Interviewed by: Dinesh C. Thakur
Edited by: Manvi Singh   

                                                                                                                                                         

 

With the growing quest to being a renowned professional golfer, Aadil Bedi chose his way to the golfing world out of his mere passion for sports. 

 

 

 

 

A 20-year-old professional golfer, Aadil Bedi chose to turn interested in sports ever since he was 4 years old, yet his love for golf stayed entitled until he grew up to be sensible enough to build it as an awe-inspiring passion for the game. Just as he turned 13, he chose to chase golf like a tempest chases flame, stuck onto his ambition as an individual sport of interest. By the time he turned 17 years of age, his decision was not limited to the everyday discussions of a growing adolescent, like whether he should go to college or not, it was rather more on the lines of if he should turn into a professional golfer or not. 

 

 

 

 

With his amateur gameplay starting off pretty young, Aadil never chose to settle onto the easier things life chose to pave his way on, he rather chose to build it ground up and won his first event when he was 15 years old and somehow that’s the motivation one needs to accompany our lives on. 

 

He does pursue life on the roll with his perfections defined under the boundaries of hard work and cumulative effort of him and his father who never let him give up, which is why the endgame of his persuasion for the sports lies in the heart of his dream for playing in the PGA tour someday. 

 

 

 

 

Exclusive Interview Insights 

 

As your parents are government officials from Punjab, how do you believe they've contributed to what you are today?

 

I believe I owe everything to them. It's rather very tough for a government bureaucrat to support an athlete, specifically a golfers career. The touring itself comes bearing hefty expenses, while I agree that golfing has witnessed a cheaper stake in the past years, as it has grown accessible in the Indian mainland, yet when I started off playing, even getting my first set was a task. I still remember how we had to order it through someone and get it through someone else. It was difficult specifically the financial aspect of it, as their salary wasn't enough to cover the expenses of my golfing endeavour. At times, they borrowed money and even sold some of their ancestral lands, hence while it's not easy, I duly appreciate everything they've done for me. 

 

 

Who's your inspiration? In what ways does this person inspire you?

 

I believe one can seek inspiration from everyone they meet in their lives. It's not necessary to draw motivation only from people who have achieved a lot in their lives. For example, I have recently experienced an injury in my wrist due to which I haven't been playing since the past month, yet I still visit the club and watch little kids playing and I feel inspired by the content they hold in the simple joy of playing the sport. But if it has to come down to name a few, then firstly it'd be my dad who has been with me through every step of the way, along with my coaches, and Jeev Milkha Singh Sir and Shubhankar Sharma who have inspired me guided me and helped me especially in the crucial stages of turning professional, as one really needs to make the right decisions when it comes to which events to play and which events to leave by. From my coaches to doctors and my caddie, I really look up to each one of them as they contribute to my growth. 

 

 

 

As you've been playing since such a young age, that too various sports, what made you pick up golf?

 

The reason I started golf was that I was big into cricket. My dad played cricket up till the states, as well as my friends, were into the game too. I grew up in a cricket dominated environment earlier, and I love to bat. While we used to live in Patiala, we had a huge playground behind our house and I used to wait for 2.5 hours approximately to bat for 10 minutes as I was the youngest one and always used to get to bat in the last. While patience is good, I wasn't really good at it, which is why when I first visited a golf course, it was a dream come true as I could rather bat all day there. Plus, I chose the sport because while playing onto the various school teams of various sports, be it cricket, football or anything else, I grew to be pretty good at them and the chase got over pretty early while golf was something that requires a lot of work and commitment to itself and hence, the challenge made me choose the path to golf. 

 

What are the next milestones for you as the game goes on? How do you plan to take the sport to the next level?

 

I think winning on the global stage is definitely the way to this because golf is a global sport and the home of golf namely Europe or The States, we have to win over them to make our presence constantly felt on the global map. So I believe that winning in Asia, Europe, or the States should be the next milestone as that sort of thing will really help the Indian golf grow. The kind of publicity fetched by players like Anirban Lahiri and Udayan Mane is because that they are competing with the global players and unless we don’t do that, Indian golf won’t have that big of an impact and of course, as a player, it’s our responsibility to put up a show and the other support systems are surely always there to help us through. 

 

What is the one thing you’d want to change in the game or industry of golf?

 

There’s a lot I can do personally but surely there are a lot of things that each one of us can do. When I was a junior, they didn’t have any amateur sports events in the tours and I believe as a junior it’s really important to keep the professionals in sight because exposure is surely the key. As players, we also need to build our social media outreach, as PGA Tour recently announced a separate fund for the players who grow the game of golf. Lastly, I believe that the army golf courses or the government-affiliated ones are not accessible to the general public and while 60-70% of our courses are streamlined with the army societies, hence it'll be better because private courses are there but the accessibility and expense just make them be a task hence the accessibility to the army courses will be a much-needed boost to golf.