Taylor nominated in three categories of the England Golf Awards 2023

20/02/2023

PGA Professional Amy Taylor (Hinckley Golf Club) has been nominated in an outstanding three categories of the 2023 England Golf Awards.

The 27-year-old is in the running to be crowned Diversity & Inclusion Champion, Women & Girls Trailblazer and Participation & Development Coach of the Year.

She was in complete shock when she heard the news. “I had to put everything down when I found out - I was over the moon, and speechless for once in my life!

“To know that you’ve been nominated is huge, so to then find out you’ve made the top four, I don’t know how to put it into words! As the day gets closer, it feels more real. Of course, if I won I would be over the moon, but I feel like I’ve already won by being in the top four and being invited to the awards ceremony.

“I’m coaching day in, day out, so to have people recognise what I’m doing, it makes me feel like I’m doing my job properly - it feels like all the hard work and long hours are massively worth it.

“The people who’ve nominated me have had to actually look into me and write quite a bit about me, and it’s their words that are the difference between being shortlisted or not, so that’s really special.”

Increasing participation at all levels of the game is one of Taylor’s main goals within her work.

“Because a lot of my work is based around women and juniors, to be shortlisted in the Participation and Development category is brilliant,” she said.

“That is my passion - to get more women, more juniors, anybody into the game, so to be recognised for that is massive. I feel like I’m trying to do as much as I can, so to be told I am doing well is really nice and shows me I’m moving in the right direction.”

The recognition has already spurred Taylor on to begin planning for even more junior and women’s coaching during 2023.

She continued: “I’m planning more women’s, girls and junior tasters and trying to ensure I have offerings every month, so that I can bring in as many people as possible and if somebody can’t make one of the sessions, I’ll always have something else to offer them, to ensure nobody slips through the net.

“My end goal is to launch my own women’s academy this year, so that women from my love.golf programmes will then feed into the academy, which is something I already have in place for juniors, and would like to have that same pathway for women.

“I recently attended the love.golf coaches conference which really helped me with my ideas and planning. It couldn’t have pushed me outside of my comfort zone more - usually I’m a big overthinker but during those two days, I found myself making lots of decisions, completing tasks I wouldn’t normally feel confident doing, and speaking with other coaches about things they have in place at their clubs, so it’s helped me take charge of my ideas and what I’m doing more - I really enjoyed it, it made a really big impact on me.”

Taylor is shortlisted for Participation & Development Coach of the Year alongside fellow Midlands professional, Aaron Lansberry (Stonebridge Golf Club), Hampshire-based Kevin Flynn (Tournerbury Golf Centre) and Dorset-based Mike Dodd (Sturminster Marshall Golf Club).

CLICK HERE to find out more about the England Golf Awards 2023.