 "Interview | ‘Happy to see Indian girls coming up in golf,’ says India’s first ever female golfer to win a medal at Asian Games")
Among the longest hitters, at 25 years of age, this girl has been wowing golfing fans across the world. Her straight hits cover much ground, leaving onlookers agape. For world no. 41, Aditi Ashok, who has had a spectacular run in the 2023 LET, opens with a much-cherished win on European soil, winning the Ladies Open 2023 season-ending tournament at the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open (Spain). It’s total surrender to the game: she won her fourth Ladies European Tour title at the Kenya Ladies Open, came third in Morocco, and was runner-up in Saudi Arabia (2023).
Scratch the calm demeanour, and there is a girl with a plan who wants to hit straighter and longer. Golf consumes her. She recently reconnected with her childhood coach, Gaurav Diwan, and is “working on my swing speed and distance”. From those early years, she turned pro in 2016 and was also rookie of the year, and Ashok is the first Indian female golfer to enter the top 50 world ranking.
On a journey that began at age five, she accompanied her father, Ashok Gudlamani, onto the Karnataka Golf Course in Bangalore. One swing and another, and soon she was hooked. Over the years, her resolve, passion, and stoic stance have seen her climb deftly along the ranks of ladies’ golf. Putting, she believes, is her strength, and often birdie-ing to perfection, the ramrod straight serious girl with her lips pursed in concentration has beaten men, trumped tournaments, and is eyeing 2024 as the greens promise victories ahoy.
“Finishing in the top 5 in Spain has been heartening after the work I have put in. It has been completely different when compared to where I was in 2022. Then, I was ranked 99 at the LPG. So, the first win (in Kenya) got the ball rolling,” smiles Aditi.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA miss at the 2020 Olympics (she came fourth), a silver at the Asian Games 2023, she dug deep after an off-kilter season. Having crossed the finish line with wins, she feels failure teaches, victories not so much. “In August, I took a month or two off to prepare for the Asian Games. Even though it had no ranking points and had nothing to do with my LPGA, it was important for me. I finished second; I probably should have won it. Looking back, being ahead by big shots, and not winning was a hard pill to swallow. I played badly on the final day. It was one of the worst rounds I’ve played all season,” admits Aditi.
Being in the moment
Failures have made her resolute – her focus is on the shot, not the result. In sport where losses greatly outweigh the wins, she has over the years learnt to leave the outcome and focus on the moment.
On the course, her maturity is in plain sight. Playing on a world stage, she mulls, “My strength is putting—that’s where I score well. I know I have to keep working on it to ensure it stays strong. I’ve played better golf even when I was a kid competing against boys, or when, at 12, I competed against 18 year olds. It was the edge I had. Now, professionally, I think hitting straight is also a strength.” Last year, her swing speed improved, and she gained distance too.
‘I don’t show emotions’
Prod her about her stoic stance, and she laughs, “It might look like I am calm, as when I play, I don’t show emotions, but I also started as a five-year-old, so now it’s a part of who I am.” Uncannily, the nature of golf has become her nature now.
Surprisingly, Team Aditi Ashok is also small. Her father Ashok caddies for her often and guides her, and her mother Maheshwari is her manager, agent, and confidante, all rolled into one.
Being a vegan, she says, “I’m not very specific on a diet; don’t count calories. As a vegan, it is hard. Also, after playing four consecutive days in hot weather, I ended up losing 23 kilos. So now, I have added protein shakes, eat high carbs before a match, though I prefer not to eat when playing, and I subsist on bananas. Right now, my game is going well; if it were not, we could have explored a nutritionist or even a mind coach. Why change a winning formula?” She has been researching meditation, though.
For a 25-year-old who travels six to eight months a year, the jet lag, change in routine, and time difference are tough. Yet Aditi is unwavering. She prefers travelling on weekends, tries for some shuteye on flights, aims to sleep nine hours or more, and is hardly ever seen in town.
‘Mental part harder in golf’
A game of golf, Aditi feels, takes time, with a result after hours, which can be nerve-racking. “If you start a tournament well, you have almost two days to think about the outcome. Other sports don’t have that prolonged period, which makes the mental part of golf harder. Thinking too much about the outcome can be taxing. As a kid, I would play with freedom, whether I won or lost. Now, the stakes are higher, so in pressure situations, I try to talk myself out of anxiety, figure out if I need to do anything differently. Most often, I stick to my process ,” she explains. Her strict routine keeps her on an even keel.
“You have to focus on aligning properly, copying what you did on the driving range, and warm-ups and stretches. It’s hard to separate the result from the process, but I try to do that,” she adds.
‘Happy to see Indian girls coming up’
The golfer said she is happy to see Indian girls coming up in the ranks. “Diksha Dagar is doing well. She won in 2018 when she turned pro. This year has been amazing, as while Indians have played in Europe in the past, we’ve never had anyone do well. Having multiple girls from India is great to see. The more people play golf and achieve, not just me, I think more girls in India will consider taking golf up as a career,” says the girl, who unwinds to comedy and horror on Netflix and pop music.
Mention the Paris Olympics 2024, and her eyes light up. “Hopefully, I can get into that game and play well. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the course in Paris. So the hope is that it turns out to be a great week.”
For more victories
The LPGA is always on her mind, and she feels that if she plays her best, she can have more victories.
Her hobby of collecting lapel pins is now a robust collection of 500. Already eyeing the next Olympics for one, strangely, she does not follow other sports or have any other hobbies.
Sticking to the basics, practice, dedication, working hard, and having a routine are key for amateurs, she says. “Spend as much time on your game as possible to get better. The workload is hitting the ball further because, as the game has grown, that’s kind of the direction the game has gone in. If your parents or coach want you to play, that is not enough. The urge to play should come from within. That’s when you’ll actually do your best, wake up early, and go practice for eight hours. Enjoy the game.”
Now that 2023 has cemented her stellar talent at the LET, it’s now onward to make a mark at the LPGA. Accolades, monikers, ranks, as an Indian also don’t do much for her. “I never let the acclaim get to my head. I know there’s always something bigger and better; the more players, the more there is to achieve,” ends the pro.
The writer is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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