INSPIRATION
Learning from the Edges: How EDGA and PING are expanding the role of the modern golf coach
An inaugural coaching camp revealed how PGA Professionals can drive inclusion, innovation and growth
“It's been absolutely awesome and this has just totally opened my eyes. It’s amazing,” says PGA Master Coach Denise Hastings.
She was among 24 PGA Professionals and community golf instructors at an inaugural EDGA and PING coaching camp in November - a collaboration seeking to welcome more people with a disability to enjoy the sport.
Attendees were taken through Learning from the Edges, EDGA’s international coaching programme for G4D (Golf for the Disabled).
Adopted by 12 global PGAs and supported by The R&A, DP World Tour, and other stakeholders, it helps coaches widen their customer base, grow their business, and make their venue more inclusive.
PING’s custom fitting headquarters, in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, was the perfect venue for the two-day event. The team exhibited their groundbreaking work and welcomed six established golfers with a disability they have supported closely.
They included Ellie Perks, a golfer of short stature and a PGA Trainee; Brad Smith, a right-leg ‘trail-leg’ amputee; Olli Ingram, a seated player with a spinal injury; Kevin Alderton, a golfer with a visual impairment; Michelle Lau, a player who is autistic; and Adam Dalton, a golfer with multiple limb difference.
“Learning from the Edges looks at a player’s function rather than disability,” explained Mark Taylor, EDGA’s Head of Coach Education and Instruction.
“We all have some functional limitation because of our physical profile, and this includes Rory McIlroy, your club champion, and all our players here today.
“This coaching looks at what new and established players, from across the disability spectrum, can do, rather than what they can’t do, and similarly, this can be translated to supporting players at your club who have lost grip strength, core strength, have balance issues.
“We want to give more confidence to coaches to help anyone with a functional limitation, wherever they are on the player pathway.
“Learning from the Edges is about progress. How can coaches gain the understanding to help? How do we encourage a seated player to create ground force and club head speed in the swing? How do we welcome someone for first coaching when they are blind?
“A good coach can help at every stage of their learning to create a wonderful coach and student partnership.
“It’s fantastic that PING is supporting us in this research, through their incredible equipment and custom-fitting standards, but also their passion for doing the right thing for the game, bringing golf to everyone, including people who may feel golf is not for them for various reasons.”
During the sessions, PING’s custom fitting team were able to study a player’s technical challenge and find ‘live’ solutions and improvements to help, while recording findings for further innovations.
Paul Wood, Vice President of Engineering at PING, said: “I think there's a couple of ingredients that make PING a uniquely qualified company. We're an engineering company, solving problems is what we do and what we love to do. That's the life blood of PING.
“And so giving an engineer a challenge of: ‘Can you make this work for X?’ is just what we love doing. The family really cares about doing the right thing. We can take a long-term view of saying, ‘Will this help grow the game, and will PING be able to be a good provider of solutions in this space, and do we think this is really going to help get more people into golf?’. We can do this. We can take this long-term view.”
Perks, who is coaching at Hagley Golf Club in the West Midlands, said: “When it comes to somebody with a disability, you need to show a bit more compassion in terms of taking an interest in what they're able to do, what they're capable of doing.”
And Lau added: “I'm really grateful that there's so much engagement to learn more about how autism affects me and my goal and how they as coaches can actually adapt their lessons to fit with other autistic golfers. This is a trailblazing programme.”
EDGA President Tony Bennett said: “We've been working with PING for a long time. They listen, they watch, they understand, and they work with the player to try and make sure that they have exactly what they need to be a better golfer.
“It's been a really good collaborative partnership over the last few days where PGA coaches have shared experiences with club fitters, and they have all in turn shared their experiences with the players, and crucially, learned a great deal from the players in return.”
