf and crazy golf as this brings the fun element into the game that kids need.
If your family plays golf with you, who is the best player in the family?
Me :)
If you and your family could only use one golf club for a round of golf, what club would it be and why?
My trusty 7-wood, I can’t ever remember a bad shot with this club. Would work for all sorts of shots including a little bump and run around the green and some distance off the tee. Not sure how greenside bunker shots would work though!
What is one golf club on your family’s bucket list to play at that you have not played yet?
We’ve been fortunate enough, but on separate occasions to play a number of the top courses in the world, especially in Scotland and Ireland. We would love to play Pebble Beach.