LHS alum turns golf professional after successful scholarship in America

Esme Hamilton (LHS 2018) has been sharing her journey of turning her passion for golf into a professional career, her aspirations as well as the challenges she faces. Esme aspires to be a top 20 player on the Ladies European Tour.

After leaving the High School, Esme jetted off to America on a golf scholarship. Over the course of the next 5 years, she attained a degree in Environmental Science and a post-graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee and the University of Kansas. She has now returned home and is excited about embarking on the next stage of her golfing career by turning professional.

As a professional, Esme will be playing on the LETAS (Ladies European Access Tour), a professional golf tour for the 2024 season, while working to finish at the top of the order of merit to gain a place to play on the Ladies European Tour from 2025 onwards.

She says: ‘I am excited to compete for wins among the top players on this tour to get onto the top LET tour. The LETAS tour will involve playing in just under 20 tournaments across Europe and within the UK throughout the year.’

Golf is Esme’s full-time job, when she’s not playing in tournaments, she’s practicing daily like any person would go to work. She works part-time in the evenings at her local golf club to help fund her playing, but she is also working hard to find sponsorship to support playing on tour.

She adds; ‘Being a female, new to professional golf, does have its challenges and I am currently looking for potential sponsors or investors who would be interested in collaborating and financially supporting me to play on tour across Europe.’ 

Esme’s career highlight came in 2022 when she played in the Women’s British Amateur Championship. She led the tournament after day one, shooting 5 under par. She finished in 9th position in the Stroke play stage. She adds; ‘Throughout my time in college, I had a few second-place finishes, although these were good, I came 20th in the NCAA regionals which was probably my biggest achievement in America because of the standard of players.’

Esme’s time at school enabled her to develop her time management skills, juggling between getting her homework done and golf practice every evening. She says, ‘Thankfully school was very supportive in Sixth Form and let me use the “cadets” afternoons and PE time to go to practice. I’m grateful for the friendships I still have from the High School. My food classes were honestly my favourite times, getting to make something new and developing cooking skills with Mrs Squire and Mrs Riley. Just walking down to the dining hall for lunch with friends… weird what stays in your head.’

For aspiring golfers across the Foundation, Esme advises trying to secure a golf scholarship, as this would enable you to study whilst playing for the golf team at university. She says, ‘College sports out in America are on a massive scale so it was amazing to be able to experience this.’

Esme’s day to day in America meant that her mornings were spent in classes, followed by team practice for 4-5 hours in the afternoon, with university work in the evening. Esme recalls she had 10-12 tournaments that she’d travel to across America to compete against other university teams.

She says, ‘I would 100% recommend this to any student playing sport at a high level. It is an amazing opportunity and the life skills you develop living there on your own are unparalleled to UK university in my opinion. My plan after university has always been to turn professional to play on tour, so this isn’t so much of a move, just the next step in the journey.’