Yale golf star Ami Gianchandani succeeds on and off the course
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (BVM) — A young athlete’s success can have a lot to do with the support and encouragement from their family members. This is definitely the case for Yale junior, Ami Gianchandani.
At a young age, Gianchandani had many interests, including sports, academics and music.
“My parents wanted to expose me to as many different possible things as they could,” Gianchandani said. “At the age of 2, I already started playing soccer, tennis and gymnastics. Then I started to play the piano and the clarinet.” She and her parents wanted her to find something that really clicked with her, so she could stick with it for the rest of her life and hopefully grow as a person because of it.
When Ami reached 5 years old and moved to New Jersey, she was introduced to the game of golf.
“Early on, it was just very casual, which included going to the range, going to camps and clinics,” Gianchandani said. “The one thing my parents made sure of was that my brother and I were having fun with it. Until I was 9 and my brother was 7, it was never 18 holes, it was just alternate shot or scrambles to keep us entertained.”
In 2008, Gianchandani started taking golf lessons and played her first tournament in 2009.
“Those experiences were super fun for me,” she said. “I started learning a little bit more about golf and the rules of the game. It was also great because I was able to start and make new friends with the other girls I would compete against in the same events who were the same age as me.”
Her earliest golf memories were some of her most memorable because it was all fun and she was accomplishing little achievements in the game for the first time.
“I remember getting my first eagle when I was 10 years old which I was super excited about,” Gianchandani said. “I also recall when I had a swim meet the same day as a golf tournament, but my parents rushed me to the tournament and I actually ended up five minutes after my tee time and had to take a 10 on the first hole. However, I got to finish the tournament and it’s little things like that which really showed me how much my parents care about my passions.”
Around the age of 11, Gianchandani knew that she wanted to play a sport in college, whether it be soccer, softball, tennis or golf.
“At the time, I knew I was going to play one of them in college, because you always have the dreams of being a professional athlete,” Gianchandani said. However, it was not until she was 13 that she realized she liked golf the most and she would be most successful pursuing that out of the four sports.
“My parents also helped me realize that golf was something that I can do beyond college,” she said. “It would be an actual professional career option, or help me if I decide to do something else in my life. The biggest factor was that I really started to love the game and loved learning about how to become a great player.”
Her parents were very careful about not teaching her how to play golf themselves. Even though they did play, it was not to the extent where they were comfortable giving lessons.
“I’m always so thankful for that because I would see a lot of kids on the range who are listening to their parents about their golf swings and a lot of the time, it can be confusing listening to what your parents say as opposed to what your swing coaches say,” Gianchandani said. “Everyone is so well intentioned and on your side, but having that many voices in your ear can sometimes be very difficult. I’m very grateful that they didn’t want to be my coaches, but they were extremely supportive of me having access to great coaches.”
In 2014, Gianchandani and her parents saw that fitness was starting to play a major factor in success in the game of golf. Gianchandani started to do a junior golf fitness program with PGA Tour trainer Ben Shear.
“When I kept going to the sessions and continued to see the successful high school and college athletes come through the gym, that was really inspiring to me, and that gave me a perspective of what it meant to be an athlete at a higher level,” Gianchandani said. “Although golf is an individual sport, there are a lot of people who contribute to every swing I make when I am out there competing, starting with my parents, swing coach, putting coach, and the list goes on and on. All of them serve as my teammates in golf and I have been very fortunate to always have a great team behind me.”
Currently a junior on the women’s golf team at Yale University, Gianchandani aspires for her team to make it to the NCAA tournament.
“I think that would truly be a once in a lifetime experience that would be filled with a lot of fun,” she said. Gianchandani has had some major accomplishments already at Yale, including winning Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Year in 2018-19. The next year, in 2019-20, she broke a Yale program record by shooting a 65 in the second round of the Yale Women’s Fall Intercollegiate. She ended up winning the individual tournament.
Gianchandani plans on going to graduate school in 2023-24, where she will play golf and then once that is complete she will turn professional and try to make it through the LPGA Q-School.
“I know it’s not going to be an easy task since the competition keeps getting stronger and stronger, but I believe that I have the work ethic and the drive to get there,” she said.
