PGA professional Sarka Seifertova is breaking new ground introducing women to golf in the Middle East.
Sarka Seifertova has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
The Czech native, now an Australian citizen, has made a habit testing her limits to get the most out of herself, personally and professionally.
She was born into a golf-playing family. Her father is a PGA professional who owned and ran a driving-range facility in the Czech Republic. “I spent every day there from the age of 5,” Sarka recalls. “I became quite good and spent a couple of years in the national squad as a junior.”
A prodigious talent, Sarka fell out of love with the game when obsession over her performance swallowed her enjoyment. So, after a phone call to the national squad, she put the clubs down for a decade and began the hunt for a different challenge.
“I wanted to move away from home; to go somewhere I would need to learn the language and test myself,” she says. “I came to Australia because it is so far away, and I couldn’t just go home when I got uncomfortable.”
After completing a Cert III in Fitness and working in restaurants Down Under, Sarka found her way back to golf, this time with a renewed perspective as a 25-year-old.
“I was working at Barnwell Park Golf Club in Sydney, and they encouraged me to join the Membership Pathway Program [to become a PGA professional],” she recalls. “I always had a dream to be a good player, but often in that early time in Australia, I felt a bit of an outsider – that I didn’t belong. That changed once I started teaching golf. I found that I really enjoyed it and found it very fulfilling.”
Since graduating as a qualified PGA professional in 2023, Sarka has been dedicated to sharing the joys of golf with more women than ever before. Having worked at the innovative GolfSpace facility in Sydney – where she was responsible for boosting female engagement – Sarka wanted to challenge herself further. She accepted a role as teaching professional at Education City Golf Club in Doha, Qatar.
Home to three golf courses and a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence that includes a 3D Gears system, TrackMan technology and a SAM Balance PuttLab, Sarka feels at home.
“I fell in love with the facility immediately,” she says. “There is so much practice space and even a fully private studio to allow for Muslim women to have lessons in privacy.”
It is an environment that allows Sarka to pursue what she describes as “a mission to help women feel more empowered through sport”.
The busiest of the teaching professionals in just her third month, Sarka ran a campaign targeted at women and girls in February, which reached more than 200,000 people.
“The main thing for me here is to get more local Qatari women through the door,” she says. “We want to build a community of women golfers. Helping people to feel like they can belong, create connections and motivate each other, that is what it is all about. If they want to go a step further and take the game more seriously, we have the resources here to help them do that, too.”
Sarka understands how it can feel on the other side and wants to ensure more people get a rewarding experience within golf.
“I remember how it felt when I was new to the game,” she says. “It can be intimidating, and I want to help people through that experience and instead let them dream on about what is possible in golf. At the moment, this makes my heart full, and it is my absolute priority.”
To find a PGA professional to help guide your journey in golf, visit pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/
