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Despite her age, Charley Hull is fast becoming a serious challenger on the amateur golf circuit and has also contended successfully against a number of male and female professional golfers.
This Northamptonshire teenager obtained her first plus handicap in April 2010 and is steadily catching up with the top lady international amateurs. The future looks bright for this supremely talented girl and her ambition is, and always has been, to be the best golfer in the world.
Hull first sprang to prominence in the summer of 2005 when, at the tender age of nine, she beat 24,000 players from 1,200 clubs to become the youngest ever Health Perception GB & Ireland Ladies Amateur Champion at Turnberry.
After winning two qualifying rounds to reach the final, Hull battled through 45mph winds, which blew her over twice, before beating a player twice her age on the second play-off hole.
She has a maturity beyond her years and is able to focus on her game, ignore outside distractions and, like the very best players, immediately forget the occasional poor shot and prepare mentally for the next shot. She is a great scrambler when needed.
Since 2009, when she was 13 years old, Charley has entered some of the British amateur order of merit events and performed remarkably well. She is continuing with this programme and now also plays in European and International competitions so that she can compete against the best amateurs in the game as well as some tour professionals.
Much of Charley’s life is like any other young girls. She likes nothing better than to ‘hang about’ and chat with her friends. However, to achieve her goals, Charley has to practice almost daily. She has always been a high achiever at school. Charley’s parents were aware that there would be a conflict between education and golf and that her education would have to take priority. Having taken advice, they have enrolled Charley on a home schooling programme with a very reputable internet based education organisation. She receives additional support from family and friends who are professional tutors. This releases her from the fixed study hours of a formal education and allows her parents to arrange her studying around her golf schedule without any detrimental effect on either.
Charley’s mum and dad are very aware of the pressures that some parents put on their talented children and are very careful to avoid this. They totally support and encourage Charley in her pursuit of a career in golf and devote a great deal of their time to her. However, her mum makes sure that Charley always ‘keeps her feet on the ground’. The result is a well balanced, courteous and confident young lady who has a good sense of humour and a strong work ethic. Charley has always been the first to support the underdog and to speak up against bullies.
There is a long history of mental strength and resolute character in Charley’s family. She has inherited her positive thinking and independence – her mum would say stubbornness – from her dad. On her mum’s side, Charley’s grandmother Irene Pernak , who is Polish, was deported to a labour camp in Siberia at the age of ?? when the Russians invaded Poland in World War 2. She escaped with some friends and, after a series of amazing and dangerous experiences, reached Teheran. She then moved on to Baghdad where she joined the Red Cross and saw the war out. It was at this time that she met and married Charley’s granddad, Josef, who became a highly decorated Polish tank commander. Charley’s grandmother wrote of her experiences in her autobiography, ‘THE RED BEADS’.
This was perfectly illustrated when she played two separate rounds ahead of the 2006 English Ladies Open at Chart Hills in Kent.
Charley has two older grown up sisters, Lisa and Nicole. She also has a dog named Tom, a Jack Russell/***** crossbreed who hates men.
Equipment: Charley has used bladed irons since she was young. Most amateurs and many professionals avoid using blades because they are very punishing if not used correctly and, instead, use the more forgiving contoured irons. Blades give more control and length, but it is essential that the ball is struck in the absolute centre of the club. Charley has this ability and therefore gains the advantages mentioned
All Charley’s clubs have men’s length shafts. In her bag she carries a recovery iron, 4,5,6,7,8 and 9 irons and three wedges. With the exception of her 3 wood, which has an extra stiff shaft, all her other club are stiff shafts. Her normal driver has a 9.5 degree loft.
Steve Jackson.
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