Golf parenting is not for the faint-hearted
And that’s just the work side of things.
Being a golf mum, Beatrice says, is practically another full-time job.
Tournament days often begin at 4am for early tee times, followed by long drives, often across unfamiliar parts of the US.
“America is a very big country and tournaments don’t happen at your doorstep,” she says.
There were moments when she was driving in the dark, fighting sleep and hoping she could stay awake long enough to get her son safely to the course, sometimes straight after an overnight work call that ended at 4am.
“Sometimes you have meetings and you cannot tell the minister, ‘I cannot meet you at 3am.’ You just have to show up,” she says.
Once there, the waiting game begins. Junior tournaments can stretch anywhere from five to nine hours, especially with rain delays. And because juniors aren’t allowed to use buggies, everyone walks — including parents.
The physical exhaustion is real, but the emotional test can be even tougher.
“One of the most difficult things is that you cannot play the game for him,” Beatrice admits. “All you can do is really encourage and support.”
On bad days, that means watching her own child struggle on the course while running on little to no sleep herself.
There have even been moments when she’s “fallen asleep next to squirrels and raccoons,” only to wake up and find her sandwich gone.
Still, whenever she can, she chooses to walk the course and watch Sol play, which she calls her “favouritest thing”.
“I absolutely love watching him play,” she says, especially when things don’t go his way. “How he recovers from that… that always makes me so proud.”
While she believes he has a long way to go and is “extremely far from his dream,” she’s in no hurry to rush milestones.
