Annabel & Emily Peaford are one’s to watch.

ONE’S TO WATCH ANNABEL & EMILY PEAFORD

When did you start playing golf and who was your inspiration? Our Dad is a PGA Professional and everyone around us has always played golf so it was a natural thing for us to want to do. We had our first golf clubs when we were very small and we used to go up to the golf club and putt to earn our pocket money. We first played 18 holes and got our handicaps at Walton Heath when we were 9.

Do you have a favourite player and who would be in your dream fourball? We don’t have one favourite player. We like watching both men’s and ladies’ golf and it is exciting to see new young players as well as the big names competing. Our dream fourball would be us two, with Nelly and Jessica Korda. They are such good players, really inspirational and we think it would be a lot of fun! As golfing sisters, we would have a lot in common with them. We are sure that, like us, they are golfing rivals but are also the best of friends. What have been your career highlights so far? We were very pleased to be selected for the England Golf South Region U16 girls squad in 2021. We have really enjoyed the training sessions and it has been good fun playing in national competitions with the other girls. We have played for the Walton Heath Ladies scratch team and junior teams and have also represented Surrey in the ladies second team.

Emily had a round of 4 under par at Walton Heath last summer and Annabel had her first hole in one at the South Region Championships at Hartey Wintney.

How often do you play/practice? It really depends on the time of year. We try and practice two or three evenings a week after school and we often have South Region or Surrey Performance Squad training days or strength and conditioning sessions at the weekend. We also practice putting in the lounge at home! We usually play golf every weekend as well, but during the summer we play most days especially when we are not at school.

Is finding time to play whilst managing school/work etc. difficult?

It can be hard to fit everything in that we want to do, as well as our school work. Our weekends are busy and we often have school matches in the morning, followed by golf or a tennis tournament in the afternoon.

Are there specific areas of your game that you work on and how do you monitor your results to try and identify any concerns you have? We have a plan for our swings which we work on with our Dad and Alex Saary, our England Golf Coach, but we also try to mix up our practice to keep it fun. Sometimes we practice at the driving range, sometimes on the course. We enjoy making it competitive against each other and also against our Dad. After competitions, we always talk about how we played and think about what we could do better next time. Sometimes it is a new shot we need to learn, or sometimes it is just a matter of course management and making better decisions. We have still got so much to learn and playing different types of golf courses is a great way to find out what you don’t know yet!

What are your goals for 2022 and beyond? This year, our goal is to get our handicaps as close to scratch as possible. We are playing in lots of different competitions and matches so should have plenty of opportunities to play well. It would be great if we could win an event or finish somewhere near the top in an important competition.

Long term, we would both love to go to university in America and play amateur golf at the highest level.

What advice would you give to young players starting on their journey in golf? Go for it! Join in with as many things as you can at the golf club and with the County. We have made some great friends and had lots of fun playing golf with people of all ages.

Finally, what are your other interests when you are not playing golf? We both play tennis and enjoy competing in tournaments and playing in matches for our school and tennis club. We also love listening to music and we play the piano. When we have spare time at home, Annabel likes to bake and Emily enjoys painting and drawing. And after a hard day on the golf course, you will usually find us on the sofa watching TV with our Burmese cats Coco and Candy!

PLAYER PROFILES

Names: Annabel & Emily Peaford

Age: 13

Club: Walton Heath

Handicap: Annabel 4, Emily 1

Competition wins/titles/placements:

ANNABEL c Surrey Girls U10 champion 2018 c England Girls U16 net runner up 2021 c ISGA Wellington Salver runner up 2022

EMILY c R&A U12 Amateur prize 2021 c Walton Heath Junior Order of

Merit winner 2021 c Midland U16 championships finished 9th 2022 c Walton Heath Ladies Spring

Meeting winner 2022 c Beeson Trophy @ SHGC – Winner