It’s tee time!

Golf is – traditionally – known as the gentleman’s game. The course is the place where business deals are clinched, colleagues relax and names like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els are casually swung around. Right. Now meet Ballito’s champion golfers Senayah and Kamayah Moodliar and let them change your mind!

It’s Friday afternoon. Thinking back to when I was 12 years old (not too long ago, I assure you) I’d have either been annoying my little sister, or practising how to walk in a pair of high heels stolen from my mother’s wardrobe.
So, imagine my surprise when I headed for the driving range at Umhlali Country Club and found Senayah (12) and her younger sister Kamayah (9) wearing golf shoes, working on their already impressive game? While I watch
them come off the course their father, Brian, fondly tells me a story: “When Senayah was little, she’d watch sport with me. I liked to watch a game of golf, but as soon as I changed the channel to something else, she would cry
until I put the golf back on.”

“The first time I wanted to play golf, I was three years old,” Senayah tells me. The girls have plopped on the grass and invited me into their circle. “I was in The Crazy Store with my mum and I saw a set of plastic golf clubs. I nagged until she bought it for me.” Senayah soon started golf lessons with coach Aileen Wilkes at the Umhlali Country Club,
entering her first tournament at just eight years old. Kamayah, then five-and-a-half years old, joined her, but had quite a different experience initially: “I did not like it. I only wanted to play because my sister was playing,
but then I started liking it.” Under Wilkes’ coaching the girls entered their first tournament in Mount with Kamayah being the only girl in her age group. Senayah achieved a respectable second place, but in her words: “I don’t like to lose. But I still had fun and made friends.” Kamayah, however, won. “I had to play against the boys, because there
was no girls’ category. I did a victory dance and I kissed my trophy!”

Senayah and Kamayah have come a long way since that first tournament, racking up an impressive list of achievements since then: placing in the Simbithi Club and Ladies Club Championships, representing the
KZN Ladies Golf Association in the Junior Girls’ Open Championship and winning 40 SA Kids Golf Tournament trophies between them. Their international travels span Malaysia, Zabora, Texas, Scotland, Paris and Venice, Italy.
(Phew!) Kamayah, the youngest female in KZN to win a club trophy, believes golf has taught her discipline,
patience and fairness. “You can’t cheat when you play golf, so it also teaches you honesty. And golf is not only for boys. There are lots of girls who could be good at golf if they only tried.” Senayah agrees. “Golf used to stand for Gents Only, Ladies Forbidden. But that was unfair, because what if a girl has a natural talent and wants to show
it off?”

Riding on their incredible success, the girls are now concentrating on bettering their long game. They practise five days a week, spending time working on their chipping in the backyard at home because they “don’t like sitting inside”. When they have spare time, they play chess or participate in public speaking contests. And, of course,
they both want to be professional golfers when they grow up – or pulmonologists.

Brian, a seasoned athlete himself with quite a few Comrades Marathons under his belt, said his daughters are inseparable. “One does not sleep without the other. Whatever they do, they do it together.” He says witnessing their
growth and development in golf has been gratifying. “My wife and I always teach the girls to be humble, and have respect both off and on the course. We are so, so proud of them but despite their success, they must remain down to earth.  And, they must remember that they are children – I want them to just be girls, enjoy their time together
because they are only young once!”