Rather like the slogan in the advert for a well-known credit card back in the day, the PGA Professional is your flexible friend. Knowledgeable, passionate, industrious, innovative? You name it, the PGA pro is it.
Multi-tasking tends to be the name of this particular game. That’s certainly the case for Aberdonian Keil Beveridge, who is the coach, caddie and husband of Ladies European Tour player, Laura. “Being the caddie is definitely the hardest of the three,” said the 40-year-old with a chuckle.
As the highly respected PGA pro at Kippie Lodge in his native city, Beveridge is used to long days as he passes on his golfing pearls of wisdom to all walks of golfing life. His life on the tour, meanwhile, has been quite the eye-opener.
“I’ve put myself in a position where I don’t have many days off,” he gasped as he mulled over the juggling act between golfing globetrotting on the LET and the commitments to his professional duties at home.
“I was used to long shifts as a PGA pro. My first lesson would normally be at 10am and I could finish at 9.30, 10pm. When you’re a caddie, though, sometimes you’re up and at it at 3.30am and finishing at supper time. It takes a bit of doing and I have a newfound respect for them. It’s a full-on job.
“Being a PGA pro, and playing mainly at a domestic level, I was never surrounded by guys with full-time caddies. Now, though, I really know that the job, and doing the job properly, is not easy. Hats off to all of them.
“We’re going on a five-week stint on tour which starts off in Australia and I’ll finish up on April 28th in Cape Town. I fly home on the 29th and my first lesson at Kippie Lodge is booked in for 4pm on the 30th. Hopefully, I’ll not be too jet-lagged.
“I’ve actually enjoyed all the travelling, which has surprised me. Originally, I was thinking about airports and the hassle. But now when I’m home for, say, three weeks I’m thinking, ‘I fancy getting away again’. You do get itchy feet.
“People ask if it’s too much being around each other 24/7. But it’s not like that. You find an outlet to do you your own stuff. At home, I’ll go and play tennis or squash or go to the football and have a few beers. On the road, you have to have that too. You take your home life and imprint it on tour life.”
As for the structure of his coaching? Well, Beveridge believes his spell as a caddie has allowed him to freshen up the methods he uses with his wide-ranging client base.
“Having coached for so long, one of the things I think I didn’t push enough was actually getting out on the course with my clients,” he said. “I’d see guys for 10 lessons and it was on the range or around the short game area.
“Since caddying though, I’ve actively changed that. I used to wait for the client to say, ‘I fancy an on-course lesson’ but now, after a couple, I’ll say, ‘we need to see what happens on the course’. I’ve gone the other way. With new clients, I now suggest that the first lesson should be a playing lesson to see where they are and what we need to do. In a way, being a caddie has helped me adapt my coaching and it’s raised my profile too. That’s a benefit to those I’m teaching.”
