Orr earns PGA Master Pro honour

A golfer who first picked up a golf club at aged just four has become the youngest ever recipient of PGA Master Professional status.

Littlehampton-based Scot Steven Orr, 40, who is director of coaching and development at the Cranfield Golf Academies, received the accolade in the latest APAL (Accreditation for Professional Achievement and Learning) awards.

Also celebrating were Jussi Pitkanen (PGA Training), Shane Rose (Cold Ashby), Kieron Stevenson (Royal Troon) and Ian Wrigley (Dunham Forest) who achieved PGA Fellow Professional status.

The following were accorded PGA Advanced Professional membership: Stephen Ennis (Balcarrick), Robert Giles (Greenore), Lewis Hanney (Oake Manor), Graham Hawkings (Malvern College), Simon Hayward (Westridge), Mark Norton (Northants County), Mark Sturgess (Bourn Golf) and Scott Thompson (Mendip Spring).

Orr grew up playing golf on the south side of Glasgow at East Renfrewshire Golf Club where he and his older brother, David, who is also a successful PGA pro, were passionate about the game right from the start.

The younger Orr harboured hopes of playing on the European Tour but has ended up as a renowned coach with a host of achievements to his name including being one of the first PGA pros to undertake the UKCC Level 4 Certificate in Coaching.

Ironically, it was a golfer who famously never had a lesson - Bubba Watson - that persuaded Orr that he wasn’t going to cut it as a player at the highest level and stoked a passion for coaching.

Orr played a few rounds with Watson while at university in Alabama and it was a wake-up call to his own tour ambitions.

“From my teens I wanted to be a European Tour player but I promised myself that when the day it became evident it was not going to happen as a tour player that coaching was where I wanted to be,” said Orr who is also an England Regional coach.

“Playing with Bubba you could see he was a different standard and it was maybe a turning point when I realised there were players far better than me.

“The other moment that brought it home was when I played in the Johnnie Walker Championship and played with Peter Hanson who went on to play in two Ryder Cups. There was a big gulf to these world class players and by the time I was 26 I realised I was not going to achieve my tour ambitions.

“Coaching was beginning to hold a fascination when I put a foot in the coaching world. I went from playing ten hours a day to not playing for a year.

 “I’m totally fascinated with coaching and in fact it’s outgrown my fascination with playing in a way I never thought would happen. It’s just been a fascinating journey.”

Orr, who described himself as a decent player who competed on the Europro Tour and made some Challenge Tour appearances, believes his appetite for coaching was fuelled by his playing experiences.

“I think my fascination grew out of my failure as a player. I was looking from a playing perspective and wanted to understand why.

“Reflecting on that I would say as a player I became extremely technical and didn’t understand the playing process very well – mentally I was quite poor, I didn’t understand how to use mental skills.

“As a coach I love trying to understand the mental factors that go into being a great player and understanding the learning areas and am still trying to understand this better as a coach and to understand what are the common threads that allow people to learn and develop skills, whether that is the coach input or if you understand them yourself.

“What I had was a lot of information but couldn’t put it together to come out a better player.

“I love coaching, I do 70 hours a week but it doesn’t feel as though I’ve worked a day since 2003. My love for coaching grows every day, I’m very fortunate that I have got a job that doesn’t feel like work. I think every passionate coach will tell you the same.

“Also, part of journey over the last 15 years has been in coach education including as a PGA tutor and working overseas for the R&A. I’ve found that really interesting - how we develop effectively as coaches and how that process works.”

Reflecting on his PGA Master Professional accolade, Orr added: “This is a real honour to be given this award by the PGA especially when you look at some of the guys on the list of Master Professionals.

“Several of them have been huge mentors, notably Scott Cranfield who I have worked under from day one of the start of my coaching career.

“I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been guided by him and to get off on such a good footing. To have someone as influential as Scott, and also those other guys who have all shared their knowledge and have always been willing to answer questions that I have had in the past when I have got in touch with them. They’ve all been very giving of their time.”

** PGA pros interested in finding out more about the APAL process can click here for more information.