Twenty-six years after taking beginner lessons as a youngster at Links Golf Club in Newmarket, Sarah Smith is back in familiar surrounds – and now it’s she who coaches the juniors on the practice ground where she once learnt to play.
Here, Smith shares valuable insights on how she has established a group coaching programme, drawing on expertise and her own journey to date.
Since the return to the Cambridgeshire club of her youth this summer, a large part of Sarah’s new work brief revolves around junior coaching – and she has wasted no time in getting stuck in. “We’ve already just completed one five-week programme with a full class of 12,” she says. “That started two weeks after my first day here. The rough age was six to 10 years old. Most of them had just been on the range or had never picked up a golf club before.”
Can group coaching lead to new business for you as a PGA Professional?
“Definitely. I had a lesson last month and we were doing short game and three of the ladies came to me and said, ‘Can we do something with you, just us three?’ They wanted to do bunkers and we had the diaries out to get a date there and then. They loved it and they now want to go out on the golf course with me.”
How do you go about building a group for an upcoming coaching programme?
“A lot of my reach-out is done through social media. I really enjoy doing stuff on Instagram, keeping the story up to date, posting at least two or three times a week. As well as that, we’ve got John’s newsletter that he does for the golf club and the office itself will post details out to members. So, there’s a lot going out, not just to members, but also non-members. All of the group sessions we do here are open to both, advertised for members and non-members, which is great.
"And word of mouth is important. For example, when I worked at Saffron Walden, there was a parent who was the leader of the local Brownies. We did quite a few sessions with them and there were five of them who then signed up for junior lessons. We also worked with the primary schools in Saffron Walden and had close connections to the secondary school.”
You’ve just completed a five-week beginners’ programme – what did that look like?
“With a junior five-week programme, we usually do two weeks of irons work, the next week with a driver, then chipping in week four and in the final week we do chipping and putting. After the five-week programme, which usually takes place in term-times, throughout the school holidays we’d then do a junior camp doing a bit of coaching on all parts of the game. For the last half-hour, we’d go and play a couple of holes out on the golf course.”
Does your group coaching offer a continuation/conversion plan for juniors?
“So, the five-week programme is delivered every school term, whatever happens. Then, we have junior classes here on Saturdays. We do 9.30 to 10.30 for beginner golfers. From 10.30 to 11.30, Jonny takes those who are ready for membership and they do a bit more out on the course. On a Wednesday after school, one of the assistants then takes them out to play a few holes. We also work really closely with the junior membership section and the junior organiser to encourage them to get their handicaps. This means we have a ladder of progression for juniors."
How much pleasure do you get from starting so many youngsters on their golfing journey?
“I think if I wasn’t a golf pro, I would be a PE teacher – I really enjoy teaching the juniors. I feel like I’ve built quite a good relationship with the children in general. They can come to me with questions – I’m quite open, a bubbly person I guess. So I try and make sure they’re enjoying it, as well as learning, keeping things simple, not over-complicating it, and playing loads of games. My goal a couple of years ago was to teach the county girls because I played for Cambs and Hunts when I was a kid. I achieved that goal 18 months ago. They were with me at Saffron Walden and now they’ve started coming over here."
You also host groups for other demographics from the golf club. How do you target the different sectors?
“Links Golf Club has a Facebook group for members and the lady captain advertises through that. She has been helping me out with adult group stuff. We did ‘Coffee and Chipping’ on one morning and ‘Pitching and a Pint’ one evening. We just tried to think of quirky names to try and catch on. They were fully booked so quickly that I added a third one. I’ve seen one on Instagram recently called ‘Chipping and a Chat’. It gets people together. Everyone in the group might not know each other to start off with; they probably come in twos and threes. But that group of, say, 12, soon start to integrate and are getting their diaries out to put in a golf game. It’s really nice. Group sessions, especially, is when you can really see people building their relationships. he social side of golf is so important, as well as the physical side. But the mental health side is massive, I think."
You also organise group trips abroad – tell us about those and the benefits for attendees and yourself?
“I’ve been running winter coaching breaks since pre-Covid. I started out with Katie Rule (PGA Advanced Professional) doing a north v south Ryder Cup-style break – Katie was south as she was Cornwall-based. We offered it to members at the golf club only and took two teams of eight each. We went to El Rompido, Spain, and the team bonding that week was unreal. Since restarting the coaching breaks on my own post-Covid, I’ve been to Cyprus, Portugal and Greece. Costa Navarino is my favourite resort. Groups will have a plan of the week (or shorter) before heading away. There’s coaching each day from 9.30 to 10.30. We tee off at about 11 o’clock and after golf there’s some free time before meeting as a group for dinner at 7 o’clock. The week includes different formats of golf from team to stableford – there’s always prizes and a team shirt too! I try and do three per year over the winter when the weather’s rubbish. My coaching breaks are very open providing attendees have a handicap. I’ve now got golfers as far away as Cornwall coming along.”
