MAKING THE RIGHT MOVE

Bold decisions led Justin Han, founder of Golf Performance 360, to reshape his golf career.

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You certainly can't accuse Justin Han of being late to the game of golf, having first swung a club at the age of four. While he developed his game on the public courses that existed in the early 90's in Singapore, golf had to compete with his love for many other sports, football and cricket among them.

With a father who represented Singapore at cricket Justin nearly took the larger red ball to be his preferred sport. Thankfully, his preference for “spending time on my own,” saw the small white ball win out. By the age of 12 Justin had joined Warren Country Club and was enrolled in the junior programme playing off a 15 handicap.

Under the tutelage of coach Kim Baldwin, Justin's game progressed, and in 2002 he was scouted to join the newly revamped Singapore Golf Association training programme. Golf was now his first love, the bus journey home from school would often go via Warren so Justin could get some hours in on the range. Good performances in the Asian Games, the Faldo Series, and Inter-school events convinced Justin that he wanted to take his golf game to the next level.

In 2005 he made a bold decision to leave Singapore and study in New Zealand at a school that included a golf programme along with academic studies. “My father and I thought that a change in golf and school environment would help me with my quest to one day play professional golf,” Justin says about his decision to spend two years there. “My time in New Zealand showed me a different culture, a different way of life and how to play the game in new conditions. It can be pretty windy and wet down there.”