Chris Connell - New In Post

PGA Member Chris Connell talks about his new role as Director of Instruction at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club’s MST Academy in Malaysia.

What has been your career path to date?
After leaving school at 16, I started my golf career in 1986 as an assistant at Dale Hill Golf Club in East Sussex. I spent five years there, during which time I passed my PGA exams and qualified in 1991. Shortly after, I moved to Shillinglee Park in West Sussex, where I worked as an assistant under Head Professional Roger Mace.

After four years there I left in 1995 to take up the head pro’s job at Mid Sussex. I worked there until 2001 and after a change of management moved to the head pro’s job at Merrist Wood in Surrey. In 2004 the pro shop got burgled and I decided that I wanted to move out of retail and get into full-time coaching.
I joined Blue Mountain Golf Centre as a PGA Teaching Professional and spent a couple of years there before joining the Virtual Golf Academy, which was one of the UK’s first indoor academy ventures. After three years of coaching indoors I was keen to get outdoors again and took up a teaching pro job at Bird Hills Golf Centre in Maidenhead, where I worked until 2010.

How did you come to make the move to working overseas?
It was while I was working at Bird Hills that I heard about an opportunity to join the Butch Harmon School of Golf in Macau.

I had always been very interested in working abroad as the winter weather in the UK was always very restrictive as far as outdoor coaching was concerned. I was looking for somewhere with a good all year-round climate, and golf in China and the far East was booming at this time, so Macau seemed like a good move.

Working for Butch Harmon, who was arguably the most famous coach in the world at that time, was amazing, and also pretty daunting at the same time. I spent time at the school in Las Vegas where I shadowed Butch and also worked on a daily basis with his team.

Apart from picking up some great advice on coaching, I also started to understand the set-up required for first-class academy experience. We also had Butch come to Macau regularly to conduct golf schools, so I got to play golf with him, hang out, and just generally learn all the skills and drills which I use in my everyday coaching to this day.

In 2014 I moved on to take up the head pro’s job at Caesars Golf Macau, a private club which was part of a major resort. I spent three years there, and then went freelance in 2017, and spent that next five years working as a freelance golf coach around the world, but mainly in the Far East.

How did you hear about the job at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club?
I saw the position advertised on The PGA website and thought it might be a good fit for me, as I am very familiar with working in south-east Asia and felt that I had the qualities they were looking for.

They wanted somebody with experience and my time in Asia was a plus for them. MST Golf, who I work for, are a large retail-based company in Malaysia and they have the rights here at KLGCC, they were going through the process of being listed and wanted the academy standards to improve. I started there in March and have been here for six months now.

How have you found the new role?
Like any new job, it is always challenging at the start. I have a good team of 11 pros of different standards, so trying to get a consistent level of presentation and structure for their coaching, along with improved technical knowledge, has been an important thing for me to try and implement. We are making progress and things are moving forward nicely.

My working day varies and revolves around coaching my regular students to oversee everything on site and communicating with head office on the usual business-related day-to-day operations. I also work with quite a few Tour players who are playing on the global tours. Some have been with me since they were kids, while others I have picked up along the way. Between them they have chalked up seven wins this year, so hopefully I’m doing something right! I have to keep a close eye on their swings and their stats, so there’s barely a day goes by when there isn’t something to be analyzing or working on with them.

The academy at Kuala Lumpur will soon become part of the Golf Lab SEA, which will see Swing Catalyst 3d, Gears and Quintic technology being introduced. This will be integrated into our coaching programmes to give our students the most up-to-date experience available anywhere in the world.

We also have a very successful junior programme here, which is run by Chris Marrs, a fellow PGA Member. He has introduced a structured programme based around our environment at a busy three-tier driving range. I think we would like this to grow and hopefully produce some elite players.

What are the main challenges of the role?
The biggest challenge is keeping 11 pros happy and busy. The throughput of new players is always the key area for me and something I am working on to keep the academy healthy moving forward.

How easy have you found it settle into life in Kuala Lumpur?
It has been easy to settle into. Everyone speaks English and they drive on the left-hand side! The food is amazing and very inexpensive, so I have not had any issues. It is only my wife and I here, as my kids are still in the UK, so it’s also very peaceful. We live in an apartment with a pool and a gym, so the facilities are great.

It is also so close to some amazing countries, so it’s only a one or two-hour flight if you want to get away for a few days. Macau was also fine, but the language was more challenging, and my Mandarin and Cantonese didn’t stretch too far, so I am practicing my Spanish for when I eventually retire to my country house in Andalusia!

Have you had any mentors along the way or people you have been able to lean on for advice?
Throughout my career all the people I have worked with and for have shaped me in some way to being the person I am today. The biggest influence on my golfing career was probably my first coach, Don Masey, who sadly is no longer with us. He spent many hours helping me and shaping me to be able to play this great game and be a humble and competitive individual. My dad has also been a rock, for not interfering and allowing me to follow my dreams.

What do you know now that you wish you’d had known when you first started out?
I wish I had understood the importance of sports science, and the holistic ‘big picture’ concept of golf coaching. Back in the day, we just hit balls – and lots of them – without much thought. With what now we know, my time again would have been so different.

My PGA training at the time seemed a bit like school, but now, when I look back on it, and the grounding of knowledge it gave me, it was priceless. As you travel to other countries, which I do regularly, you see The PGA, and the British PGA qualification, is hugely respected. Our standards of training are way higher, so we bring that experience to any position in the world.

What advice would you pass on to other PGA Members who may be interested in working overseas in your specific field?
To work abroad you really need to do your homework on the country, the area, and the job you are applying for. There’s nothing worse than taking on a role and finding out it isn’t quite what was sold at interview.

I would speak to local Members in the area and my rule was to not take any position unless a recognised PGA Member was involved somewhere in the organisation. If you do your research, speak to the right people on the ground, and get in a recce visit, if possible, you should be OK.