Clare Balding on golf

Clare with the Chrysler crossfire

Clare Balding admits to being fiercely competitive and fanatical about golf.

The BBC television and radio sports presenter, a former leading amateur jockey, took up the game only four years ago, because she'd previously thought it was ‘too middle-aged’.

Now, however, she’s hooked and is determined to get her handicap down.

Golfmagic caught up with her at Collingtree Park where she attended the launch of the Chrysler Golf Challenge for women – sponsored by the Milton Keynes-based car and Jeep distributors.

So how did it all start?

I only started about four years ago and my dad Ian was an awful lot better than me so my one aim was to keep up with him. So this summer when he hadn’t had much practice and he was having to give me a shot a hole and I was able to put him under pressure, which was great.

Where do you play?

Sandford Spring, near Kingsclere in Hampshire. I took up playing just after the Sydney Olympics in 2000. And had two really good summers at it. I have an official handicap of 30, which I’m hoping to reduce and I’d like to get down to about 26 this summer which is roughly the standard to which I’ve been playing. Then next year try to get down a bit more.

Did your dad encourage you to play?

Dad didn’t start playing until he was about 50, so as kids we didn’t play and our summers were taken up with tennis and riding.

When Dad started he was so boring about golf, it put me off. It seemed so very dull and played by middle-aged people and so I decided I shouldn’t play it until I reached middle age!

Then when I hit 30 I was invited to join the Steve Redgrave’s Charity Challenge and I started learning with his wife Ann. We had lessons with a pro called David Blane who taught me the universal golf swing and when it came to the finals at La Manga I played the round of my life. My playing partners couldn’t believe it and neither could I. Now I’m absolutely hooked.

Being competitive do you lose your temper?

I have a competitive edge but I’m more relaxed than I thought I’d be. And certainly my mother thought I’d get too upset with it to continue for long. I want to get to a stage where I can be confident of not making a fool of myself. I don’t have to win every time and I have no interest in going into competition with a more advantageous handicap. I genuinely want to get my handicap cut.

’Putting’s worst part of my game’.

What’s the best part of your game?…

My driving. I get good distance and I would find it so demoralising if I physically couldn’t reach a par-4 in two or certainly three, shots.

…and the worst?

My putting’s awful. Oh God it takes me for ever to work out the greens. I’m not so good with those touchy feely shots, but I’ve got this great lob wedge I won in a competition and I’m practising with that.

When I go up to see my parents, my dad plays every day and I usually practice in the bunker mum bought him for his birthday. They’re slightly bonkers!

What’s in your bag?

TaylorMade driver and irons, Callaway 5- and 7-wood, my Adams lob wedge and a Callaway White Hot putter.

What was your worst experience?

I was invited to play at Celtic Manor in 2001, in the pro-am before the Welsh Open with Phillip Price who was trying to qualify for the Ryder Cup that week.

There were huge crowds following him obviously, and I just shouldn’t have been there. The course was too difficult and after about seven holes I wanted to run back the clubhouse and cry my eyes out. It was terribly daunting. But they sent a caddie out for me and he helped settle me down.

’Great supporter of women’s game’

So now you’re a great supporter of women’s golf, how would you like to see their situation improve?

I would love more clubs to have an easier manner towards juniors and women. It’s not about just being welcoming, it’s about explaining and overcoming their fears.

When you start you don’t understand the Rules and the etiquette and which clubs to use for each distance. Luckily I’ve had friends who have taken me round and explained how to tend the pin and where to stand and how to repair divots and pitchmarks.

It’s all those things that are tough to get to grips with unless you’re out there playing. And until you’re good enough you don’t want to be out there. So it’s a vicious circle. But I’m so pleased I stuck with it. I love playing different courses, it gives me so much pleasure.

There has been much publicity recently about women playing in professional men’s events. Where do you stand on the issue?

I think it’s a huge step forward and for a sport that has a reputation of being middle-aged, stuffy and incredibly male dominated, it’s a very positive move.

And I don’t care if it’s sponsor driven. I think it’s one of the most exciting developments in world sport, because unless incredibly talented women are given a chance to push themselves beyond the boundaries that have been set for them by their gender, they will never progress in the game.

And golf is one of the very few sports where it’s not inconceivable that if you started from scratch and said that everyone can qualify for the Open, there would be more than one woman that makes that qualifying mark.

We already know that if a 14 year-old is good enough to almost make the cut in an American tournament then she’s good enough to do a Ben Curtis. You never know.

So would you call for a European Tour event to offer the opportunity for a woman to compete?

Of course. I’d love to see a genuine European Tour event, not a slightly sidelined event in Australia, offer an invitation. I’m all for it.

And what about major events when there are exemptions for past winners taking up genuine places? How many guys are they taking out that might have qualified.

You can’t make the argument for not allowing exemptions and still allow players like Tom Watson to play in The Open.

The overall aim should be to improve the game and encourage more people to play it. And get the very best males or females qualifying. And that’s not beyond the realms of possibility. In a lot of other sports it will never ever happen but in golf it actually could. And what is there to be frightened of? Nothing. This could be the most fantastic movement ever.

If I were a 10-year-old now and wanting to play golf thinking that one day I could play in the Open, what a dream that would be. Because that’s what it’s called, The ‘Open’ Championship of golf.