Mizi, the golfer.

20.4.2008.

Mizi, my nephew (my wife's brother's son), has always been good in sports. About six years ago, when he was, I guess, about eleven or twelve, he was already the NS under- 12 doubles badminton champion. By then he had already been introduced to golf by his father, who was, in his spare time, a hustler at SIGC. Again, here Mizi showed natural talent and good potential. Being a keen golfer myself, I managed to persuade Mizi's dad that, to excel at a sports at the international level, Mizi must choose only one sport. I suggested that Mizi should already be at the national level in badminton at that time, because badminton has a short life.Golf would be a better choice because of its longevity, and 12 is the ideal age to start serious coaching. Well, everyone quickly accepted my proposition, and one day I took father & son to the golf academy located in Cheras at that time, run by an PGA certified Aussie coach. 

To cut the story short, Mizi is now a + 2 handicap and is already known in the Malaysian Junior ranks, having last represented the country at the SEA Games in Thailand. Recently his dad intimated that Mizi would be going to the USA to further his golf education. I have long since stopped following Mizi's progress, other than what I hear from his father whenever I bump into him.

I hear many people are also claiming credit for his steady progression in the game. That is of no concern to me. What I am concerned with is the path he's taking towards his ambition of turning professional, and eventually playing in the richest circuit in the world, the USPGA.

It's obvious to me that Mizi lacks the quality coaching and training so important at this point of his career. I can see that he's driving it well enough to make the relatively short par 5's of SIGC a 5-iron second short hole. He needs to have a bigger repertoire of iron shots, all the long,medium and short irons. Most of all he needs to have a strong mental game.

All these I have brought to the attention of his father, who always accepts my advice. But I know that he also gladly accepts any other advice, and I'm not sure if somewhere down the line there is not some confusion on the part of father & son. I've also told the father that I have no confidence in the quality of the coaching now given to Mizi. 

Sometimes I see the coach just riding behind the junior players, shouting the occasional instruction from a distance, and basically quite happy to see the youngster belting away at the ball. Golf coaching is more than that. That's why for years now I've told the father, get a sponsor or a bank loan, just like you'd get for a college student, and send Mizi to a golf school in Australia. The argument is Australia has a world-renowned golf program, is not that far away, and is probably cheaper than the USA. 

What I see is that it's always the mental game that Malaysian sportsmen usually lack in. The young kids, like kids worldwide, can pick up the technicalities pretty fast, mostly by imitating. The mental part has to be learned, and learned early. Mizi is , I think, around 18, so in terms of trainability, time is passing him by. He should take a leaf out of the Korean, Thai and Indian junior program and adopt the approach. He should also delve into the history of the game, and pick a role model, to really immerse himself in  golf world's surroundings so important in nuturing a really, really good ball-striker. It would be worth his while.

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