Pro You Didn’t Know
Meet Trump Dubai’s new head pro Sven Nielsen. by kent gray
there are some pictures of me swinging plastic clubs and my dad’s putter at around 18 months of age, in our back garden. My father introduced me to the game, as he did with many other sports, but golf, I always seemed to love and be good at. i grew up in marlands, which is an area close to Johannesburg airport. We had braai’s (or BBQs) and biltong (dried meat) so growing up there was great.
i can remember at around the age of six or seven breaking some windows in our back garden. I was trying to perfect the flop shot but it ended up with me getting some plastic balls to use. Of course, when my dad was away, I’d use the actual golf balls, which put a lot of pressure on the chipping action!
at the age of six I remember going to play nine holes and shooting around 60-67, my father kept the scorecards somewhere. My first official handicap was 32 and got that down to scratch at the age of 13 and +3 at 15. when i represented south
africa at the age of 14, I really thought there would be a chance and it would be something I’d love to do [a career on tour]. But not performing at the right competitions and some injury problems along the way didn’t help. But being a coach now, teaching people to play the game I love is a passion, so you can’t call this work really. on the driving range when I was young I’d always find myself talking to the stranger next to me about their golf game and showing them what I’d learned in my golf lesson that week, so then they’d end up trying what we just discussed. I just always enjoyed discussing golf, the swing and helping people get better.
i loved practicing and getting coached when I was young but wish we had the technology and research we have now back then. I would have done a few things different as I can now see as a coach where I could have improved quicker.
from a fan perspective, when Tiger chipped in from the back of 16 at The Master in 2005 to beat Chris DiMarco, I mean, it was a bogey from there for any normal human being. That shot, under that pressure...just insane. From a personal perspective, when I was 4 or 5, my dad bought me my first wood, a yellow and black headed 5 wood that was cut down to fit me at that point. I loved that club!
the green jacket, that’s the one I dream of winning. Everything about the Masters is magical…the course, the jacket, driving up Magnolia Lane. I’d like to copy Henrik Stenson and play ‘Ice Ice Baby’ from Vanilla Ice on the radio while driving up...but I’m sure the members there would feel much different if it was me doing it.
turnberry is a special place and I will always have a soft spot for it. I have met and worked with some great people along the way. It certainly was a difficult place to leave, especially after the fantastic renovations that took place over the last two years.
my first lesson was with one of our lady members at Trump Turnberry who, still to this day, remembers me helping her get out of the bunkers.
we certainly had a lot of sceptics [of Trump’s revamp of the Open Championship Ailsa course at Turnberry], especially from those who had played the previous design. But what I can say is, each and every one who made a comment came back in after playing the new design with either a massive smile on their faces or just completely lost for words. I’ve personally not heard one bad report. the trump organisation has now built a great reputation for themselves in world golf for what they have achieved at all their properties, and the opportunity to come to Dubai to help open another Trump property, I could not say no to. Now seeing the final product here I think the next few years of my life will definitely be exciting.
i’ve only been here six weeks. Its warm! And the more I say it, the more people say, wait for summer, then you will see what warm is! But it’s an amazing place so far. I certainly couldn’t ask for a better team around me at Trump International Golf Club, Dubai, so that’s makes everything else easier and enjoyable.
i love the design and unique qualities of the course Mr Hanse [course architect Gil Hanse] has created. He has achieved exactly what he wanted to, a course for all abilities, which will be fun to play. It’s rewarding and challenging at the same time, some imagination can be used around the links styled greens, with undulations reminding me of the links in Scotland.
at the moment, I’m spending a great deal of time soaking in every hump and hollow on our 18 hole course, and of course our Academy Course. They’re fantastic. But, I’ve heard good reviews on most of the courses out here and Yas Links is one that I’m looking forward to playing. Plus I heard the chocolate milkshake there is one not to miss!
the par 3 golf course is certainly going to be a place where I’d love to take a lot of my clients to test their games, raging from 200 yards and in. It’s a challenging course where gents, ladies and juniors will be able to have loads of fun. We also have a double-sided grass driving range and a short game area, both floodlit. I can see the short game area being very popular where you can hit a wide variety of shots from 100 yards and in. making the game as fun as possible for kids is very important. Also, not being too strict on rules is key too. I always remembered I couldn’t wear ankle socks as a junior and could never understand why…rules like these in golf put people, especially juniors, off the game.