England Golf’s Performance Director: PGA coaches underpin all the work we deliver

England Golf Performance Director – and former Walker Cup player and captain – Nigel Edwards has saluted the role PGA Professionals play in developing the governing
body’s elite talents

You can’t have a kickabout with Pep Guardiola or learn the finer points of a backhand from Andy Murray.

But you can learn from the coaches who have helped the game’s elite golfers win at the highest level and it is why England Golf Performance Director Nigel Edwards has hailed the work of PGA Members who work for the country’s elite teams.

Graham Walker, a former lead and now squad coach for the men’s team, and Steve Robinson, who heads up the women’s team, are two of around 30 PGA Professionals involved at national and regional level for England Golf.

Walker is also short game coach for Ryder Cup hero Tommy Fleetwood, while Robinson is performance coach for former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

The pair and their teams of coaches are charged with bringing through the next generation of elite players, while they also pass on their knowledge to club golfers through their affiliated clubs.

And Edwards, whose time in charge at Woodhall Spa has seen the emergence of talents such as Georgia Hall, Bronte Law and now the World No. 1 amateur Lottie Woad, says the role PGA Professionals play within the England Golf set up is “critical”.

Speaking to The NCG Golf Podcast, he explained: “The credibility that qualification affords them, and that membership affords them, is key and it should always be – whether it’s nutrition, strength and conditioning, whether it’s physio.

“Put it this way, you wouldn’t go to an unqualified dentist. These coaches underpin all the work we deliver.”

He added: “We go through a full recruitment process when we’re looking for a coach. There are two interviews, including practicals, and we’re trying to find out as much as we can.

“We’ve got around 30 PGA Professionals involved at national and regional level and, at the next level, all the county coaches are also involved.

“At club level, a great example of that is Luke Bone. He has taken Lottie from when she stared and he was at Augusta with her, and the relationship between Steve Robinson and Luke is one that is working and helps Lottie function as an elite amateur golfer and, hopefully, to be a very successful professional golfer in time.

“We engage with PGA professionals and we’re trying always to find the very best that are available.”

Edwards said he believed the work such well-known coaches did at every level of the game was something unique to golf.

He added: “I think the coaches use that as their own Continued Professional Development and their own learning. You’ve got somebody like Tommy Fleetwood, who will go up to The Oaks with Graham, and you’ve got a 12 handicap and they’ll both bring different dynamics to the table.

“But ultimately the coach’s job is to make each of those people better. And I’m sure every time those coaches work with any player they see something – ‘oh, OK, that has helped that player. I’ll make a note of that because that could help another player’.

“I think we’ve got some outstanding PGA Professionals who help national players and first-time golfers. I think it is a game that is probably quite unique in that respect.

“And the great thing about golf coaches is they’re willing to share because they see it can make a difference across the board.”