Everything you need to know about professional golfer Charley Hull

19 January 2021

Charley Esmee Hull is a professional golfer from Kettering, England. Born on 20 March 1996, she was introduced to golf when she was just two years old by her father and she turned professional in 2013. Winning the Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year during her first professional 12 months as well as becoming the youngest player to compete in the Solheim Cup showcased what Hull was capable of and the success that was to come, including wins on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour which she currently plays on.

Charley Hull (courtesy of PA Images)

Amateur Career

It was 15 years between Hull’s first introduction to golf and when she turned professional. Hull’s dad introduced her to golf when she was a two-year-old and started playing the sport with him at Kettering Golf Club. As a 13-year-old she was pulled out of school to be educated at home, which was when she also stared playing in amateur competitions.

However, it was a few years before this that she started to get noticed as a result of her ability. At 9 years old she won an 18-hole handicap event at Turnberry, Scotland with 28 stableford points from a handicap of 26. This wasn’t a tournament with other children though, she achieved this whilst playing against adults.

A year later Hull took part in the British Open Pro-Am, playing alongside Morgan Pressel, a professional golfer from Florida in the United States who at 12 years old was the youngest player to qualify for the US Women’s Open.

As well as winning several amateur events both in Great Britain and across the pond in the US, Hull ranked in the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking, reaching 3rd place.

In 2011 she won a multitude of events including the Ione D Jones/Doherty Championship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Welsh Ladies Open Stroke Play Championship in the coastal town of Tenby, South Wales and the English Women’s Stroke Play Championship in Alwoodley, Leeds.

The year before she turned professional in the sport of golf, Hull won the 2012 Harder Hall Invitational which took place in Florida, signifying that she was ready for the step up to professional golf.

Hull’s final major championship as an amateur came in the form of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Rancho Mirage in California where she finished in a tie for 38th place.

Professional Career

Hull became a professional golfer just over three months before she turned 18, on January 1 2013, playing her first pro game in March of the same year. 2013 was a very eventful and successful year for the 24-year-old. She achieved five second place finishes on the bounce on the Ladies European Tour, the Lalla Meryem Cup, which is staged in Morocco, the South African Women’s Open, the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open and the Deloitte Ladies Open which was changed to the Dutch Ladies Open and ceased after the 2015 competition.

Along with five top-ten finished on the Ladies European Tour it led to her finishing sixth on the tour’s Order of Merit, earning just short of €135,995 for 15 events. Hull clearly made an impressive impression and was awarded a multitude of accolades including the 2013 Rookie of the Year award, the Sports Journalists’ Association voted her the Best International Newcomer and as a result she was presented with the Peter Wilson Trophy at the SJA British Sports Awards.

Just four days before her 18th birthday, Hull won at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco on the 16 March 2014, which was her first professional title. The tournament ended in a tie between Hull and Gwladys Nocera after the Kettering-born golfer achieved a bogey-free round of 62. This therefore forced a playoff between the two golf players. However, it was Hull’s day to the dismay of Nocera as the 24-year-old birdied the first sudden death hole to win her first competition as a professional.

The following year, in 2015, Hull played at such a high level on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour simultaneously, improving her ranking and led to her being able to play full time on the LPGA Tour, which she has predominantly played since.

As well as managing to bag five top-ten finishes in 2016, Hull also won for the first time on the LPGA Tour which was at the CME Group Tour Championship, the season ending event on the tour at the Gold Course of Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. This put her in fourth place in the final Race to the CME Globe points standings.

Hull’s third professional win came in the form of the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in 2019 at the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, with a score of 208 (-8). She would have to wait until the 2020 coronavirus pandemic subsided slightly in June to have a chance at winning another tournament which she did just 18 days into the month. The professional golfer took part in the Rose Ladies Series, which was set up by Justin Rose and his wife, Kate Rose to reintroduce golf to the UK after Covid-19 lockdowns. Hull won the opening event at Brockenhurst Manor Golf Club.

She finished second at the last event of the Rose Ladies Series, therefore meaning she won the series overall, topping the standings ahead of fellow British golfer Georgia Hall.

Towards the end of 2020, Hull missed the halfway cut at the AIG Women’s Open in late August which was the first major of the year. The ANA Inspiration tournament in September was hopefully going to be the bounce back competition Hull needed, however this wasn’t meant to be. She tested positive for Covid-19 during the pre-tournament testing, meaning she couldn’t take part and had to self-isolate.

However, the year didn’t end on a bad note for Hull, in October she finished tied for 7th place in the Women’s PGA Championship, signifying that the AIG Women’s Open was just a minor blip on her road to success.

Team Appearances

Hull also took part in team competitions both as an amateur and when she turned pro. In 2011 while she was still an amateur, the Kettering-born golfer took part in two team tournaments, the Junior Vagliano Trophy in Porthcawl, Wales where she represented Great Britain and Ireland who were beat by Europe. Also, that year she represented Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup which was held at the Knightsbrook Golf Resort in Ireland; however, the US won the competition that year.

There was one more team tournament which Hull would take part in before turning pro in 2013, however it wasn’t one without some complications. In 2012 Hull was due to take part in the Curtis Cup where she was to represent Great Britain and Ireland. However, she was removed from the team over a conflict with the Ladies Golf Union as a result of a mandatory training session clashing with the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which is a major championship on the LPGA Tour. Eventually though the LGU re-instated Hull and she took part in the Curtis Cup, losing her fourballs and foursomes matches, but winning her singles match ensuring that Great Britain and Ireland beat the United States 10 ½ - 9 ½ . The re-instatement of Hull also meant she could take part in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she finished in a tie for 38th place.

When Hull turned professional in 2013, she was chosen by Liselotte Neumann, the European Solheim Cup captain, to take part in the Solheim Cup of that year, making her the youngest person to ever compete in the tournament. Neumann praised her performance after the competition, which was deserved given that she contributed two points to Europe’s overall total of 18 to give the European team their first win on US soil.

Hull continued to represent Europe in the Solheim Cup in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 competitions, being part of the winning team during the most recent in 2019 which was held at Gleneagles in Scotland.

The International Crown team competition is another jewel Hull can add to her CV, as she represented England for both the 2016 and 2018 tournaments. Although England failed to win on both occasions she has been in the team, it is no doubt an advantage given the experience opportunity. Hull is only 24 years old with hopefully a lot more years in the sport ahead of her. Whether winning or losing competitions, at this early stage she should be celebrating the wins, but not beating herself up too much over the losses.

Personal Facts

- Hull is based at Wobern Golf Club, a course in Little Brickhill, near Milton Keynes in England.

- She comes from a Polish background, with her mother and maternal grandparents being of Polish nationality.

- Hull has experienced discrimination on the basis that she is a woman competing in golf. When she was seven years old she beat a 17-year-old boy who swore at her afterwards. More recently she has spoken out about single-sex golf clubs, indicating that they shouldn’t still operate on a policy whereby women aren’t allowed to play on certain courses.