What you need to know about the Love.Golf Ladies Program at Claude Harmon III Performance Golf Academy
love.golf ladies is exclusive to Claude Harmon III Performance Golf Academy at The Els Club Dubai, in the Middle East, and offers an experience, unlike any other ladies program. We asked Teaching Professionals Amy Milward & Amy Condon to tell us all about the program, what makes it special and why these initiatives to grow the game of golf are important.
What does the love.golf ladies programme cover?
Our explorer package at CH3 is perfect for beginner golfers. Our 9-week package gets ladies ready to get out on the golf course as soon as they feel ready and comfortable to do so. We as coaches encourage our ladies to get out on the golf course as soon as possible whether it’s after lesson 1, 5 or 9. This will help build up experience and confidence in playing the game of golf.
Do you run any Events outside of the ladies’ program and what do you do to promote the social side of the game?
Our main goal with the ladies’ program is to make sure the ladies have the best experience learning the game while having fun, gaining knowledge and experiencing and meeting new people. We offer a monthly social Par 3 event on local Troon golf courses to give our ladies the chance to meet other women from our different groups while also trying out the course and being guided by a PGA Professional. These have proven to be quite successful and a whole lot of fun. During these sessions, we encourage a more relaxed and enjoyable environment where by its perfectly ok to have a chat and a laugh as they play.
What do you do to encourage women to play golf?
We pride ourselves on creating a relaxed and fun environment while broadening the knowledge of our ladies. The ladies within our programme are never pressured to perform but to improve and develop at their own rate as we understand that all ladies will have different goals and objectives when it comes to their golf game.
Why do you think it’s important to grow the game?
This is obviously our main focus. How we encourage and grow the game is massively important to us. We do this by creating a relaxing and fun environment where by there are no specific rules regarding attire or behaviour. We want to spread our love of the game by adapting to our ladies. As two females who grew up playing the game and have received so much from it, it is important for us to give back and share what we have experienced previously. Because of this we want to see as many females try and enjoy the game because as soon as they do we know they will fall in love with the game just as we did.
What do you believe are the reasons behind the success and popularity of the ladies’ program at CH3?
We think the main reason why the love.golf ladies program is successful is because of the relaxed environment we create and the fact that every group that is created, we have ensured all ladies are around the same ability level so that nobody feels out of place or out of their depth. Strong friendship bonds are created in these classes, due to allowing the ladies to stop, chat and laugh for a while before continuing with their golf, and therefore they tend to continue through the program together as a group.