Blessed with talent, JJ Senekal, a hard-working Sunshine Tour pro has set himself some lofty targets, writes MIKE GREEN in Compleat Golfer.
The night before JJ Senekal won his first Sunshine Tour title in October 2013, he received a special phone call. ‘You’re up there for a reason,’ the voice said. ‘Don’t stand back for anyone. You’ve got the game. You’ve got everything. Just go for it.’
It was his father at the other end of the line, and Senekal went on to defeat Titch Moore on the second playoff hole to win the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at St Francis Links. He’d also beaten the likes of Jean Hugo and Jake Roos, both of whom had won on the Sunshine Tour in 2013.
Things looked rosy for Senekal as he finished that year 50th on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit. Although he didn’t record any wins the following year, solid finishes at the Africa Open, the Telkom Business PGA Championship and the South African Open saw him to his best year in terms of money won.
And then … 2015 and 2016 … meh!
‘It was a year of lessons learned in 2016,’ says Senekal. ‘I knew I had to change some things in my career, which I did. I changed a couple of clubs in my bag and went back to my old irons that had worked the year before. When I had that sorted, the rest was easier to fix. I didn’t change my swing a whole lot but I did try to make it stronger and more repeatable. There is never a quick fix in golf and I knew that when I started this game. So it all comes with time and hard work.’
Like so many talented players before him, Senekal had reached a point where it looked as if he might sink without a trace in the merciless world of professional golf. But he is made of sterner stuff.
‘I never doubt myself in anything I do,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t matter what game it is in life. For me it’s called a learning curve for a reason. I have an amazing team of supporters behind me and to single them all out would take up this whole interview. The most important people are my family – my mom Alida, dad Koos, sister Marizahn and my girlfriend Annemari [Golden]. They’re people you spend every day with at home when you are down and they pick you up very quickly.’
That kind of self-confidence is critical in a game like golf, where a slump can feel interminable. But self-confidence can only carry you so far in the sport. Knowing your game is also critical, and knowing where and how to tinker will go a long way towards helping end a slump.
‘I would say my short game is the strongest,’ says Senekal. ‘I have always been a pretty good putter, even if I say so myself!’
He may say so: he birdied the final two holes on his way to his maiden Sunshine Tour victory, including a 25-foot putt for his birdie on the last to force the playoff.
‘But after looking at my stats I realised I had to work really hard on hitting more fairways and greens to improve that part of my game more. I changed my driver and other small things to become better. I’m still not the best off the tee but I’m in better positions to attack more flags.’
Things started to come right in the 2017-18 season on the Sunshine Tour, as he produced four top-10s and rounded the season off nicely with top-20s at the Tshwane Open and the Tour Championship. That saw him inside the top 30 of the Order of Merit for the second time in his seven-year career on Tour – exactly the kind of springboard a player with his self-belief and introspective abilities needed.
Everything paid off in spades as he pulled off his second Sunshine Tour win in April, prevailing in a four-way playoff
at the Zanaco Masters in Lusaka, Zambia. He saw off Jaco Ahlers, Andre de Decker and Alex Haindl.
‘Having a long break in between wins is not easy, but if you put yourself in contention enough times you will cross
that line again and that’s what I kept telling myself,’ says Senekal.
‘I finished seventh in Lusaka in 2017 and that made me want to come back and try to improve,’ he adds. ‘It’s a course that is tight and hard, so it’s more of a mental week than a ball-striking one.
I prepared myself to be mentally stronger than anyone and it worked.
‘A playoff is always nerve-shredding but getting into a four-man playoff made it very hard. When it was just Jaco and me, it became matchplay for me and that’s all you need to do – beat the other guy; it doesn’t matter if it’s with an eagle or a double-bogey!’
For Senekal, that playoff signified more than a return to the winner’s circle. It gave him a glimpse of how he gets things right in the way he approaches life on Tour, too. ‘Our careers are lonely,’ he says. ‘It’s only you and your caddie out there trying to win tournaments, so when you get off the course you need someone to have dinner with and chat.
‘Rhys West [left] and Mike Palmer are the boys I travel with and we are great friends. Rhys and I have been hosting
each other since we were junior golfers, so it’s cool that we are now playing on Tour together. It’s almost like having teammates, but the only thing is these teammates are trying to beat you the next day, so you need to be able to switch into game mode once you wake up. But we are all good mates and support each other every day to be the best.’
The best for Senekal is pretty simple.
‘My ambition is to become a top-50 golfer in the world and to play among the best week in and week out. That’s what we all work for, to become a “world famous golfer”.
‘My advice to younger golfers? Turn pro as soon as possible – after your education, of course. What you can learn on Tour during your first couple of years is worth millions of dollars. Anyone can win any week and that’s when you realise how good these guys are and how good you need to become.’
Senekal’s father knew that about his son when he made that phone call in 2013.
– This article first appeared in the June issue of Compleat Golfer, now on sale!
