Heading into this year’s Solheim Cup, 28-year-old Brit Charley Hull is arguably playing the best golf of anyone on the European Solheim Cup team. She’s certainly gone the most viral this year. She’s also just about as plucky as golfers get on the LPGA — a useful quality ahead of this week’s showdown in Virginia.
So why was Hull “gutted” the first time she qualified for the European team? Read on. This interview originally appeared in the September issue of GOLF Magazine.
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The scene: Hull is calling from Foxhills CC in Surrey, England, capping off a practice session.
Dylan Dethier: You grew up in a small town a couple hours north of London. What’s your first golfing memory?
Charley Hull: When I was, like, three, I’d play with my dad down at his golf course, Kettering Golf Club. I used to just walk around with him at first. Then we’d play.
DD: Did you play other sports or was it always golf?
CH: I did play [soccer] and stuff like that, but I spent every day at the golf course.
DD: And were you good at the game right away?
CH: Yeah. Everyone used to say I always had that “natural talent.”
DD: What’s the first time you remember being clearly good in a way that was different from everyone else?
CH: When I was seven years old, I beat a 17-year-old boy, and I think that’s when people started saying, “Ooh, she’s pretty good.”
DD: What was his reaction?
CH: He was mad. After I beat him, he just said, “F—ing girls.”
DD: Did you really love the game or was it just, y’know, part of your life?
CH: I loved it. It was all I knew, really, so I didn’t think about it. But I just loved being on the golf course.
DD: Now you’ve been a pro for over a decade. Do you have the same relationship with the sport as you did when you started?
CH: I don’t know. It’s something that’s been in my life — well, I’m 28, so for, like, 26 years. So I’m just so used to it. It’s my routine. When I don’t have it, I feel lost.
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DD: When you made the 2013 Solheim Cup team, you were the youngest Cupper in history. What do you remember from that week?
CH: So, my first Solheim Cup came when I was 17, and in singles I played Paula Creamer, who was one of my idols, and I beat her 5 and 4 and got her autograph afterward. I wasn’t trying to be like, “Oh, I got the autograph of the golfer I beat.” My friend had asked me to get it and so I did.
DD: Do you remember Solheim feeling different than a typical event?
CH: I wasn’t nervous. The truth is — it’s the funniest thing — I got selected to the team at the 2013 British Open at St. Andrews and I remember hearing the news and I was gutted. I had my friend’s birthday party that was that same week as the Solheim. So when I got selected for the team, I was absolutely gutted. I was like, “Oh, I can’t go to my friend’s birthday party!” Looking back now it seems silly, but I didn’t realize how big the Cup is.
In fairness, your friends only turn 17 once, 18 once. It feels like the whole world. And growing up playing golf, I missed out on a lot of things — normal things that most kids would do as part of their childhood. So I really was sad to miss it. But I guess, in the end, it’s worked out pretty well.
DD: Now that you’ve been on six of these teams, what’s different about the Solheim Cup? What makes it a special event compared to the rest of the calendar?
CH: It brings everyone together. I mean, I play for my country every week, but it’s different the way we’re playing for Europe. It’s just a fun event, a week to go out there and have a laugh with your mates. I don’t really get that nervous for Solheim, but I really look forward to it. And hopefully I’ll get paired with Georgia Hall this year. She’s a good friend, and we’ll go out there and have fun.
I actually somewhat prefer playing Solheim Cup in America. I like it when the crowd’s a bit against you.”
DD: That all sounds really laid-back. I mean, do you ever get nervous out there?
CH: I’m weird. Like, I get more nervous playing pro-ams, when we’re playing with amateurs who are expecting you to be unbelievable. And then if you don’t hit a good shot, like, they judge you. But when I’m on a golf course in a tournament, I never really get nervous.
DD: By now, you’ve seen it all at the Solheim. Is there anything about this one in 2024, down in Virginia, that you think will feel different?
CH: Mostly it’ll be more of the same, which is good. But I actually somewhat prefer playing Solheim Cup in America. I like it when the crowd’s a little bit against you. I don’t understand when people say, “Oh, you’ve got the upper hand on home soil.” I play better when people are against me, because I want to prove them wrong.
DD: Obviously, you’ve been a really well-known golfer for a long time, but this summer you experienced a new wave of popularity. You were in contention at a few big events, found yourself in the spotlight.
CH: I really have been playing good golf this year. I’ve had some really strong weeks, top 25s in the majors, except the Evian, where I was hurt. It’s been a fun year; I’m looking forward to the end of summer and fall.
DD: You had a couple viral moments as well, most memorably images of you smoking at the U.S. Women’s Open. But you said you’d left social media a few months ago. Is that still the case?
