Proud: Barooga’s Casey Chandler is showing herself to be a golfing force to be reckoned with.
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Gabriel Garcia
For many of us golf means pretty windmills and quaint bridges on the mini golf course.
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But for Barooga’s Casey Chandler golf means cameras, trophies, the whole Tiger Wood’s treatment.
The 14-year-old recently competed in Golf Australia Victorian Women’s Pennant Division One competition in Melbourne.
Casey has come a long way from when she first picked up a golf club at the age of 10 when she and her brother decided to take part in a golfing clinic at Barooga Golf Club
“I turned out being pretty good at it,” she said.
“So we (her brother and herself) took it up as a sport and that's how we got into competitions.”
Now one would be forgiven to think that golf is a fairly sedate sport in comparison to football and rugby, but though Casey concedes it isn’t as physically strenuous, golf is mentally challenging.
Casey said that to practice she gets out onto the course to work on technique.
“Training is going out on the golf course and practising the shots,” she said.
Victory: Barooga's Casey Chandler holds up her most recent trophy.
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“I'll go out play a couple holes and make sure that I'm placing the ball where I want it to be and putting it where I want it to be.”
Success in putting (i.e. hitting), according to Casey, goes down to maintaining a clear mind and not allowing negativity to enter the mind.
Clearly her practice methods are working because fast forward to the recent Golf Australia tournament in Melbourne and Casey not only took part in the event, she also came out undefeated.
Asked how she felt Casey said she was ecstatic.
“It feels really good,” she said.
“I knew that with the girl that I played against, I had one more match before finals, and I knew I had to beat it to get undefeated and it is really nerve-racking, but I got there.”
Asked what she planned to do following fer success, Casey said she might play some local tournaments.
As for her future in the golfing world, Casey is contemplating moving to the United States after she graduates from Cobram Secondary College to continue as a professional golfer.
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