Ghozlene Saki’s Journey From Tunisia’s National Golf Team to Saudi Arabia’s First Female Arab Golf Coach
The first time Ghozlene Saki visited a golf course, she wasn’t there to play golf.
She was five years old and learning karate. Her goal was to run around a golf course to build stamina. But while training at Yasmine Valley Golf Club in Hammamet, Tunisia, she noticed people swinging clubs and trying to hit a small ball into a hole.
She had questions.
What were they doing? Why were they hitting such a small ball? Why were people of different ages and nationalities playing together?
Saki was fascinated.
Her father asked if she wanted to learn golf. At first, she passed on the opportunity. Eventually, he took Saki and her siblings to a golf lesson.
Her first experience wasn’t exactly love at first swing.
Saki became frustrated because she couldn’t hit the ball well, and she felt the instructor focused more attention on her older siblings. But even at a young age, she discovered one of golf’s most important lessons: patience.
“It taught me to be calm and patient every time I hit a ball,” Saki said. “I have to have patience so I can hit the ball.”
Less than two years later, at just nine years old, Saki was playing for the Tunisia national team.
She went on to win numerous tournaments and eventually competed professionally on the Ladies European Tour. Today, she is a golf instructor at The Virtual Greens, an indoor golf facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she has lived since 2015.
Saki is also Saudi Arabia’s first female Arab golf coach.
Being the first Arab female golf coach in Saudi Arabia is more than a personal achievement — it is a responsibility. I hope to inspire more women and young girls to believe that they can pursue golf, whether as players or coaches.
For Saki, that responsibility extends beyond teaching golf. It is about making the sport more accessible, helping players improve and showing a new generation of golfers what is possible.
Choosing Golf Despite the Odds
Saki’s path to professional golf wasn’t always easy.
Although her golf skills continued to improve, her mother initially opposed the idea of Saki choosing golf as a career. Her mother wanted her to prioritize her education, so Saki completed her Baccalaureate in mathematics.
She proudly showed the certificate to her mother.
“This is the math degree — what you wanted,” Saki told her. “But now I want also what I want.”
Saki then enrolled at the Institut Supérieur du Sport et de l’Éducation Physique, where she pursued a degree in sport and physical education.
Throughout her studies, she continued competing in tournaments across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Her passion for golf was so strong that even Tunisia’s extreme heat couldn’t keep her away from the course.
At one point, Saki was diagnosed with skin cancer.
Her family urged her to stop playing golf.
They said I should walk away from golf because it’s not good for me being out in the sun. I just couldn’t. When I hold a club and I’m playing golf, it’s me. The happiest thing I can do in my life.
She continued playing while going through what she described as the worst year of her life. Her determination became so well known within her family that whenever she faces a difficult moment, they know exactly what to tell her.
“Go golf,” they would say.
“I love golf too much,” Saki said.
A New Opportunity in Saudi Arabia
In 2015, Saki competed in a tournament in Saudi Arabia.
A month later, tournament staff contacted her with a different opportunity. They weren’t asking her to return for another competition. They wanted to know if she would consider working in Saudi Arabia.
Saki accepted.
Initially, she expected to stay for only a month.
“In 2015, Saudi is totally different than how it is now,” she said.
But the opportunity quickly became something much bigger.
As Saudi Arabia continued expanding opportunities for women in sports, Saki fell in love with the country and its growing golf community. She has remained there ever since, balancing coaching, competition and her passion for the game.
At the same time, Saki continued competing on the Ladies European Tour.
That balance wasn’t always easy.
She was qualified to compete in various LET events, but competing professionally required time and financial resources. As a coach, she also needed to work to support herself.
“I’m not just teaching,” she said. “I’m really passionate with teaching but I also want to play because it’s one of my passions too.”
Saki found herself balancing two careers: professional golfer and golf instructor.
Because she speaks English, Arabic and French, and because demand for golf instruction continued to grow, coaching increasingly became her focus.
“I couldn’t play in too many tournaments because of all the responsibility I have,” Saki said. “I didn’t have a sponsor. That’s why I was between two things — competing and working.”
Using a Golf Simulator for Coaching and Swing Analysis
Today, Saki teaches at The Virtual Greens, Riyadh’s first indoor golf simulator lounge.
The facility is equipped with five GOLFZON TwoVisionNX simulators, giving Saki an indoor environment where she can coach golfers across a wide range of ages and skill levels.
For a teaching professional, an indoor golf simulator can provide advantages that aren’t always available during a traditional driving-range session.
Instead of simply watching where a ball lands, coaches can use simulator data and video feedback to evaluate what happened during the swing and help students understand why the ball behaved the way it did.
For Saki, that has changed the way she teaches.
I’ve never used GOLFZON before but it’s more accurate.
Her coaching approach focuses on using measurable feedback to make practice more intentional.
What Golf Simulator Data Can Help Coaches Analyze?
For teaching professionals, the value of a golf simulator isn’t simply being able to hit a ball indoors. The data and feedback can help coaches evaluate a player’s performance and identify areas for improvement.
On the GOLFZON TwoVisionNX, golfers can analyze information such as:
- Club and ball performance
- Carry distance
- Total distance
- Ball flight
- Launch information
- Swing path
- Shot direction
- Impact-related data
- Video swing replay
- Practice-session performance
For Saki, the ability to combine numbers with video replay has become particularly valuable.
The way I use to prepare myself with the distance, the carry, the path, the swing replay videos.
This type of feedback can make simulator training particularly useful for golf lessons and swing analysis, where the goal isn’t simply to hit more balls but to understand the result of each swing.
Why Saki Says Indoor Practice Can Make Golf Practice Smarter
Saki experienced the benefits of simulator training firsthand when preparing for competition.
She won the Saudi Open — the last tournament she played — after practicing exclusively on GOLFZON. She didn’t practice outdoors during her preparation.
It helped me so much. The way I use to prepare myself with the distance, the carry, the path, the swing replay videos.
For Saki, one of the biggest advantages of indoor practice is the ability to see the numbers behind every shot.
It’s actually better to play indoors because you can see your numbers and golf is about numbers.
That information can then translate to the golf course.
A golfer who understands how far they actually carry each club can make more informed club-selection decisions on the course. For coaches, the same data can provide a measurable way to track a student’s progress over time.
You play indoors and when you go out to an actual course, you choose the correct club for those numbers. It’ll help you make your score lower.
Golf Simulator vs. Driving Range: Why Data Matters
Saki isn’t saying golfers shouldn’t practice at a driving range. Instead, she believes golfers should be more intentional about how they practice.
At a traditional range, a golfer can hit dozens or even hundreds of balls. But simply hitting more balls doesn’t necessarily explain what caused a particular shot.
A golf simulator can add another layer of feedback.
“Just practice smartly,” Saki said.
Video replay is especially valuable in her coaching.
Video replay helps so much. It’s helped me a lot in coaching. It’s made coaching more easy. It also helps students understand more clearly.
For coaches, this can make the teaching process more visual and easier for students to understand. Rather than relying exclusively on verbal explanations, instructors can show players what happened during the swing and connect that movement to the resulting shot.
That makes swing analysis and golf lessons a natural use case for simulator technology.
What Makes a Golf Simulator Useful for Teaching Professionals?
For coaches who run individual or group lessons, the best golf simulator isn’t necessarily the one with the most features. It is the system that provides useful feedback in a way that helps students understand and improve.
Key considerations for teaching professionals include:
1. Detailed Ball and Club Data
Teaching pros need actionable information. Distance, carry, shot direction, ball flight and swing-related measurements can help instructors identify patterns that may not be obvious from watching the shot alone.
2. Swing Replay and Visual Feedback
Numbers tell part of the story. Video replay can help golfers see what happened during their swing and understand how their movement influenced the shot.
3. Practice and Course Play
A simulator should allow players to work on specific skills while also providing realistic course-play experiences.
4. Short-Game and Putting Practice
A comprehensive simulator experience should extend beyond full swings. Short-game and putting practice can help golfers work on different parts of their game in one indoor environment.
5. Accessibility for Different Skill Levels
A teaching professional may work with juniors, beginners, experienced amateurs and competitive golfers in the same day. A useful simulator should be approachable for new players while providing enough feedback for serious golfers.
For Saki, GOLFZON’s combination of data, video replay and course play gives her the tools she needs to work with a wide range of students.
Can a Golf Simulator Be Realistic Enough for Serious Golfers?
One of the biggest questions golfers have when considering simulator training is whether indoor golf can realistically prepare them for outdoor play.
For Saki, her own experience provides a compelling perspective.
After practicing exclusively on GOLFZON, she won the Saudi Open.
Her experience also highlights why the question of the most realistic golf simulator isn’t only about graphics. Realism can include the combination of course simulation, ball flight, club and ball data, practice tools, feedback and the ability to translate simulator performance to the golf course.
For a competitive golfer or teaching professional, those details can be more important than simply making an indoor course look realistic.
From Player to Coach to GOLFZON Tour Competitor
Saki occasionally still competes, although coaching has become her primary focus.
GOLFZON Tour gives her another opportunity to combine both sides of her golf career.
Season 2 featured facilities from five countries. For Season 3, facilities from more than a dozen countries are hosting teams, including The Virtual Greens representing Saudi Arabia.
With a $300,000 championship purse, GOLFZON Tour Season 3 brings together golfers from around the world for competitive Network Play.
For Saki, the opportunity represents more than another tournament.
To me, GOLFZON Tour means that golf is becoming more accessible and inclusive.
She believes the competition can create opportunities for golfers from different backgrounds to compete at a high level while motivating the next generation of players.
The GOLFZON Tour gives players from different backgrounds the opportunity to compete at a high level, challenge themselves and be rewarded for their dedication and hard work.
As a coach, she sees another benefit.
It also helps grow the game by creating opportunities for both experienced and aspiring golfers. As a coach, I find it inspiring because it motivates my students to believe that with commitment and consistent practice, they can achieve great things.
Making Golf More Accessible Through Technology
Saki’s story began with a five-year-old girl asking why people were hitting a tiny ball around a golf course.
More than two decades later, she is helping introduce the game to a new generation of golfers in Saudi Arabia.
Her journey — from Tunisia’s national team to the Ladies European Tour, from professional competition to coaching, and now to GOLFZON Tour — reflects how golf continues to evolve.
For Saki, technology isn’t replacing the traditional game. It is giving golfers another way to learn, practice and compete.
And for a coach working with players of different ages, backgrounds and abilities, having access to measurable data, swing replay and realistic course play can make every practice session more purposeful.
Her philosophy is simple:
Practice smartly. Understand your numbers. Use feedback. Keep playing.
And perhaps most importantly, never lose sight of why you started playing in the first place.
“When I hold a club and I’m playing golf, it’s me.”
Frequently Asked Questions About Golf Simulators for Coaches
What are the best golf simulator options for coaches who run group lessons?
The best golf simulator for group lessons should provide an engaging experience for multiple players while giving the coach useful performance feedback. Coaches should consider the system’s course-play options, practice features, ball and club data, swing replay capabilities and ease of switching between players.
For facilities offering lessons, simulator technology can also allow coaches to provide visual and numerical feedback without relying solely on outdoor practice conditions.
What are the best golf simulators for teaching pros who need detailed ball and club data?Teaching professionals should look for golf simulators that provide detailed information about both the golf ball and the club, along with software that makes that information easy to interpret.
Important data categories can include carry distance, total distance, ball flight, shot direction, club path, launch information and other swing or impact measurements. Video replay can provide another valuable layer of feedback.
Which golf simulators are recommended for serious swing analysis and lessons?
For serious swing analysis, golfers should prioritize systems that combine detailed performance data with visual feedback and practice tools.
A simulator can be particularly useful for lessons when a coach can review the numbers from a shot, watch the swing replay and then immediately have the player make another swing to evaluate the change.
What are the best golf simulators for beginners?
Beginners should look for a golf simulator that is easy to understand while still providing useful feedback as their skills develop.
Features such as realistic course play, practice modes, visual shot feedback and intuitive gameplay can make simulator golf approachable for new golfers while giving them tools to continue improving.
Which golf simulators give the best tracking for short game and putting?
Short-game and putting capabilities vary between simulator systems. Golfers evaluating a system for short-game practice should look at how the technology handles putting, chipping and other shots around the green, as well as what feedback is available after each shot.
For golfers who want one system for both full-swing practice and short-game development, these capabilities should be considered alongside the simulator’s overall tracking and software features.
What makes a golf simulator realistic?
A realistic golf simulator combines more than high-quality graphics. Course representation, ball flight, shot tracking, club and ball data, putting and short-game functionality, swing feedback and the overall software experience all contribute to realism.
For serious golfers, the most realistic golf simulator is one that provides feedback they can use to improve their real-world performance.
Discover GOLFZON Simulator Technology
From professional competition to everyday golf lessons, GOLFZON simulators give golfers a way to practice, analyze and play year-round.
Learn more about GOLFZON TwoVisionNX and discover how advanced simulator technology can help coaches provide more data-driven golf lessons and help players practice smarter.