Revolutionizing Japanese Girls’s Golf: The Secrets and techniques Behind the Success of Shin Ji-ae and Hinako Shibuno

World No. 1 Shin Ji-ae (left), who symbolizes the modern spirit of Korean ladies’s golf, and Hinako Shibuno, who created a brand new wave in Japanese ladies’s golf by profitable the Championship British Girls’s Open.

“Japan will not be a rustic that adjustments issues rapidly. Nonetheless, as soon as we have now set a precept, we’ll proceed to pursue efficient strategies even when they do not appear to be a lot. Because the Japan Girls’s Skilled Golf tour (JLPGA) progressed, gamers initially felt discontent on the home stage and a decline in worldwide competitiveness. The Japanese golf neighborhood believed that golf’s recognition would inevitably decline in the long run. One of many issues that reveals how earnestly these individuals are attempting to enhance the competitiveness of Japanese ladies’s golf is the ‘legendary pin place’. It is a manner for legends who’ve achieved wonderful outcomes on the home and worldwide ranges to be straight concerned within the course circumstances of the JLPGA tour tournaments. Whenever you put a pin someplace on the inexperienced, take into consideration whether or not it can assist the kids enhance their expertise. “Gathering these particulars led to alter.”

Kim Ae-sook, CEO of Shin Ji-ae’s administration firm KPS, has helped many Korean gamers, together with Shin Ji-ae, to settle in Japan primarily based on her expertise enjoying on the JLPGA tour since 1985. After working as an expert participant and offering golf-related classes and administration, she has lived in Japan for 40 years. I heard the story on a global cellphone name.

– What’s the secret to strengthening Japanese ladies’s golf, which was as soon as thought of one step beneath?

“When JLPGA President Hiromi Kobayashi took workplace in 2010, she launched a number of programs to develop gamers who can excel on the world stage. Chairman Kobayashi is a Japanese star participant who debuted on the JLPGA Tour in 1985 with 11 wins, and debuted on the US LPGA Tour in 1990, obtained the Rookie of the Yr award, and performed till 2003 , profitable 4 occasions. He additionally received the 1997 Evian Masters on the European Tour. “​​​​​​I assumed the Japanese system wanted to be elevated to a global stage to supply aggressive gamers on the world stage.”

– What adjustments have taken place?

“We determined to alter lots of the third spherical tournaments, which had been the excessive stage of the JLPGA tour, to 4th spherical tournaments. It was believed that in an effort to win a serious competitors overseas, one should first have the rhythm of life for a 4-day sport. We had a well-known participant who set the course for the match. For instance, the pin was positioned in a blind spot on the inexperienced (a spot the place it’s tough to calculate the gap as a result of slope of the inexperienced when seen from the golf green) to assist enhance creativeness. Efforts had been additionally made to strengthen the second a part of the tour, similar to extending the two-day match interval to a few days. Within the second a part of the tour, we elevated the variety of co-hosted tournaments with Taiwanese sponsors in order that younger gamers might have match expertise overseas. Because the gamers’ expertise improved and their efficiency in worldwide tournaments improved, the variety of Japanese first division tour tournaments elevated from 35 to 39 per yr. “As a result of we have now such a good schedule, we adapt rapidly to the competitors. “

-What programs are in place to enhance competitiveness in worldwide tournaments, similar to advancing to the US LPGA Tour?

“Performances from the 5 main tournaments of the US LPGA Tour are included within the Mercedes rankings of the Japan JLPGA Tour. In the event you journey to a contest overseas with a time distinction, there may be an exception to the rule of taking a break from the identical competitors for 2 consecutive years. The Suntory Championship entitles the winner and runner-up to participate within the AIG Girls’s Open (previously the British Girls’s Open). We’re actively establishing daycare facilities for mom athletes beginning in 2023. “It’ll even be entered on the Qualifying College finals.”

Head of Aesook Kim and Jiae Shin. /KPS

-He has helped Korean gamers enter Japan for over 20 years. What is the distinction?

“Because the KLPGA tour develops, Korean gamers deal with stability quite than problem. Japan was like that earlier than. The mentality of Japanese and Korean gamers has modified. Japan’s power at this yr’s US Girls’s Open didn’t occur in a single day. Whenever you be a part of the US LPGA Tour, you could have a powerful need to study. You will need to have a powerful sense of problem and need to know the place you stand on the world stage. A attribute of Japanese gamers not too long ago, after they take part within the US LPGA Tour, is that they deal with working and discovering out what they want. Only a few gamers go together with the mindset of simply experiencing it as soon as. Golf is a sport. “The thought of ​​difficult your self helps to know the true worth of sport in overcoming limits and constructing confidence.”

– What efforts are wanted to extend the worldwide competitiveness of Korean ladies’s golf?

“You will need to naturally expertise worldwide competitions from a younger age. It could be good to go on a bit of journey to locations like Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Australia and get some expertise. Expertise competing on utterly completely different turfs and environments is essential. About 40 Japanese gamers will take part within the qualification check in Taiwan. Japan’s golf surroundings is nice, nevertheless it comes from studying the traits of various grasses somewhere else and growing the sophistication of the brief sport. The KLPGA should additionally run a world match for junior gamers. Ranges such because the Asia Golfers Discussion board (AGLF), led by Korea, additionally present an amazing alternative to achieve worldwide information. “