China`s national women`s golfers were looking to make waves among a top pro field when the $50,000 Yantai Yangmadao Championship teed off in Yantai, Shandong province yesterday.

With seven national team members in the field for the second event of the new China LPGA Tour at Orient (Yantai) Sports and Country Club, head coach Gareth Winslow said he would be using the opportunity to gauge the progress of his players since taking over the squad in January.

As the first foreign coach of the national team, the 31-year-old New Zealander, a veteran of the China golf scene and a fluent Mandarin speaker, has totally revamped the squad`s activities in emphasizing discipline and proper practice routines. American Luis Delcarpio is assisting the kiwi as a strength and conditioning coach.

A six-week training course in Zhuhai in January and February has already helped the team finish fourth at the Queen Sirikit Cup - in Bali last month.

Winslow called the result promising but added his priority was to field a team to challenge for gold at next year`s Asian Games in Guangzhou.

"The first thing we changed was instilling some discipline in them. In the past, they (the players) just played golf by themselves and maybe hadn`t had a lot of direction," he said. "We`ve been working on discipline, making sure they`re doing what they are meant to be doing and simple things like being on time. I`m a firm believer that if they don`t have any discipline from the start it doesn`t matter what you try to teach them, they are not going to do it."

With the national team comprising 10 players ranging from ages 12 to 26, Winslow, a product of David Leadbetter`s teaching theories, said he wasn`t worried about having young players on his squad.

While the three youngest players are currently training in the States, most range between 15 and 20 years old.

"Golf is not a sport where you necessarily have to judge them on their age. You look at Michelle Wie who shot 64 and won the Public Links championship in the US when she was 10 years old. Age doesn`t determine your ability. If we`ve got 12- or 13-year-old girls on our team who are capable of competing in a pro tournament like this, you can`t hold them back just because they`re young."

Winslow identified his top players as Guangdong natives Li Jiayun and Zhang Yuyang, both of whom were on the Queen Sirikit team, and Li Chuxin.

The 16-year-old Li Chuxin, equal sixth last week in Beijing, said the new training regime had improved her distance off the tee. She added her immediate goal was to make the Asian Games team and win a gold medal, with a long-term plan to play on the US LPGA Tour.

Winslow said since he had taken over his players had made many technical adjustments to their swings, the way they trained and their mental approach to the game.

"The Chinese team finished fourth in Doha (at the 2007 Asian Games) which was not bad," Winslow said. "But they had a really good player in (current US LPGA Tour player) Feng Shanshan.

"We don`t have any superstars at the moment, but we can still put together three players that can challenge at that level."

China Daily