Bobbi Brown’s trajectory during the past three years suggests a fast-rising golfer who keeps getting better and better.

Scratch a little deeper, though, and it soon becomes obvious just how remarkable her rise has been.

The Western Province golfer, who shot to No 1 in the GolfRSA Open Amateur rankings in 2023, has been tormented by injury ever since her breakthrough year in 2021. Sporadic showings of excellence have been dulled by pain, an incongruous counterpoint to her obvious talent. She keeps getting knocked down, yet she keeps fighting back.

For a long time, Brown suffered tightness in the muscle that connects her rib cage to her spine, badly affecting her swing rotation. Worse was the associated pain that sometimes led to her taking weeks off at a time, often climbing into bed and desperately hoping for a change in fortune.

You expect such setbacks might have dulled her enthusiasm, but Brown is as bubbly and as energetic as you’d hope any 21-year-old would be.

She’s finally got to grips with her injury and when the pain subsides, she delivers in spades. In the past 24 months, Brown has racked up 23 top-10 finishes. This year, she won the Ackerman Championship, Boland Women’s Open and Southern Cape Open in quick succession, and only finished outside the top 10 twice in 12 starts.

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Ironically, her breakout year coincided with her body starting to fail. That September, she cruised to a remarkable eight-stroke win at the Nomads SA Girls Stroke Play Championship in North West, a few months after capturing the Western Province Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship.

“That’s when the injuries began,” says Brown from her mother’s home in Camps Bay, a short hop from Steenberg, her home club. The timing could not have been worse: she had just decided to pursue golf rather than university, her father Alistair having encouraged her to follow her dream.

On she played, but she kept getting injured. Again, and again.

Eventually, Mark Fairbank, her psychologist, suggested an eight-week timeout. It helped a little, but her consistency wasn’t there. She checked in with a chiropractor. And then a new physiotherapist.

“I couldn’t rotate,” says Brown. “I was never strong enough for my swing speed. I always had big rotation through the ball, but my back got really tired very quickly.”

She would be immobile for days, then attend a tournament and blow up. “My mental state was terrible,” she says.

Although Brown was solid enough in 2023 and finished the season ranked second, she says the year was depressing. Thankfully, the past year has been different. New physiotherapist Barry Baumgart has instituted what Brown calls rehab training sessions and Fairbank has worked on her mental state, an important job given how Brown talks of having endured a “dark time” with the bleak injury cloud. Coach Etienne Olivier was also patient, gently shaping her game amid her physical turmoil.

When Brown competed at the R&A Africa Amateur Women’s Invitational at Leopard Creek in February and finished second, and felt she had her mojo back. Two days later she was back in bed with a pulled muscle.

She was in an existential funk, but Olivier and Fairbank’s input, plus a change to a Ping Max – she had struggled with her driver since switching to adult clubs – made a big difference to her game.

“I used to get mad if I started dropping shots, but once I made a conscious decision to stop caring about winning and to only control what I could control, everything changed,” says Brown. “I started having fun and stopped making it all about winning. I was far behind at the Southern Cape Open after the first two rounds; we went out and had some fun, and suddenly I went on a birdie spree in the final round and came from the back to win. I have a long way to go, but my base is solid.”

She has also settled on a gameplan that suits her strengths.

“When I was younger my swing was awful, but my touch was so good. My approach now is to get the ball as far down as I can and get my wedges going. I’m aggressive, but still trying to get the balance between aggression and playing smart into the greens.”

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Of her decision to forego university, she admits she hated school and looked forward to PE more than anything else. Her father’s encouragement to opt for golf gives her peace of mind and she acknowledges the privilege of being able to do so. Whatever happens in golf, she won’t go hungry.

Asked about her love for the sport, she gives a surprising response. “If you’d asked me last year, I loved nothing about golf. I like being competitive and wanting to win. If it wasn’t golf, it would be something else. Golf is fast growing and has become such a big game for women. I do love it now, much as I did when I was a little girl visiting the driving range.”

Brown lists the World Amateur Team Championship in Paris in 2022 as the best and worst week of her life on account of her teammates, the great adventure and shooting “my worst scores in three years”.

Yet the experience has only added to her game, and she continues to make vital gains. Inevitably the question of taking up a pro card has swung into view. “It’s getting to the point where I can start thinking about it,” she says. “I’ll do so when I know I can rock up and shoot under par. There’s no rush.”

Having already had a wild time in her chosen sport, she’s earned the right to decide. On her own terms. And in her own time.

IMAGES: ERNEST BLIGNAULT/GOLFRSA