There’s a version of this story where Faye Al Balooshi never picks up a golf club. In that version, she and her cousins tag along to Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club purely for the paper cups, the cone shaped ones that make perfect hats for American Girl dolls, and golf remains nothing more than the place her uncle went for lessons.
Thankfully for the UAE golfing community, that’s not how things played out.
“I wasn’t very interested, but my cousin told me they had paper cups shaped like cones that we could use as hats for our dolls,” Faye laughs, recalling the day that unknowingly launched her career. “So we decided to go with the intention of just getting the cups. I didn’t realise that I’d actually enjoy playing golf.”
A few years later, her father, sensing his daughter needed an outlet beyond the family’s deep roots in horse riding and show jumping, gave her a nudge that would prove life changing. “He said, ‘Faye, you need to play a sport. You should get some hobbies.’ So I decided, you know what, I’ll just play golf. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to stop.”
That switch was not immediate. Faye actually spent three years competing in show jumping before moving into golf full time, taking part in national shows across Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai, as well as the Sharjah Summer Tour, where she competed in the Novice and Children’s classes.
She picked up a couple of wins along the way, but there is one she still speaks about with real pride. On 2 November 2019, riding her mare Lucy for the very first time, a 12 year old Faye won the Children’s Class in Al Ain. It remains a cherished memory from a chapter of her life that, while brief, clearly instilled the same discipline and competitive instinct now driving her golf career.
Nineteen years old and playing off a scratch adjacent 0.3 handicap, Faye Al Balooshi has become one of the brightest names in Emirati women’s golf, a title she wears with visible pride, and one she’s determined to build into something much bigger.
Early Mornings, Big Lessons
Ajman isn’t exactly overflowing with golf academies, so from the very start, commitment meant sacrifice. Faye would travel to Dubai for coaching, arranging lessons that began before the sun had properly risen.
“I used to travel down to Dubai for lessons. Jamie McConnell and Claude Harmon were kind enough to schedule my lessons early, at 6 a.m. I’d leave the house at 4 in the morning, get to the golf club around 5 a.m., have my lesson at 6 a.m., and then head to school.”
It’s the kind of routine that separates hobbyists from those chasing something more, and Faye credits both coaches, with McConnell working out of the Claude Harmon Academy at the time, for instilling fundamentals she still leans on today. “They really pushed and motivated me, and they taught me so much that I still use to this day.”
Building a Team, Building a Career
Ask Faye what’s driven her progress most, and the answer isn’t a swing tweak or a putting drill, it’s people. “My biggest takeaway is that I’ve realised how important it is to have a team around you, people who share the same vision and ambition, who you can work with, and ideally support each other.” Omar Bastaki, she says, has been particularly instrumental as both mentor and role model along the way.
That team first mentality has paid dividends. Faye claimed the Ladies Order of Merit for the 2023 to 2024 season, won the 2023 Abu Dhabi City Gems International WAGR Tournament, and has gone on to post podium finishes at regional level, including third in the Ladies Individual at the 2025 Oman GCC Championship and third at the 36 hole Etihad Ajman Golf Championship.
Of all of them, the Order of Merit win means the most. “It was one of my major goals when I first started golf, and I did it during my senior year of high school. It taught me how to manage my time, balancing golf, playing tournaments almost every weekend, and keeping up with my schoolwork during my final year.”
The competitive experiences abroad have sharpened her ambition rather than satisfying it. “There is always room for improvement, and an opportunity to learn. It’s made me want to go abroad, represent my country, and compete at the highest level. I know I can do that because I know I’m capable of it.”
Eyes on the LET Access Series
With her handicap already sitting at 0.3, Faye’s next target is clear: the Ladies European Tour Access Series. “To be able to play in it as an amateur will help build my experience and exposure to the game,” she explains, a pragmatic step on a path she hopes leads to a full professional career.
That ambition carries extra weight given the current landscape for athletes in the UAE. “Sport isn’t currently seen as a viable career option in the UAE the way it is abroad, but I hope, inshallah, that changes,” she says. “I really hope that one day I’ll be able to say that being an athlete and a golfer is my job.”
Flying the Flag
National pride runs through every answer Faye gives. “I have so much pride in being able to represent my country and show that we, as Emiratis, are capable athletes,” she says, before turning the spotlight onto compatriots already blazing a trail, including Hamda Al Suwaidi and Alia AlEmadi. “There’s still so much room for more Emiratis to get into golf, and I’d love to see more Emiratis playing sports and being out there with us.”
She’s equally clear eyed about what it will take to grow the women’s game specifically at home: visible success. “We need more role models. It would be amazing to see an Emirati woman winning golf tournaments and competing in more tournaments abroad at the professional level. I think that would really inspire the next generation.”
Heroes and Heart
When it comes to inspiration, Faye splits her admiration between the fairway and an entirely different arena. World number one Nelly Korda tops her list of golfing role models, “it’s so inspiring to watch her. It’s nice to think that one day I could be there too, standing on the same stage and competing,” while show jumper Abdulla Al Marri, who represented the UAE at the 2024 Paris Olympics, gets a special mention for the qualities she hopes to bring to her own game. “His grit and determination inspire me to work harder.”
Away from the course, Faye keeps things refreshingly grounded, time with family, her siblings, and a good book top the list of off course pleasures.
But make no mistake: golf sits at the centre of everything. “Golf is my everything. I wake up in the morning thinking about golf, and I go to sleep thinking about golf. This is what I want to do. This is where I see myself.”
What Comes Next
For a golfer who once showed up at the club chasing paper hats, the ambitions now on the table are considerably loftier. “In the future, I’d like to be a role model for Emiratis. I’d like to see myself playing on the professional tours and representing my country on an international and global stage as a professional golfer.”
Given everything she’s built by 19, the early mornings, the mentors, the trophies, and the relentless hunger to keep improving, it would be unwise to bet against her getting there.
