Gulf News headed to Lahinch Golf Club, Ireland home of the Chicks With Sticks founder

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Transcript

00:00Big thank you to Harry and Golf News for coming to La Hinch Golf Club today.

00:04We're thrilled to have you. Clear my heart, my home, up the banner!

00:17It's great! A very warm welcome to La Hinch Golf Club. We're here on the west coast of Ireland,

00:23it's windy, we're all looking a little windswept today, but yeah, it's great to be back.

00:28Temperatures were hitting over 40 degrees in Dubai, a little too hot for golf, so yeah,

00:34it may not be sunny here today, but it's great temperatures for golf, so thrilled to be here.

00:39I've been a member here since I was like 10 years old, I've been spending summer here since I was

00:44like 5, so I often joke that it's my happy place, my favourite place in the world, so yeah,

00:50thrilled to be here for another summer of fun and development.

00:55The famous cliffs of Moher are like just up the road, it's a real famous tourist spot, it's called

01:01the Wild Atlantic Way, this region in Ireland, and it's really well known for its surfing as well,

01:07so you know, as a junior girl golfer growing up here, I kind of would have gone straight from

01:12the golf course straight to the surfing, so my mom had me doing both, so it's great,

01:18I was always kept busy and yeah, lots to do in La Hinch.

01:22The La Hinch Golf Club has hosted loads of prestigious events most recently,

01:26we had the Irish Open in 2019, John Ram was the winner, it was a week to remember,

01:32we're all still talking about it, so inshallah we'll get the Irish Open back again someday,

01:37that would be great, and yeah, we're also hosting the Palmer Cup next year, so yeah, we're really lucky.

01:45There's such a strong ladies club here at La Hinch, it's so well organised,

01:50there's so many amazing ladies, amazing players, so you know, I was so lucky to be, you know,

01:55in that from a young age, the junior golf program was really strong here, so I played junior golf

02:01here every summer growing up, started playing on the senior cup team here when I was a teenager,

02:07and yeah, we've loads of amazing female role models here at the club,

02:10and loads of great, great players, so yeah, it's great.

02:14I've played golf all over the world, and this is just, it's just so special, I mean,

02:20compared to courses in Dubai, it would be very different obviously, and you can see that straight

02:23away when you look at it, but La Hinch, I think we're known for, we've a lot of blind shots,

02:28so the famous Dale is obviously a really famous par tree, and it's a blind par tree,

02:32so you could probably hit a perfect shot, and you could end up walking out of there at like a four

02:36or five, because you just never really know, and then there's another few famous holes,

02:41six and seven, where you're right by the coastline, and it's just,

02:45just really, really beautiful. I believe Graham Martell, who's obviously an Irish

02:50touring professional, he said that one of his favorite views in golf is the view by the sixth

02:54hole. Even when we hosted the Irish Open in 2019, all the pros were saying how cool it is that the

03:01golf course literally, it goes into the village, so like within five minutes, like not even,

03:05you're literally in the village, which is really special, just the, like the atmosphere and

03:10everything is amazing here, and everyone plays golf.

03:19When I went to Dubai, I definitely, you know, felt there was a huge gap for me, and it was great to

03:26go out and play with the lads and have a bit of fun, but I really, really miss that competitive,

03:32you know, club element that I have here in La Hinch, and you know, I'm never short of,

03:36you know, a few friends to play with every weekend and have some, like a competitive or fun

03:40golf, and yeah, I really miss that when I moved to Dubai, and you know, I've spoken about seeing

03:47this huge gap in the market for introducing women to golf, you know, I was so lucky that

03:53that happened organically and naturally for me here at La Hinch, and so yeah, it was my honor

03:57to do the same in Dubai. Jenny's a go-getter, and Jenny headed off to Dubai to work as a teacher,

04:04sort of, you know, get a few bob, get a few bob together. Jenny ended up with chicks with sticks,

04:09and that's very good, it's very impressive, they're slowly but surely getting into it,

04:13but we need to see more girls out there and enjoying the sport. It is the talk of the club,

04:19yeah, everyone's really interested, like it's something different that she's set up, and

04:24obviously it's really successful, and it's great, and it's great to see the golf in Dubai, and

04:30the UAE is really coming on, especially women's golf. I'm a primary school teacher, so a lot of

04:36my friends go to Dubai, and like, often my friends would text me being like, oh, I met your friend

04:40Jenny at chicks with sticks, which is really cool, because they're not golfers, but they are now,

04:46but they got the opportunity to go and play.

04:50Jenny, setting up chicks with sticks in Dubai is just another big thing, and

04:54you know, I have even friends in America who kind of ask me, like, I haven't told them about

04:59chicks with sticks, and they've heard of it, you know, and what she has done to just promote it

05:04even more has been really, really good for the game. It's something that, as she mentioned,

05:10and she's always said this, like it kind of just happened, you know what I mean, she didn't mean

05:14to do it, it's just that she loves golf, she loves playing golf, and she loves the social side of it,

05:19the competition, she likes every aspect of it, and just like how we do, just because the men always

05:24play it, and they get all the big prize funds, and all the TV coverage, doesn't mean like that

05:28there's not women playing, and I think that, you know, you see it now definitely on the pro side, that

05:33you know, the purses are getting bigger, there's more coverage on TV, and people are

05:38showing up to watch it, so yeah, it's definitely growing, and I think it's great for the game.

05:49There is the World Amateur Team Championships on there next October, it's in Abu Dhabi, and I'd be

05:55hoping to get picked on that, that's a big goal of mine for the year, so hopefully by October I'll

06:00have been there, so that's a goal of mine, so hopefully maybe I'll get to see all you guys out there again.

06:10I've heard great stuff about it, everybody knows the Golfing Dubai is good, you know, it gets a lot

06:13of coverage on TV, and you see all the pros out there, I mean McIlroy, everybody out there,

06:19especially the Europeans, and you see now even more the past few years, the Americans traveling over,

06:24which I think is great, and you know, Dubai every year seems to just keep getting better and better,

06:29and the Middle East in general, I mean, more coverage in social media and in the media in general.

06:35I mean, I've just seen pictures and stuff, and they look really nice, obviously the weather,

06:39I'd say I'd have to adjust to the hot weather, being from the west coast of Ireland, we don't

06:43get that kind of temperatures, but you see the courses look unbelievable, so I'd love to get

06:48the chance to go play.

06:52Oh, I've known Colm McLaughlin for like, I'd say 40 years, Colm lived in Ennis, County Clare, where I live,

06:59and he lived actually across the road from us, and he worked in the Shannon Duty Free, and went off

07:05and set up the Duty Free in Dubai, and has never looked back, and we're very proud of Colm, he's

07:10also very much instrumental in, you know, the racing for Dubai, and the Irish golf, so we're

07:18very proud of, and he's done a lot for Ireland actually, and I'm sure Colm has done a lot for Dubai as well.

07:28The Hinch is a very busy club, between the members and the Greenpeace, so I'm not too sure would

07:34there be space for too many chicks and sticks around here, but for sure I'm looking at doing

07:39some pop-up events in the autumn, you know, I do think the market is there, all my friends want me

07:45to bring it here, and the merch is rocking at the minute, so yeah, I definitely think

07:51there's scope for development here for sure. You know, everyone always wants to see and hear about

07:56my updates, and yeah, they're all really keen to get some sort of chicks with sticks model going

08:01over here, so yeah, let's see what happens.

08:09you

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