Revising for school exams in the clubhouse before hitting the fairways to practice for a golf tournament could become par for the course for PLC student and golfer Mara Kyranakis.
That’s what the talented 15-year-old had to do recently to prepare for her successful defence of the Box Hill Golf Club Ladies Club Championship. Fortunately for Mara, her school gave her leave to participate in the tournament by rescheduling two of her Year 10 exams. And she participated rather well, winning the prestigious tournament for the second year running, by an emphatic 10 shots.
“At the start of this year’s tournament, I was a lot less nervous,” she says of her second consecutive championship win. “Last year I was so nervous. This year I felt a bit more comfortable about it. At the end it was really just as exciting, I think. It doesn’t really get old, winning such an amazing tournament and trophy. It was great to be able to have people come down and watch again and defend my title.”
Although one of the tournament’s youngest-ever champions, Kyranakis has played golf for as long as she can remember.
By her own reckoning, she first swung a club from the time she could walk and had her first golf lesson at age five. From grade three onwards she competed and finished in the top 10 of the Victorian Primary Schools State Championships.
When she won the 2013 Victorian Juniors U14 Net title, she gained a place in the Victorian state development squad- a high-performance program for elite golfers – with which she trains every three months under coach Darren Cole.
“I’ve probably been involved with her a little bit over the last two years,” Cole says of his young squad member. “Technically she’s improved quite dramatically over that time. The challenge now is for her to keep playing as many competitive tournaments as possible and getting that experience and developing from there.
“She probably also just needs to get physically stronger. She’s had issues with her wrists in the past. The physical side of things is a big part of golf development now. The biggest challenge she faces is getting herself physically a bit stronger so she can compete with some of the longer hitters.”
A fractured wrist early this year courtesy of a ripstick accident forced a two to three month lay-off from the game. She said that not being able to play golf “sucked, but from that stage I’ve been playing non-stop … It kind of gave me a break. And I had to start fresh again which is good”.
Kyranakis sees golf and her academic studies as the two main focuses of her life at present and admits that trying to juggle the two can be difficult.
“It’s really tough because for me, I’m quite academically driven. My studies are really, really important to me.”
She’s thinking of studying medicine or engineering at university. “In the end, I kind of want to do something that’s going to help people. But I’m more a math/science person, so if I can incorporate that, that would be great. But with golf, even in the last six months, it’s been a huge part of my life. I’ve been playing so much more than I thought I would be.”
With so much of her time taken up by golf and study, Mara says her social life revolves mainly around family, family friends, friends at golf and her circle of friends at school.
“It’s a bit of a sacrifice as well. Not that I go out to parties a lot, because I don’t. My circle of friends, we all focus on our school a lot, which is good. If there is a party on, and I do have a golf tournament, I just have to say, ‘I have to be in bed by 10 because I’m getting up really early’, and it’s kind of more important for me to be able to get up and play my best golf than to go to a party.”
She says her friends and her relatives are very supportive of her golfing and proud of her successes on the fairway.
“One of the reasons I got Mara into golf is that she’s a really good listener, and if you give her advice, she’d do it. So correcting her swing was easy,” says her dad Kon.
“Also, I think that golf resembles life. I want her to play because it teaches her life skills. You don’t know what you’re going to get on the next hole or the next day. And learning to deal with that situation on the golf course helps you deal with situations in life.
“I think she’s really got a good temperament for the game. She’s always able to put the bad shots behind her,” he says.
Mara says she’s been thinking a lot about her future ambitions lately with regards to golf. “This year I’ve been thinking much more about it. I want to take it as far as I can at the moment. You know, get down to a zero handicap (her current handicap is seven), make some state teams, travel with the state teams and see where that could lead. I’ve also been thinking about college in America. It’s so difficult to get into but it would be an amazing experience. That’s my dream. [Tiger Woods went to Stamford, did his college there then turned pro.] That’s probably the best way for me to turn pro, because I’m definitely going to complete tertiary education, no matter what. So to be able to incorporate getting that tertiary education with being able to play golf and develop my golf will be difficult in Australia.”
“I guess I’ve dropped my tone a little bit and expectations and desires,” says her father Kon. “I mean, when she was really little, I had dreams of her becoming a pro. But as time goes on, you realise it’s not the be all and end all. As long as she’s happy, that’s the key. Now I think if she can get to uni over there and get the best of golf where they train everyday, and she walks away with a degree and her golf at a very good level, that’ll be fantastic.”
Coach Darren Cole offers a slightly different perspective. “The college system is just one pathway young golfers can take. My preference would be to see them work through the systems we have in place here and they can still get a really good education here.”
Of Mara he says: “She’s a fantastic young girl and she’s really improved. From my point of view I hope she sticks at it, because there are plenty of opportunities within Australian golf to keep developing as well. It’s a matter of sticking at it long enough and gaining the experience to really excel as time goes on.”