Meet Ingrid Kruidenier, Lady Captain at Montgomerie Golf Club Dubai
Meet Ingrid Kruidenier, current Lady Captain at Montgomerie Golf Club Dubai. In honour of Troon Women’s Golf Month, we chatted to Ingrid to learn about her life in golf, why she wanted to be Lady Captain, and why she invited a junior academy member to join her on the golf course.
How long have you been member of the Montgomerie Golf Club Dubai
4 years
How did you get in golf ?
After my Bachelor Physical Education in The Netherlands, I started working in the golf industry. At that time I was also very active in the sport of field hockey and combined this with working as a supervisor for Young PGA Professionals who started their internship. For 6 years I was much engaged in the golf industry and loved playing myself. Then after a break of 30 years, living in different parts of the world, because of my husband’s work and having done many different things in my life, I was delighted to restart in 2018 my golf game here in Dubai.
What does it mean to you to be Lady captain ?
I am proud to be the ladies Captain at the Montgomerie. At our club we have a wonderful ladies golf section. I do my very best to be an ambassador for ladies golf, by encouraging and connecting with ladies to play this fun game. I’m happy to notice that the Tuesday ladies have been increasingly well attended by both members and non-members, advanced players as well as beginners. Besides the Tuesday Lady activity, as a Lady Captain together with club management and Vice-Captain Sang-Hee Cavanaughwe organize many other golf events throughout the year.
In your role as Lady captain, how do you encourage other women to play and learn golf ?
David and the other professionals have been playing an important role by running special ladies programs. I have asked the professionals to encourage them to join the Tuesday ladies tournaments. By talking and including new ladies golfers, we are proud to have 37 players non members on a special WA who are joining now on a regular basis. We tell them to go out and play, support them to get their handicap and more important to have fun. I do my best to play with each of them to coach on the course and give them confidence. I’m proud to say that Lady Golf at the Monty is increasing.
You invite Junior Academy Member, Leia to join you in the Rivoli Scramble event earlier in the year; tell us more about that.
David and I have been working together to promote ladies golf. As a result the professionals have been giving their time to give lessons to the Monty ladies ICC competition team. I was delighted I could give back a little bit of my time by playing with Leia. David told me how Leia is so dedicated to the sport and would love to play more tournaments. Sunday January 29 I invited Leia to play a 2 ball Texas Scramble. Amazing, fun, fantastic experience,young talent, great scoring, gross 72, Nett 65.6. Leia is eager to learn and play more. As a result she has been brave enough to enroll for 2 other Member events. I am excited to play the next tournament with Leia upcoming Sunday June 11. A 4 ball Texas Scramble. We will be playing with Sang Hee, Vice Captain of the Montgomerie and Jo Murray. A great example of integrating a young talent in a 4 ball ladies team, taking place in Dubai’s Women’s Golf Month
What is your dream foursome for golf (you and three others) ?
Mmmmmm a very difficult question. I would love to play a foursome with two juniors and two scratch players, alternative 2 beginner golfers and experienced golfers, or 4 scratch players. That’s the beauty of golf, you can make it fun with every player.