As part of Gleneagles’ ongoing commitment to make its world-class facilities more accessible to everyone, beginner through to aficionado, it invited 20 enthusiastic females, many of whom were first-timers, to be part of an introductory session on the award-winning hotel’s Pitch and Putt Course.

Overseen by Head PGA Golf Professional, Andrew Jowett, and guest love.golf coach from West Kilbride Golf Club, Linzi Dye, participants embraced the engaging approach, which is based on the academic study of award-winning Fellow PGA Professional and love.golf founder, Alastair Spink.

By adding social group coaching to the many routes golfers and enthusiasts can experience the game, Gleneagles continues to lead the industry by offering a range of innovative coaching programmes and events.

This is headlined by The Gleneagles Foundation, in its fourth year, that supports young and aspiring elite players. From six-years-old and upwards, the 850-acre Perthshire estate also stages Wee Eagles Camps in school holiday periods to inspire boys and girls into the game. These initiatives are supported by sell-out Junior and Women’s Open competitions, the latter attracting over 150 participants at each event.

Following the love.golf session, Andrew Jowett, Head PGA Golf Professional at Gleneagles, commented: “While many non-golfers may perceive golf to be difficult to learn, by using the love.golf approach, this introductory session was able to demonstrate how inclusive, informal and engaging golf can be when shared with friends or colleagues.”

Alastair commented: “love.golf is about learning together and getting out onto a golf course as soon as possible, not spending hours hitting golf balls on the range. Research shows that women who participate enjoy a sense of togetherness, a relaxed format, unexpected enjoyment and a boost in confidence.

“We are proud to introduce this concept to Gleneagles at a time when the female game is in the spotlight, and the Perthshire Estate gets set to welcome the biggest women’s golf team event in the world.”

Gleneagles, celebrating 100 years of golf this year, plans to stage a series of love.golf sessions from the Autumn onwards and create a lasting legacy of introducing women to the game following its hosting of The Solheim Cup.

To learn more about love.golf, visit: www.love.golf

In October 2015, proud Welshman Mike Jones, an electrical engineer and single figure golfer, climbed astride his Yamaha MT09 Sports Tourer motorbike for the trip across the Severn Bridge from Cwmbran into England for a shift in Bristol. With a toot of his horn he said goodbye to wife Beth without a care in the world.

Four days later he would wake up in hospital in Swansea in severe pain and confusion. Mike has been told he nearly died at the scene of the accident and lost a lot of blood. A leg was badly crushed, his thighbone was rammed through his pelvis by the crash. These bones could be rebuilt in complicated operations but his lower left leg had to be amputated three days after the accident; the start of a long road that would include 22 hours on the surgeon’s table, six months of regular out-patient visits and a hip replacement as recently as last November. And even then it could have been far worse. His biker’s protective clothing may have saved his life as such was the injury, more exposure of the wound could easily have led to a fatal infection.

The super-keen sportsman, former footballer, a golfer who had been close to scratch (a 2 handicap), would later learn that he was still very much “just Mike” but right then, in a room on his own and desperate for sleep, all he could consider was his new identity as “Mike with a lost leg”.

He explains: “It was so traumatic. Your mind is whizzing at 100mph. I’m feeling my leg but it’s not there, a phantom sensation. I struggled with this so badly. They tried all different drugs with it. Nothing helped. I came very close in hospital to a breakdown. I remember one evening banging my fists on a tray, holding the buzzer and the nurse came in and said ‘What’s going on Mike?’ I don’t like asking anyone for anything and I was trying, but I lost it. I was screaming at the top of my voice, you either have to get me out of this room or give me something to put me to sleep… I thought I was going mad.”

A move to a ward with other guys in a similar condition helped, as they could talk and support each other with a bit of banter. The second telling element of his initial recovery came because Mike was holding on to his love of golf as a focus in this most difficult time. Could he ever play again?

He watched golf videos in his hospital bed and found clips from one golfer in particular, Manuel De Los Santos. De Los Santos hails from the Dominican Republic and lost his left leg in a traffic accident to destroy his dream of playing professional baseball in the US. He would not only later discover a new sport in golf but he would excel in it, as a fine striker of the ball which has seen him win trophies on the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA) Tournament Series and become something of an emblem for EDGA and its players as to just what can be achieved.

Mike said: “I was obsessed with playing again. It saved my life. I really don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t had golf as a focus, God knows what, I would have ended up in not a very nice place I think, so it literally saved my life.

“I watched videos of Manuel and heard him speak with such enthusiasm. You don’t often get the chance to reset your life but that was my opportunity there. That’s the attitude I want, I thought – I want the can-do attitude. Saying it and doing it is another thing, so when I am feeling a bit low or sorry for myself or ‘woe is me I’ve lost my leg’, I watch the video and it’s ‘right, just get on with it Mike, stop moaning about it’.”

Fast forward less than 18 months to February 2017 and Mike Jones is a long way from that hospital bed. He is actually teeing it up in an EDGA tournament in the sunshine in the Spanish Open, playing so well he won the Stableford trophy with two solid rounds off a new 19 handicap; while also meeting Manuel De Los Santos in the flesh and making a new friend.

“To actually meet Manuel in Spain and for him to speak to me like a real friend and give me advice and shake my hand, that’s the beauty of EDGA. And also Juan Postigo Arce[another top EDGA player] – you just get it, you just feel that positivity coming out of them towards you and that’s what I want to deliver to the people I play golf with. Manuel has been a big role model of mine in the way he approached his disability, and he told me, ‘don’t let your disability define you’. So I’m not Mike with a lost leg, I’m just Mike, and that is what’s really important.”

After his trauma and the surgery in 2015, Mike showed plenty of bravery as he learned to walk again as an out-patient with the help of physiotherapist Jo and staff at Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff’s Artificial Limb and Appliance Centre, before later continuing his improvement under the expert care of staff at the nearby Morrello Clinic in Newport.

Mike said, smiling at the memory: “I was at the limb centre on my first visit and supposed to be holding onto the parallel bars but I was swinging my arms; all I was thinking of was ‘Can I swing a golf club?’ And Jo called out ‘What are you doing!’ They were in shock! Worried I was about to fall over. We all laughed about it.

Only six months after the bike crash, Michael Overton from the Welsh Disabled Golf Association (WDGA) met up with Mike at Green Meadow Driving Range for Mike’s first return to hitting any sort of golf shots. He hit a succession of wedges that really impressed Overton who urged him to take part in a WDGA golf day only a month or so later at Peterstone Golf Club. Here, Mike met two new friends whose welcome and support would spur him on to great things in the year ahead.

Mike said: “I played with two guys, Richard Willis and Bill Savage and they were absolutely amazing with me. I was on crutches and really struggling to get in and out of the golf buggy. They’re both leg amputees and they helped me with my crutches and helped pick up clubs off the ground for me. I was off 24 [handicap] then and I only got 10 points [in Stableford scoring] but I was really pleased with 10 points! Afterwards I slept for two days I was so exhausted, my hip was so sore.”

From here, Mike has gone on to become a leading player in EDGA tournaments, culminating with his win in Spain this February. The organisation is backed by 23 national golf federations as it helps golfers with a disability to compete internationally as ‘Golfers First’, while allowing them to measure their progress in the Ranking for Golfers with a Disability (R4GD) supported by PING. The Ranking is relevant here because less than two years after the accident that nearly killed him, after thousands of golf balls hit on good days and bad, Mike, at the time of writing, is currently number one in the Nett Ranking, actually ahead of those friends Juan Postigo Arce and Manuel De Los Santos.

Today, now that Mike has won his toughest battle, he is keen to help others who are in need. Mike was recently appointed as a Golf Development Wales (GDW) Inclusive Ambassador and he will be promoting inclusiveness in the sport, as well as assisting with events and meetings to promote GDW schemes and initiatives.

Zoe Thacker, GDW development officer, said: “Mike is a real inspiration and force for good to people with a disability. He constantly spreads the message that golf can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Of all his supporters Mike reserves most praise for wife (and caddy!) Beth.“From the day of my accident Beth has been the rock and foundation of every part of my recovery and new life that has started since losing my leg. I would not be the man I am now without her help every day from when I wake until I put my head on the pillow at night. I love her more than life itself.”

Article Source: www.edgagolf.com

Golfpark Metzenhof will stage the 72 hole stroke play event from 30th September – 3rd October 2019 and with an overall professional prize fund of €20,000, is set to be a fantastic opportunity for Austrian Golf and all competing professionals.

Entry fees for Austrian PGA Professionals and International PGA Professionals are €150 and €250 respectively. Entries are on a first-come-first-serve basis and close on the 23rd September. Players are asked to enter through the Austrian Golf Association website www.anmeldesystem.com/sport/golf/foreigner.php.

A €10,000 prize fund has been attached to the event, with the winning professional claiming €2000 alone. For further details and to enter, players should visit the event website www.golfslovakopen.sk. Registrations close on the 28th August at 17:00.

The biennial tournament, alternated between the United States and Europe, was held at Engadine Golf Club behind the beautiful Swiss Mountain backdrop of St Moritz, and aimed to raise funds for the Ryder Cup European Development Trust (RCEDT) – the vehicle for essential golf development work across the European continent.

This years Cup hosted a range of golfing and non-golfing celebrities from various backgrounds, who showed up to pip against one another for the cup and bragging rights. They included American Frisbee champion Brodie Smith, basketball player Mike Conley Jr., Caroline Rominger and Düsseldorf-born Ilija Djurdjevic, whose long ball, at 430 metres, flew the length of almost five football pitches. It was the first time that the Cup took place on the courses of the Engadine Golf Club – twice previously it had been held in Monaco.

For three days, spectators enjoyed celebrity golf in Samedan and Zuoz in glorious sunshine. The first day of the Cup saw a Four-Ball Better Ball format played between the two sides and ended with a barbecue in Zuoz, which will probably be remembered for many years to come for the cameo entertainment appearance by Scottish rugby players and models Tom and Max Evans, who swapped their golf outfits for kilts. A Scramble Match Play format was played on the second day, and Single Match Play on day three. After three days of play, home advantage proved crucial as Team Europe won with 22.5 points to 18.5 points.

It was on the initiative of Ian Randell, Confederation of Professional Golf CEO, that the Ryder Cup Trophy was brought to St. Moritz. Nurturing young talent and growing grassroots golf is a key part of the Ryder Cup’s development legacy and this is achieved through the lens of the RCEDT: the auction of holidays and selected art at the gala at Badrutt’s Palace raised CHF 50,000 for the trust and this vital golf development work.

“With St. Moritz, we have once again opted for an extraordinary venue. The courses in the Engadine are among the most beautiful in Europe,” said Susan Feaster, Chairman, Monaco U.S. Celebrity Golf Cup for the Ryder Cup European Development Trust. She immediately announced that the 2021 tournament will take place in St. Moritz again, reinforcing the excellent reputation of the Engadine Golf Club. There is no doubt that many of the celebrities will be seen again in 2021 and hopefully the continued support for the RCEDT and its overall development of golf across the continent will continue.

During its annual general meeting, the former ASG changed its name to Swiss Golf and the roles of public golf organisations were more clearly defined and integrated into the national association. Swiss Golf, alongside ASGI (Association Suisse des Golfeurs Indépendants) and Migros GolfCard, have also created a common sports fund – Supporting Golf Together. Each of the three major players contribute CHF 500,000 per year to the national golf game to help it grow.

The Swiss PGA also benefits from the Supporting Golf Together Funds. Swiss PGA President Keith Marriott: “The Pro is the prime contact for a newcomer to a club or a public golf organization. The Swiss PGA Pros thus play an important role in recruiting new members.

“In addition, a Pro can make a significant contribution to making a golfer feel comfortable and to retain him/her as a member of the club. These facts had slipped a bit out of sight in the past.

“Meanwhile, both the members of the Swiss PGA and those responsible in the Swiss golf clubs and associations are aware that the role of a Pro is not just limited to golf lessons and so our Professionals have to be educated. Therefore, the annual contribution of CHF 180,000 out of the Supporting Golf Together Fund supports the Swiss PGA in continuing its efforts to provide the Swiss PGA Pros with all the necessary skills and knowledge.”

“The Swiss PGA has already focused on education and training in the past and has invested a lot of work in these areas. Our three-year comprehensive apprenticeship programme is constantly reviewed and adapted to the current needs of the golf market, which we received international recognition for when The Confederation of Professional Golf honoured it with its highest possible certification – Gold Standard ” explains Keith Marriott.

What also pleases the Swiss PGA President  is the fact that the excellent training of the Swiss PGA professionals is already bearing fruit: “It is quite simple: the better educated the golf instructor, the better the golf lessons and the greater the chances that young golfers will reach a level that will allow them to compete internationally at the top.

“The victory of the Swiss men in the Amateur European Team Championship and the associated promotion to the first division is the latest example in a series of success stories.”

But the Swiss PGA wants to consistently progress. “In order to ensure the highest quality education and training, we must invest continuously and stay focused,” says Keith Marriott. “The financial contribution from Supporting Golf Together Funds is not a donation. The Swiss PGA provides valuable additional services with additional education and training modules focused on current strategic topics” says Marriott.

The perspective of the Swiss PGA is shared by the three contributing organizations and their representatives in the Supporting Golf Together Funds. “The work of the Swiss PGA Pros plays a key role in the promotion and development of golf in Switzerland – especially when it comes to creating new golfers,” says Swiss Golf Director Barbara Albisetti.

She is convinced that the Swiss PGA and its members will continue to shape the development of Swiss golf in the future. ASGI Secretary-General Pascal Germanier agrees: “We want to support the Swiss PGA and its members so that golf lessons in Switzerland will continue to be of high quality and that golf will be attractive to more and more people. The contribution from the general sports fund is not sponsoring, the CHF 180,000 must be earmarked for education and training and promote the development of golf in Switzerland.”

The Swiss PGA, Swiss Golf, ASGI and Migros GolfCard are also in agreement that the training and further education of Pros should focus more on marketing and club management in the future. “It’s already the case today that our Pros are actively helping to attract new golfers and motivate them to join a club or public golf organization. Our training and further education courses are no longer just golfing techniques. In the future we will place even more emphasis on strengthening the ‘soft skills’ of our members, says Keith Marriott.

These are words that are well received by partner organisations: “We maintain a good and constructive cooperation with the Swiss PGA and we are happy if we receive support from their members,” says Pascal Germanier. Hans-Peter Schild, Head of Migros GolfCard and Sponsoring Migros Golfparks, has a positive perspective on the development of Swiss golf recently: “The cooperation of all golf organisations in Switzerland has started well after the crisis and all parties are aware that we can achieve more together. Personally, I very much appreciate the open and honest communication between those responsible”.

In this sense, Schild expresses his wishes to the Swiss PGA: “Ten percent of Swiss PGA Pros are employed by Migros and work in our golf parks. They generate 90 percent of Migros GolfCard’s new members – a percentage that has remained stable over the last few years.

“I would be delighted if Swiss PGA Pros in the future act more neutral about the offer of public golf organisations and therefore assure a good turnover of newcomers who do not want to join a private club.”

In addition to the support from the common sport fund, the Swiss PGA receives additional funds from Swiss Golf to promote professional tournaments in Switzerland. Migros Golfparks supports the Swiss PGA logistically by providing premises for training and further education events as well as for tournaments.

The Kyle Phillips-designed golf course, which is nestled on the western shores of Yas Island (Abu Dhabi’s landmark entertainment destination), is quickly becoming a regular name on most golfer’s bucket-lists to play. The course provides coastline views of the Arabian Gulf around every corner, with eight holes running along the coastline, and has recently been named as one of ‘The World’s Top City Golf Clubs’ by CNN Travel.

It has also been voted among the ‘Top 10 New International Golf Courses’ by the USA’s influential Golf Magazine, and named one of the world’s top 25 by US publication Golf Digest. The Par 72 championship course stretches to a demanding 7,450 yards and is accompanied by a nine-hole Par 3 academy course, floodlit practice facilities and a luxurious clubhouse.

The addition of Yas Links to the Abu Dhabi Pro-Am schedule compliments the already impressive venues of Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Beach Golf Club in the region, creating a dazzling and varied schedule for every competitor when the tournament returns in 2020.

For details and to enter, visit the Tournament Hub Page at https://eur.pe/2020AbuDhabi

Questions/queries about the event can also be directed to Tournament & Special Projects Manager, Emilio Dellanzo at ed@CPG.com or +44(0)1675 475822.

Golf is often cited as being a precise game, one in which a single degree can make a huge difference. Just a one-degree deviation of the clubface at the point of impact can result in the ball finding the trees rather than the fairway.

For Daphne van Houten, a single degree would have made little difference to the way her spine functioned. Daphne explained that for most people a spine that is positioned between 0º- 10º from vertical generally works fine, so when she found her spine was at 52º it was time to do something about it. 

Daphne, born in the University town of Utrecht in the Netherlands, had started to play golf when just six years of age with her parents Henk and Monique, but golf was not everything in her life. Handball was another sport that she excelled in and just a few years later she would have to make a decision, but in the meantime sport, of any kind, was fun.  Playing with her parents at Almkreek helped Daphne to develop enough skills to gain a golf handicap. 

All children around the age of twelve are required by law to attend a physical screening. It was at this screening day that she and her parents learned that her back wasn’t straight. “I went to the hospital, got it x-rayed and that is when they found out,” says Daphne. With those words from the doctor, Daphne knew that she couldn’t play handball anymore, “When you jump and land then your spine will compress, and I knew that because of that my back was getting worse.”

Daphne chose to play golf as she couldn’t find it in herself to give up both sports at the same time, “At first I didn’t notice that my back was getting worse…but when you practice one sport in one way, then it was not good.”  After only a few months it was clear that she needed to take action to stop the spine from getting even worse.

Together with her father Henk, they decided that she should not have an operation until she had finished growing and so she went into therapy in Germany. “It was an intern therapy where I did exercise from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock in the evening,” recalls Daphne.

She fully embraced the programme with Katharina Schroth, and reduced the Scoliosis of her spine from 50º to 37º which was an excellent return on her investment of time, but she realised, “I would have to repeat the exercises everyday for an hour… and I didn’t have the time… so when I got to the age of seventeen then I decided it was better to get an operation.”  

Life has a way of preparing people for the key moments. As we mature from infancy to childhood, adulthood to midlife and maturity to old age, we tend to learn vital lessons, emotionally, physically, spiritually and cognitively, so that when big decisions in life come along from time to time, as they inevitably will, we are prepared.

Daphne recalls the time around her operation she had to make such decisions, “I was thinking a lot about the negative things in my operation, but there are also a lot of positive things. I just needed to focus on those. If I didn’t have the operation I couldn’t even walk by the time I was thirty, because of the pain, maybe I could only lie in bed.” 

Above: Daphne Van Houten [Photo courtesy of Sue Bennett and EDGA]

With such a complicated operation there was plenty of opportunity for something to go wrong. Intuitively Daphne realised, “I knew that it was better to do the operation, because I was in a lot of pain before,” the operation lasted for almost eight hours during which time the surgeons built a scaffold for the spine that would support it by using pins, plates, bolts and screws. 

Daphne recalls the time around her operation, “I was told that I needed to stay in the hospital for one week, but I hated the hospital and so did everything I could to get out.”  The medical staff had told Daphne that she needed to climb the stairs before she would be free to go home. This was just the motivation that Daphne needed, and only four days later she went home. It seems that home healing was good for Daphne, as just two weeks later she was once again making a few half swings and hitting shots. 

The recovery was quick, even though she didn’t have a goal in golf, “I don’t have a goal, I just want to enjoy it…to have fun,” says Daphne who revealed that she has pain on a daily basis, “You just get used to it. It’s there…everyday. I don’t take painkillers anymore because I [would] have to take them always, and it’s not good for you. But it’s routine – you get used to it.” 

Today Daphne is the European Golf Association’s Champion Women Golfer with Disability, a title she won in June 2018 at her first attempt. “When I got home I got compliments from everyone, and that is when I started to notice what I did,” says a slightly surprised Daphne, who only the year before had taken a break from golf when she stopped enjoying the game. Daphne had felt like she needed to play even when she didn’t want to. Much to her amazement, after being out for just four months she realised that she was addicted to golf.

Once upon a time, Daphne had the goal of playing on Tour, but today she recognises this may now be out of her reach. Her thirst to be involved in the game, however, is far from being quenched and she is now in the second year of a sports marketing and management degree in Tilburg at the Johan Cruyff Academy, “This is my Plan B, you always have to have one,” says Daphne who has also given some golf lessons to little children and found that she really enjoyed doing so.  

Plan A, Plan B or Plan C, who knows what the future will hold for Daphne van Houten. A small adjustment in her current direction by just a degree or two could see Daphne taking a role in sports management, professional golf or something entirely different. In any case, Daphne will step confidently into the future with the knowledge that some of life’s big decisions are already behind her.

Article Source: www.edgagolf.com