(December 3, 2022) At seven, Amaira Gulati is a golf star who has already played in 35 tournaments as a professional golfer. She first began playing at the age of four, after watching her parents play in their free time. “I was five when I started playing it professionally,” Amaira told Global Indian.
A grade-two student at Emerald Height International School, Mhow, Amaira registered a remarkable win in the recently held US Kids Tour Event held in Delhi. This win has culminated in her being selected for the US Kids world championship to be held next year in North Carolina, USA.
Amaira Gulati
Early start
When Amaira’s parents Colonel Baljeet Singh and Harpreet Kaur discovered their child had an unusual talent for the sport, they believed that with training from a young age, she could be a good golfer. “I was trained under Gyan Sir and Sharaf Sir. My Golf caddie, Ajay Bhaiya, also teaches me,” Amaira says.
Her father’s frequent job postings, in places like Shahjahanpur, Hissar and now Mhow near Indore, means Amaira’s training regimen is often disturbed. Still, her passion is so unwavering that she manages to keep pace with the game.
The first tournament abroad
The youngster has been a part of and won major under-8 tournaments in north India. She is the leading player of the Indian Golf Union’s north zone ‘E’ category, having won all its nine tournaments this year.
Whether it is the Delhi Golf Cup, Chandigarh Golf Cup, Albatross Golf Event, Shubhankar Sharma Invitational, or Hyundai National School Championship, the youngster has won in all the tournaments that she has played in 2022. However, winning in the US Kids Tour Event is special. The seven-year-old is all set to make her foreign debut and will play abroad for the first time at Pinehurst, also known as the ‘cradle of the American golf’.
Amaira competed with golf players of Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Korea and Japan to find the coveted spot at the event organised by US Kids Golf, the leading brand for junior golf equipment that conducts tournaments across all continents. The season winners of all continents have been invited to play at the annual world championship to be held in USA.
Fruit of hard work
Talking about one of her first tournaments, when she started playing professionally, Amaira recalls, “It was fun but when I didn’t get the trophy, I started crying and asked my father why I didn’t win.” The tournament was in Chandigarh. “My father said, if you want the trophy you will have to work harder. I did so and kept on winning after that,” she remarks.
Practice happens after school and the young golfer rarely misses a session. Nearly 10-days in a month are spent travelling across North India for tournaments and Amaira tries to make the most of this, too, learning as much as she can from the coaches she meets. She follows what she has been taught by the experts in those places, during her routine practice sessions back home.
Amaira Gulati with the prizes she has won so far
Amaira’s parents support her fully, as does her school, which helps her keep abreast of what she misses when she’s on tour. “When I come back from tournaments, my teachers support me in my school work and help me with what I do not understand.”
Going with the flow
In her free time, Amaira loves dancing, singing or swimming. She also adores maths. “I want to become a renowned professional golfer like Aditi Ashok. She is my role model,” says the rising golf star, about the trailblazer of women’s golf in India.
