Golf is a hard sport to win at

but with your dad on your

bag, it's a lot of fun, says

Sally Watson (16)

REPRODUCED FROM THE TIMES ONLINE WEBSITE
Interview by HELEN STEWART

Graham Watson, 50, the founder and executive director of the Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation, and his daughter Sally, who at 16 has been picked for the GB and Ireland Curtis Cup team, love to spend time together on the golf course. Picture of Sally by Cal Carson Golf Agency (all rights reserved).

SALLY WATSON:
Dad's never been a scratch golfer, but he has a great insight into the competitive psyche. He knows me inside out. He's been very successful in his field, corporate finance, so he must have some insight into how things work.
It was when we lived in San Francisco and he coached our basketball team that he really got into sports for all. That's what made him start the foundation, I think, when he saw how positive community games could be.
With him being so busy, it should have felt like Dad wasn't around, but it was the opposite. I remember him working in New York, then catching the red-eye home so he could watch us play on Saturday mornings. He never missed a game that involved me and my big sister, Rebecca.
Mum was at home, the best thing she could have done for us despite the fact it meant stopping her own career. My parents have sacrificed a lot so we could achieve our dreams, even holidays. The whole family is geared towards taking us to tournaments to give us the opportunity to succeed. Rebecca is doing great at business school in America on a golf scholarship. Maybe that's the kind of thing I'll do too.
Whenever he can, I get Dad to caddy for me and he's always happy to. It has to be someone you really trust, who knows your game and your emotions and can spot the signs of stress. The point of having them there is to help you relax and Dad is better than anyone at that.
Five hours on the course is a lot of time to get negative and feel the pressure, but Dad keeps me laughing.
We crowd-watch and we see how Mum is doing. She gets so into it that it makes me smile to see the intensity on her face. Dad's better at taking a step back and seeing things from a different perspective. He finds a little something to say, we focus on the shot and move on.
Golf is a hard sport to win, but with your dad on your bag it's a lot of fun. Really, what 16-year-old girl can say they'd want to hang around with their dad for that length of time?
I know they miss me and my sister because we're both in America, but despite the distance we are close. We talk every day, sometimes a quick call to say I love them, sometimes a long call to tell them everything I'm thinking.
It's a different relationship than if I was coming in from school in Edinburgh and running upstairs to do homework, but I think it's better for it. If you're away from your parents at this age, it really makes you appreciate what you've got.

GRAHAM WATSON
My wife, Maggie, and the girls used to spend summers at our cottage in Elie, and I commuted from work in Edinburgh, so when they were younger Rebecca and Sally had sporting activities morning, noon and night.
In many respects Elie's an unusual place, there's an 18-hole and a 9-hole golf course, tennis courts and, of course, the lure of diving off the pier. There'd be a golf lesson at 9am, tennis at 11am, then more playing in the afternoons.
All the children there are really active, they love it. Maggie and I thought it was important to give our girls the chance to try everything. Not to mention the fact that by night-time they were exhausted, which is no bad thing for a parent.
Having a big sister made Sally want to stretch herself. It's hard to predict excellence, but we saw she enjoyed competing. My daughters are very different, Rebecca has an easy-going, caring personality. Not to say she's not competitive and strong, because she is, but you wouldn't necessarily see it at first glance.
Without that personality and with a younger sister like Sal, she could have become disillusioned with her own considerable achievements. Thankfully, it's not in her to be like that, and Rebecca is her sister's number one supporter.
Sally has always been competitive and determined, she's the type to set herself a task and go to every possible length to achieve it. She gives 150% every time. At one golf event for youngsters, for example, Sal won every age group in her time and held plenty of course records, but still looked at the photo of the time Rebecca competed in the same group and won and said, “That's the year she beat me, that was tragic.”
We tease her about it, but that's the person she is, highly focused. You don't get into the Curtis Cup team without that ability.
She is very strong mentally. I've learnt a lot about the winning mentality through my work with the foundation, and I'd say she's got a world-class athlete's mind, but her great strength is that she hasn't changed.
Despite all the attention and being educated in America, she still enjoys it. We had friends over the other day and their young son came in, talking about golf. Sal just said, “Do you want to go and play?” and off they went to play nine holes, just the same as any normal kid in this place would be.
If she keeps that down-to-earth level-headedness she'll be fine. And I'll be there, carrying her clubs for her.