All right guys a couple of days ago i spent time with one of the best lady golfers in the world and she's one of the longest drivers of the golf ball in the game and van damme i was at the aramco lady series down at centurion club. And i did like a mini documentary behind the scenes before she went out to play it's a really good chat she's got lowe's lined up this year she's even going to the olympics which is exciting. And she gives some really key insightful tips of how you can hit the ball longer as well right guys without further ado let's head over to centurion without van damme [Music] when did you first start playing golf i was quite young my dad he played a little my sister's two years older she played a little bit too. And i was probably about four. Or five years old and yeah just swinging a few clubs. But not nothing too serious like i didn't really get into it that much until it was probably like 14 years old i was swimming at the time too. And i always thought that was going to be my sport didn't turn out that way. But yeah i kind of slowly got started into golf golf is not an easy sport as a kid to get into in holland. But not a lot of kids play golf so if you tell your your friends you know you're playing golf on saturday or sunday they look at you weird while you're not playing field hockey or you know doing something else i was lucky at a very good national team coach. And we literally worked like every single day on it and he was. So committed to me and me towards him that we just really made kind of like a plan and just went for it together and uh yeah that was really cool i learned i learned a lot from him it definitely took a little bit of time. But once i got older and really made it my own thing i didn't want to be anywhere else i started to really love it myself what were your handicap when you were like 14. it's such a hard question i would say when i was 14 i probably should sometimes in the 70s okay i have no idea like it's probably single figures yeah i would say. So yeah when you turned pro um probably 18 when you said i was uh yeah 18.. And what did you have a handicap then.
Yeah i think i was like plus four. And a half okay like that it was pretty cool yeah to then.
Lose it. And then.
Be zero and no one ever talks about handicap again it's crazy as an amateur all they care about is watch your handicap. And uh you look it up online every week after you play to see if you improved and yeah one day just gone. And never asked about it again so when you broke out onto tour so seven years ago like how was that what was that like. For you was that quite life-changing it was um you know i was used to traveling with my national team. And being amongst my friends and national coaches every week uh to suddenly you're there by yourself i remember uh my first tournament was all the way in australia i was 18. And out there there i went by the time i got there at the time my life and it was it was. So much fun but yeah i think definitely my first year out on the let i struggled quite a little bit just because you know that changed from amateur golf to professional golf. And um you know i had really good few amateur years as my last amateur years and you know then.
Coming out of two or no one no one knows you no one cares about you you know you have to kind of prove yourself which which is cool in a way too um. But yeah it definitely took me some time to feel comfortable settle in how long are you on tour. Or before you had your first week i had to win in my second year on tour which is cool it was towards the end of my second year. And uh yeah came i think exactly at the right time uh it came kind of unexpected in a way like i wasn't playing that well. And uh something i've always stuck in the back of my mind you know it doesn't matter if you're not having your best few months or best year go for such a weird game you can win literally any week if you just believe in yourself you know to win my first week like that. Or first pro win like that yeah was really awesome it's just unreal i mean you don't know you don't know how you feel basically you know you work towards something like that your whole life. And then.
When it when it happens you have no idea how to feel are you relieved are you nervous about the next.
One um yeah just. So much comes towards you but yeah. For me personally it was just a great win to kind of have that weight off my shoulders to be like i'm definitely good enough to play out here. And yeah if you see my game trending after that win i think i made like 14 straight cuts. And um yeah i just played. So so much better after that it's crazy and that was big that was big. For me at that time in golf you know you have to prove yourself every year and re-earn your your rights if that makes sense and yeah with a win like that you don't have to think about that. For three years been on the bag with ann since uh september a a of coveteer we met actually back in dubai and uh just kind of became friends then.
I'm lucky to work with anne because she's so talented out here you know with her distance and stuff so it actually was quite an easy transition. For me yeah i love working with her i'll tell you what it's impressive seeing some of these girls hit hybrids. And three woods and and woods into these greens and you know they stop on a dime they hit them to five feet and i'm just i'm in awe all the time of how good their game their long iron and um hybrid game is uh that's that's something that i don't see on the men's tour it's just super impressive you are in the olympics this year. But how exciting is that to be called an olympian it's really cool same thing like as my first win i have no idea how to feel. And i think it would settle in more afterwards i would say. But it's just a great honor you know golf is. So individual and you play every week the same 72-hole stroke play event for money basically that's what we do um to then.
Just have an event where you represent not only your your country. But yeah basically. So much more than that and all your coaches growing up all your friends who you were in the national team with they all had a little bit of a part in that success of getting there. So i think. For a lot of people it's going to be really cool to see. And i'm going to be the first female to to represent holland at the olympics. So yeah hopefully i can take back a medal. And make it worthy for everyone [Music] so we've just been watching you hit some balls on the range and you absolutely crush it and when you look through your stats on tour you're a long hitter you were the longest on led last year currently longest on lpga i believe is that something you've worked on your distance. Or is it very natural it's funny i worked a lot on it with my national coach you know when i was at age like 14 15 16. he told me it's like you always have to hit it as hard as you can doesn't matter if you hit it offline um you know your skills from there on will only improve you know if you get in the trees. Or in the rubbish you know you have to kind of scramble um but yeah i would say now it's like i don't work on it at all i mean some weeks i feel really good. And you kind of you know it's nice and warm and your body feels good and your technique is like right on point. And that's a moment where you can really trust it. And like hit it all out and yeah other weeks you might feel a little less secure if that makes sense when do you think the longest lady on top averaged over 300 i think on lpga this year i could get pretty close i think i'm right i think i'm like 290 something. So that would be really cool obviously it's not like a massive goal that that's what i'm trying to achieve but yeah it could be this year. Or i would say definitely within the next.
Three years all right i'm i'm intrigued and i'm sure everyone watching give us a couple of tips how to hit the ball longer i think what a lot of people do is they try to swing faster. And faster from the start of the swing for me if i want to hit like a long drive i almost feel like i take it back slower and really feel like i'm loading my right leg and stay on my right leg okay i don't want to have too much weight shifting back. And forth i think when you load all the way to your right until you can stay here. And sweep the ball you're going to hit the highest launch with a positive attacking. And then.
If you speed that off you can get as far as you can smooth back load the right side you like you stay there. And then.
Fast here yeah okay because the more you go from here to your left one you're stuck yeah you start hitting down too much yeah. And then.
Through the ball you're gonna back off again show us the show's outlet okay. So if you're trying to re if you're trying to properly go for a longer one you would you do anything different yeah i mean sometimes you almost make to make me see a practice swing where i feel like victor. And i almost stay here for a second and then.
Kind of try to copy that and hit it from there [Music] where you can see that that those ones are way higher because i stay more on my right. So i have a higher attack angle how much extra distance does that give you probably a good 15 15 on carry very very nice a lot of people probably know you in golf. And what you're doing golf like what do you enjoy doing outside of golf as well um basically sports i love playing sports like i said i love working out i love doing cardio i love to go on like long bike rides um runs stuff like that i love exploring cities that i'm in i really like good food. So either cooking myself or going to like nice restaurants hanging out with my friends just uh yeah pretty crazy i think my life is it's pretty hectic goals. For the next.
Five years five years i would say uh yeah win a couple of times out on the lpga. And win a major that's uh that's the only two things missing missing from my resume with you almost setting a new benchmark in distance to a degree you know you're knocking on door 300 yards do you see it becoming a trend more on the led at the lpga i would say. So for sure um if i see you know some of the national team girls from holland now they're in the gym they're working out they're trying to hit as far as they can. And it's cool to see in my time it wasn't really like a thing right it was just hit hit a trade hit it straight again where now you see young girls really trying. And that for me is awesome if i only had one percent part of that that makes me uh yeah very happy. And to see them really try is just awesome i'm very excited to see where the women's golf game will be headed you know the next.
Five to ten years i think you'll see a lot of really sick athletes who crush the ball. And make it very attractive to watch [Music] you.
