Clutching a miniature club in her hand, Ananya Mohan is learning to hit a ball. The nine-year-old is one of the youngest golf enthusiasts teeing off at the Delhi Golf Club. And she seldom misses her practice session every evening after school. “I like the game,” says Mohan as her mother watches fondly from a distance.

Cut to the Noida Golf Course on the outskirts of Delhi. Here, Gauri Monga, 13, who started playing a few months ago, is practising for her next tournament. Gauri has turned out to be a fast learner and has already taken part in several amateur tourneys. Her mother Aashana, a former captain of the Noida Golf Club has been pleasantly surprised by Gauri’s lightning swift progress. “What I did in two years, my daughter has done in five months,” she says.

Watch out guys! Another male bastion is being invaded by the fairer sex. There aren’t any Michelle Wies out there on the fairways yet. But women and young girls are turning up with their clubs in larger numbers than ever before. “More girls are starting to play early. A while ago there weren’t many girls in the course,” says Nonita Lall Qureshi, who played as an amateur for 17 years on the Indian and international circuits.

Vaishavi Sinha

Women’s golf is still at a nascent stage but that’s likely to change fast. In March the first ever tournament, the DLF Women’s Indian Open Championship, with prize money of $100,000 will tee off and it aims to develop along the lines of the men’s Indian open. The tournament will be the fourth leg of the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.

Then, there’s the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI) that was launched last September. Its secretary-general Champika Sayal aims to boost the game in different ways. The association will, for instance, encourage women to look for jobs as coaches and even think of turning pro. Says Sayal, “Most women were reluctant to take up the game thinking there was no future. We will try and open new avenues for them.”

That might be just the boost that women need. Take a look at Chandigarh-based player Irina Brar, who has just turned pro. The 23 year-old started playing at 12 and was rated India’s number one at 16. “As a pro, I will now be able to accept money as a prize. So far, I’ve been playing amateur golf getting just trophies.”

(From top) Laverry Kumar, Mani Chander and Nonita

So far, only one other Indian woman has turned pro. That’s Calcutta-born Smriti Mehra, 34, who’s now based in Florida. Mehra, who mostly plays in the US circuit, turned professional in 1994. “She’s as good as any male player. Better probably. She’s a good hitter and a phenomenal ball striker,” says Qureshi.

There are others who’ve picked up trophies both in India and abroad. Shruti Khanna, one of the top women golfers won the 2000 Sri Lanka Open. But Khanna, who has been playing since the age of 15 and who graduated from Rollin’s College, Florida, has no plans of going professional. “I love the game but I don’t want make it my profession,” says Khanna.

By contrast, Shalini Malik has turned pro and is playing in various tournaments. And, Anjali Chopra has turned coach. “Some players like Anjali and Shalini suffered because there was no pro tour for women then,” says Romit Bose, a pro who has become a coach.

The fact is that in golf like other sports, the stars are emerging at an earlier age. Even though one can be a pro after 20, it’s a different ball game. Says Bose, “Pro golf is very competitive. Most girls who start early can be pro by the time they are 18.”

But that’s the silver lining in the women’s golf scene. There are plenty of promising youngsters lining up with their clubs for a shot at stardom. Players like Vaishavi Sinha, Bhavna Shetty, Sharmila Nicollet and Meghna Bal are all hoping that they will rise above the crowd. “They have been around for more than six years and are established players,” says Qureshi. In fact, Nicollet, 15, from Bangalore, Sinha, 15, and Bal, 17, from Delhi, will be representing India at the next Asian Games.

Sharmila started playing at 12 under the influence of her father (who is a golfer) and her grandfather. Her mother Surekha who usually accompanies her to tournaments says, “Sharmila is a natural golfer.’’ Adds Sharmila, “I want to take it up professionally, but will have to wait for two to three years to be a pro.”

Smriti Mehra with a caddy

Delhi girl Meghna Bal completed her 10th standard and decided that she was serious about her game. She then went to Saddlebrook preparatory school in Florida on her own expense. “I want to take it up professionally and my father thought it was no point staying in India if I wanted to pursue the game,” says Bal who took full advantage of the two golf courses on her school premises.

Bal puts in nothing less than six hours daily and even this, she says, isn’t enough. “The exposure and having access to the golf course makes a lot of difference,” says Bal who is currently taking a gap year to perfect her shots in India. She already has a scholarship to study at the University of Kansas. “When I join college next year, I’ll be on the college golf team,” says Bal who’s been playing for four years.

Then, there’s Vaishavi Sinha who has been playing for six years. She has played in more than 100 tournaments in Asia including the Asia Pacific Tournament and the US Junior World Tournament. She has played in more than 110 tournaments in and out of the country. In 2004, she took part in the US Junior World tournament.

Sharmila Nicollet

For Laverry Kumar, 14, who recently won the 8th Noida Ladies Amateur Golf Championship tournament, golf happened by chance. The ninth standard student from Jesus and Mary’s Convent in Delhi was training to be a swimmer. One day she was late for a swimming class and instead of returning home, she hired a club and started playing golf, a game she had never tried. “Someone asked if she was a seasoned golfer,” says Daljeet, her mother. Since then Laverry hasn’t looked back.

For Chandigarh-based player Mani Chander, 16, golf means everything to her. Chander plans to take up the game professionally. “It’s a lot of hard work but I am prepared for that,” she says.

Has the entry of younger players led to a rise in the quality of the women’s game? The answer is probably: not yet. “The standard of playing is pretty average. They are hitting the ball further but not performing better,” says Qureshi. But she expects swift changes because the girls are training more seriously now. “We now have professionals as coaches.’’

Aashana (left) and Gauri Monga

Others are more optimistic. Mehra feels there are many new players entering the greens and there’s also the DLF Pro Tour. “There’s a sudden growth in numbers in women turning pro. The quality of golf amongst the amateurs will also improve as a pro tour has a ripple effect as we have seen for the men,” says Mehra.

In fact, Mehra believes that standards will rise sharply and swiftly. “We might have started slow, but we are going to catch up faster with the South East Asians than even I might have envisioned,” she says

For some, the pastures abroad may be greener. Mehra, for instance, shifted base to the US and says, “I left India because I had reached the highest level of golf that I could achieve in Asia. I had won every event and saw no opportunity in staying in India if I wanted to take this game as a career choice. If you want to be the best in the world, you have to compete with the best in the world.”

Champika Sayal

Many of the youngsters with big ambitions have already gone West for training. Tanya Wadhwa, 14, is currently being coached by Peter Murphy, one of Tiger Wood’s coaches in Texas. Bhavna Shetty, a promising player from Mysore and Chandigarh’s Kanika Minocha too are in the US on golf scholarships. “There are more young players who are currently away on scholarships. As the circuit grows, there’ll be more names,” says Sayal.

Once Sharmila, who’s now in Class 10, completes her 12th, she’ll be scouting for golf scholarships overseas. “I don’t want to stay in India as it will be pointless for my career,” she says. In fact, Sharmila even took part in the World Junior in USA at her own expense this year.

Some players like Brar have been lucky to be “adopted” by Indian Oil. “For six years, they have been paying my travel bills besides giving me a salary,” says Brar who has the unusual designation of Sports Professor at Indian Oil. “It’s an expensive game,” she says. Brar turned down a scholarship for a US university a few years ago now plans to go abroad next year.

Is world of women’s golf about to change in India? There are lots of ambitious youngsters out there and they’ll be driving change on the greens.

Photographs by Jagan Negi

Illustration by Santanu Mallick