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Column: I need to be stronger and fresher all year round, says Dubai-based Lahiri

The Dubai Golden Visa awardee talks up his wintering in the Emirates

Published: Tue 12 Dec 2023, 11:04 PM

  • By
  • Anirban Lahiri

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Dubai based Anirban Lahiri represented India in the last Olympics. - Supplied photo

Dubai based Anirban Lahiri represented India in the last Olympics. - Supplied photo

I played my season-ending tournament in Miami on the LIV Golf Tour in October and then I played in Indonesia on the Asian Tour a few weeks before I flew back to Dubai to be back home with my family.

The off-season is very much family time for me.


As a professional golfer who turned pro in 2007, it is a very transient existence so it is precious time to be home here in Dubai having gained Dubai Golden Visa status a year or so ago.

As I write this article I am off to the gym, to keep in shape.

In this off-season I will be focusing on both my physical speed and strength – it is a young man’s game these days. If you do not keep in shape others will pass you by very quickly.

I will recharge my batteries for the new season starting with the LIV Golf League season at LIV Golf - Mayakoba in Mexico in the first week of February 2024.

At the end of last season I feel I ran out of steam a bit as golf can be both mentally and physically draining travelling around the world as much as we do in our jobs.

You only realise the demands on the body when you take a break.

I need to be stronger and fresher all year round next year.

I also spent some time with my golf coach of 22 years – Vijaya Divecha, who flew over from India to come and see me here in Dubai.

I also have a short-game coach in the US, but Vijaya will always take credit or blame for how I am playing as a whole! Only joking.

I anchor myself at The Els Club, Dubai for most of my practice and play with some of the local pros to keep my game as sharp as I can.

The weather here in Dubai is now perfect and somewhat more golf-friendly than in the summer when I came through a few times during my off weeks.

As a family, we are travelling to India for Christmas and I will be playing in Pune for a charity golf tournament with fellow Indian pros on January 6.

I drove down the road to Abu Dhabi Golf Club on Sunday to see the climax of the LIV Golf Promotions – and to see Greg Norman.

It was great to see such an innovative and entertaining format that produced, at the end of four rounds and three days of golf, three new members of the LIV Golf League for 2024. It will be interesting how and where they all fit in and as a fellow pro golfer wish them all the best in what will be life-changing for them all.

Well done to Kalle Samooja, Kieren Vincent, and Jinichiro Kozuma on their promotion to LIV Golf.

Looking forward to January I will visit to see my coach again – then the new season begins.

Anirban Lahiri, 36 years old, plays the LIV Golf League and is a Dubai Golden Visa Awardee.



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