Profile
Q&A: Kevin Hind We go head-to-head with Clearwater Bay’s Director of Golf
You joined Clearwater Bay in April. How have you enjoyed the first six months? Clearwater Bay is a truly special place. The membership and staff are fantastic and it is a real pleasure to come to work everyday Who is your biggest inspiration in golf? My biggest inspiration as a child was Seve Ballesteros. I use to love watching the way he played golf. He would take on every shot and was never the type of golfer to try and play conservatively. An extremely exciting player to watch and an inspiration for millions of golfers around the world. What’s your favourite hole at Clearwater Bay? It has to be the third. It is our signature hole and there is a reason for this… it is a truly awesome golf hole! The wind plays a big part and the tee shot can be very intimidating. The hole plays differently every time and it can bite you very quickly as there is trouble everywhere. What’s the most unusual thing to have happened to Biography you on the course? Whilst I was working in Lahore, Pakistan I got to play quite Place of birth: Carlisle, Cumbria, England a lot of golf with the President. During one particular round Age first picked up a golf club: 14 I started off with three birdies and was lining up my birdie Turned Pro: 16, two months before my 17th birthday putt on the fourth hole. The President asked if I was feeling Career: General Manager/Director of Golf (Beijing) OK and I asked why. He informed me that at that moment Director of Golf (Pakistan) in time I was in the crosshairs of about twenty snipers Golf Operations Manager (Dubai) on the rooftops around the hole. I looked up and saw the Director of Golf & Recreation (Saudi Arabia) snipers all pointing their guns towards me, which was a bit of a strange feeling to say the least. The President asked me to now try and hole the putt. I stood over the ball thinking about the Masters, US Open, Open Championship guns pointing at me and then, of course, missed it. or PGA Championship—which major would you most like to win? What’s your favourite course outside of Hong Kong? If I had a choice in the matter I would win It has to be the Majlis Course at The Emirates Golf Club in Dubai. It is a the Open Championship at St. Andrews by real gem. You have to play there if you’re heading that way. holing a putt on the last for a birdie three to beat Tiger Woods. OK, enough dreaming! If you could change one of the Rules of Golf, which one would it The Open Championship is the one that be and why? every professional golfer dreams about Not being allowed to have a mulligan! Seriously, the Rules of Golf are winning. extremely fair and the R&A works hard to ensure that the rules are kept upto-date with the changing times. Who’s your money on for the UBS Hong Kong Open? Most common mistake you see amateur golfers make? I think Miguel Angel Jimenez has a great Bad course management is a very common mistake, especially around chance of repeating his victory. Clearwater Bay. Many amateurs will try to take on the “miracle” golf shot, which they might pull off once in every one hundred attempts. Play How do you unwind? smarter and you will score better. I like to spend time with my family and friends. I have two sons, Jack (aged 3) and Dream fourball? Josh (2 months). They keep me on my toes Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Seve. so I don’t have too much time to unwind. 68
HK GOLFER・NOV/DEC 2008
WWW.HKGA.COM
WWW.HKGA.COM
HK GOLFER・NOV/DEC 2008
69