Golf: Hard work pays off for Hall

Nov 23 2007 by Staff Reporter, Western Mail

FIFTEEN months ago, having just been dropped by Wales, Lydia Hall had to get used to disbelieving and amused looks when she told friends and rivals she was going to turn professional and join the Ladies European Tour this year.

Next week she sets off for her first professional event in India having embarked on a programme that took her from not being able to get into the Wales amateur side to becoming the third Welsh professional on the Ladies European Tour.

There are lessons every golfer in Wales can take on board, whether they are budding professionals or high handicappers.

With coach John Peters, at Machynys in Llanelli, she set about swing changes and mental preparation – all geared solely to the two weeks of Tour qualifying in Italy last month where she shocked those friends and rivals by finishing second, with an overall score of 20 under.

It involved making her swing more robust for the professional game, changing her practice routines to give herself one chance only and mental preparation that would include a routine for getting up in the morning as well as going to the locker room before playing.

The catalyst for her current success was being dropped by Wales after being a junior star. “I think it was huge benefit to me not to be picked because it made me think about what was going on,” admitted Hall, the daughter of former Wales rugby international Wayne Hall.

“From that moment on we started thinking only about Tour School. I told people that was my aim, but when I did not do well you could see in the faces of players doing better and in other teams that they were thinking ‘why is she going?’

“But I knew what I was doing and practising, so I focused on that rather than other teams. Golf is a selfish game you play on your own so I started to think for myself.

“Now I can’t wait for it all to get started, starting in India is a great opportunity and good experience. After Tour School, I just wanted to play another week because I was playing so well that I just wanted to keep that going.”

Hall was talking on the practice range at Machynys working with former Challenge Tour pro Peters, having just finished a chipping session where even some very good shots are not good enough.

Anything more than two and a half feet from the pin did not count, no matter how difficult, and she only had one shot at each target from each position. Professional golf is a one-chance saloon, so the thinking is that it requires one-chance practice.

“Getting on the Tour is all the result of long-term planning, it even goes back to seeing her hit a ball at the age of 11 when I could see something straight away, so it is not a surprise. It seems a fairytale. It came right in the very two weeks we wanted it to, but maybe that wasn’t lucky,” explained Peters.

“We sat down and had to decide what to do. Lydia had had a tough time, had not been selected for the Wales team and things were not going as well as hoped.

“It was a real heart-to-heart about how to move forward and I had strong views on swing changes that had to be done. We had parted company because she could not drive down here to Llanelli, but when she came back she wanted to make the changes.

“Youngsters can progress with poor technique or faults in their swing, it is hard to get them to make changes at that time. In the amateur game Lydia could overpower golf courses with the help of her handicap strokes, but it is harder when you have to play off scratch or better.

“One of the big things for me was travelling on her own, making all the arrangements herself because that is what you do on Tour. I thought she would go somewhere close, but she went to the New Zealand Amateur and reached the quarter-finals doing everything herself. That was a real growing-up stage.

“The swing changes are not rocket science, but also we got her into the mental state of getting ready to compete.

“We would visualise getting up in the morning, going to the locker room, and so on, so when it happened in Italy it almost became déjà vu. She was very confident at Tour qualifying, we created that mindset, so it is not just about technique.

“Now we have to start that planning process again with new goals. Ultimately our goal will be to win a tournament, then we will look at what is needed to achieve that including looking at flights, hotels and so on.

“Sponsorship that is not performance-based is vitally important as well. Lydia cannot be worried about the financial side all the time – I have seen too many players worrying about paying the mortgage and those six-footers get harder and harder.”

Having spent 14 months planning towards one goal and succeeding so spectacularly, Peters and Hall are now refocusing on the next steps forward which start in Bangalore up against the likes of Becky Brewerton, Laura Davies and Trish Johnson.

Hall is joining the elite of ladies European golf and the disbelief has changed to congratulations.