{"id":516371,"date":"2025-10-21T06:56:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T06:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/516371\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T06:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T06:56:18","slug":"woman-becomes-record-breaking-golfer-just-two-years-after-taking-up-the-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/516371\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman becomes record-breaking golfer just two years after taking up the sport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A woman with a love for golfing has claimed a world record in her sport just two years after first picking up a club.<\/p>\n

Ishimwe Akanigi Melissa (Rwanda) completed the fastest unassisted round of golf (female)<\/strong> in just 52 minutes 11 seconds.<\/p>\n

She took on the challenge at Kigali Golf Resort & Villas, in Kigali City, Rwanda, where she is a member, on 8 May, and as per the rules, she had to do it completely alone.<\/p>\n

That meant she had to carry her own equipment and tee up her own ball for all 18 holes, and she couldn\u2019t use a golf cart to whizz around the course.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old\u2019s achievement is all the more impressive when you find out she only started playing golf in July 2023.<\/p>\n

Ishimwe, who runs her own business selling hardware and construction materials, told us: \u201cWhat began as a simple hobby quickly became something I\u2019m deeply passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"carrying<\/p>\n

She first had the idea to break a world record when she was setting her goals for the year last December.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI had already written down goals for my career, friendships, and spiritual life, and when I got to hobbies, I thought about golf and how much of my time it takes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of curiosity, I went to the Guinness World Records website and searched for \u2018golf\u2019. That\u2019s when I found the record, which no one had attempted yet. I thought it would be exciting to try.<\/p>\n

\"Ishimwe<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I imagined it would be simple, but it turned out to be one of the toughest things I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head to our Sports and Fitness News page for more stories like this.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ishimwe admits she considered giving up after receiving the record guidelines and realizing how much work would have to go into her attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I remembered why I started,\u201d she said. \u201cMy career and my sport are both male-dominated spaces, and that motivated me to keep going and prove that women can thrive anywhere.<\/p>\n

\"swinging<\/p>\n

\u201cI shared my goal with my family, close friends, golf community, and Rotary Club. They helped me plan and prepare for it. I worked with a fitness trainer, nutritionist, physiotherapist, and psychologist, and I completely changed my routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraining was intense, sometimes up to eight hours a day. I dealt with fatigue, blisters, and mental breakdowns, but I stayed focused on my goal and the reason behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ishimwe faced some challenges on the day of her attempt, including being faced with some unexpected heavy rain.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cFor a moment my hope dropped. But I reminded myself why I was there, prayed, and decided that giving up wasn\u2019t an option. That faith and determination carried me through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"walking<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI would absolutely encourage others, especially young women and girls, to take up golf. It teaches patience, focus, and discipline, which are useful in every part of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf has also allowed me to meet incredible people who inspire me to grow and has given me a platform to encourage others to step out of their comfort zones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ishimwe said she was grateful for the support of her parents and family throughout her record journey and for everyone who helped her achieve her goal.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cSome dreams are worth fighting for. I never imagined I\u2019d one day be a world record holder. To every young girl and woman out there, your dreams are valid. With discipline, determination, and faith, you can break barriers too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman with a love for golfing has claimed a world record in her sport just two years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[168505,168504,2826,168506,25666,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-516371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-fastest-round-of-golf","9":"tag-fastest-unassisted-round-of-golf-female","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-golf-records","12":"tag-guinness-world-records","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115410854613719778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}