PGA pros line up alongside coaching elite

A coach who has used golf to help revolutionise the lives of disabled people in Staffordshire has been nominated to receive a coveted award.

Craig Thomas is one of four PGA nominees who are waiting to discover if they have been awarded a place on the final shortlist for the 2013 UK Coaching Awards.

The 32-year-old has been recommended as a potential recipient for the newly-added Disability Coach of the Year Award.

If successful he will take his place among Britain’s finest coaches for the event at the Montcalm Hotel, London on Tuesday 3 December.

Golf’s last winner was PGA Master Professional Peter Cowen, who claimed the Coach of the Year Award in 2010 after guiding Lee Westwood to the top of the world rankings.

A key figure in driving the disability agenda in golf, Thomas was one of the first six disability workshop tutors in the country and he has been influential in the success of the ISPS HANDA PGA Academy Programme, which aims to make golf accessible to blind and disabled people.

His close links to the community have helped him to improve the lives of many of his pupils, while his role as a friend as well as a coach has helped many to completely turn their lives around.

The Wolverhampton-based pro also works voluntarily on the BattleBack programme, which helps soldiers who have been wounded in combat use golf as part of their rehabilitation.

PGA Fellow Professional Peter Ball will be hoping for a place on the shortlist for the Children’s Coach of the Year Award.

Ball, 56, has been working with deprived school children in the South Yorkshire city since 1989. After budget cuts halted his progress in 2011, he decided to continue on a voluntary basis.

Yet despite the setbacks, Sheffield-based Ball has managed to expand his operation. He now reaches out to more than 4000 troubled children every year.

Alastair Spink has been nominated for the Gillette Community Coach of the Year Award after the successful introduction of the ‘Here Come the Girls’ initiative at Fynn Valley Golf Club.

The scheme helps to introduce and retain female golfers by offering a friendly group environment to learn the basics of the game, use of the par 3 course and a follow up session. There are currently 200 women involved with the scheme.

The England Golf Partnership County Academy Programme was also recognised among the nominations. Programme leaders will now hope to make the shortlist for the Coaching Intervention of the Year Award after attracting 490 new golf club members in 2012.