The Slingsby Golf Academy 2021

Four celebrities take on golf challenge

Back in March, four female celebrities embarked on a unique challenge to learn how to play golf and compete for a place at the highly sought-after BMW PGA Celebrity Pro-Am with the help of PGA Professionals.

TV and radio presenter Helen Skelton, singer and song writer Fleur East, Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham and Sky Sports News host Bela Shah all took part in the first ever Slingsby Golf Academy.

The aim of the project was to encourage and inspire more women to take up the game of golf during the summer to break down the preconceptions of the sport.

Each celebrity was guided and coached by a PGA Professional and competed for a spot in the celebrity pro-am at Wentworth on 8th September, 2021.

Meet the celebrities...

Helen Skelton, Fleur East, Natalie Pinkham and Bela Shah between them have a combined social media reach of more than 1.5million, but more importantly, they all want to learn and feel the benefits of playing golf.

Bela Shah

Sky Sports News host

Fleur East

Singer/song writer and radio presenter

Helen Skelton

TV and radio presenter

Natalie Pinkham

Sky Sports F1 presenter

Meet the PGA Professionals

With the support of PGA Professionals Steph Davies, Barry Middleton, James Irons and Alice Hiluta, the celebrity quartet transformed from novice to competitor in just seven months.

Alice Hiluta (Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club)

Coaching Bella Shah - "There are so many things we are trying to do as a sport to get more females into golf, but this challenge shows it's for anyone and everyone."

Barry Middleton (Chigwell Golf Club)

Coaching Fleur East - "Since Fleur has taken up the game, golf is cool again! If there's a woman or girl following Fleur they might think about giving golf a try because she's playing."

James Irons

Dukes Meadow Golf - The project will be good for boosting ladies' golf. The LET is getting bigger with all of the girl pros coming through, especially the English girls. It's about trying to grow the whole game."

Steph Davies

Grooves Golf - Rudding Park Golf Club - This will be a great opportunity for the celebrities and other people to see that we're not scary and golf isn't an old man's sport - anyone can get involved."

Practice makes perfect

As their golfing journey progressed, each PGA Professional took a slightly different approach to learning the game in the hope their celebrity would be the one to take the top spot in August.

The closer the play-off got, the more their practice stepped up. Former European Tour player and now golf coach Zane Scotland gave the ladies some advice to help with them one of the most difficult parts of the game - pitching.

They even got to meet up with Dame Laura Davies, a golfing legend, and talk all things golf during a team visit to Top Golf.

By the time August arrived, the Slingsby Golf Academy cadets were ready to go head-to-head in a play-off to see which one had perfected their golfing game enough to take that winning spot at the BMW PGA Pro-Am Championship.

Skelton qualifies for Wentworth

After a gruelling 18 holes and plenty of ups and downs along the way, Yorkshire’s very own Helen Skelton took the winning spot!

Even though Fleur, Natalie and Bela were in it to win it, they were delighted for our winning lady and did amazingly well and inspired many women to take up the game of golf this summer and hopefully beyond.

Skelton and her PGA Professional Steph Davies went on to compete in the star-studded line up at the BMW PGA Championship Celebrity Pro-Am. She also received a £5,000 bonus cheque from Slingsby that she has announced will be donated to Eden Valley Hospice.

Skelton said: “I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn how to play golf through the Slingsby Golf Academy initiative and to have had so much top level support from my partner PGA Professional Steph Davies."

Watch their progress

Episode 1

Meet The Slingsby Golf Academy cadets - Fleur East, Helen Skelton, Natalie Pinkham and Bela Shah and watch the start of their golf journey

Episode 2

It’s early April, golf courses are open so it’s time for the Slingsby Golf Academy cadets to pay their highly anticipated, first trip to their local golf club.

Episode 3

The Slingsby Golf Academy cadets visit Top Golf (Surrey) where they’re met by their mentor, golf pro and Sky Sports Golf analyst Inci Mehmet and Dame Laura Davies.

Episode 4 (part 1)

The cadets are now three months into their golf journey and it's time to turn their attention to playing on the golf course. Fleur East and Helen Skelton play together in their first-ever golf day.

Episode 4 (part 2)

Last time we saw Fleur East and Helen Skelton play their first 18 holes, and now it's time for Natalie Pinkham and Bela Shah to fill out their first scorecard, and they soon learn that it's very different to the driving range!

Episode 5

Six months after picking up golf clubs for the first time, the stage is set for the Slingsby Golf Academy cadets and that one spot in the BMW PGA Pro-Am Championship is within their reach…

Episode 6

Helen Skelton plays at Wentworth in front of thousands of spectators as she teams up with European Tour pro Andy Sullivan and BBC Breakfast’s Dan Walker to take on the competition. Her fellow cadets are there to cheer her on in the next step of this golf journey.