For 10 years he was junior coach for the regional team and for another 2 years the coach of the Swiss women’s national team. From 2011 to April 2017, he served as President of the Swiss PGA, continued as an expert and leader of Y+S courses in Magglingen and spent more than 30 years as a golf teacher at GC Zumikon.

We all appreciated Bruno as a reliable, helpful and experienced golf instructor, but also as a good friend. His professional competence as well as his kind, generous and calm manner were highly appreciated throughout the Swiss golf scene. We have lost a respected personality with him – Bruno Griss was an important pillar of our golf community.

Our heartfelt condolences and sympathy go to the entire bereaved family, to whom our thoughts go in these difficult hours and days.

This article originally appears courtesy of the Swiss PGA – Find out more at swisspga.ch

The Swiss PGA apprentice professionals met at Migros GolfPark Waldkirch this week to contest their annual championship for the national title. The week commenced with a pro-am followed by two days of stroke play.

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The tournament itself comprises part of the Apprentices’ course; the third-year apprentices must oversee the running of the championship, including finding the venue, promoting the event, accumulating the prizemoney, determining the local rules and terms of competition, making the draws, and conducting the prize-giving.

Golf & Country Club Zurich first year apprentice, Ben Purshouse, led the field on Day 1 as the only player to break par in the trying autumn conditions. The course greenkeepers had presented the course in excellent condition and the unusually fast greens took some of the players by surprise. Purshouse himself commented: “I had many return putts of four feet or so – the ball just kept getting away from me.”

Temperatures dropped on the second and final day, with all players donning their warmest winter clothing. Overnight leader, Purshouse, struggled with the cold conditions early relinquishing his sub-par status back to the course. Meanwhile, his playing partner, local first-year apprentice, Adone Hepburn, who commenced the final round four strokes in arrears, found form and took advantage of his local knowledge. Carding the lowest round of the tournament, a three-under par 68, he took the Swiss PGA title at his first attempt. Purshouse managed to hang-on to second place with Graubunden second-year apprentice, Davide Albertini, tied for third with third-year Domaine Impérial apprentice, Edouard Amacher.

Swiss PGA Board member responsible for education, Erlen Golf Club Advanced Professional, Andrea Mantoan, commented that the “…’third-years’ had done a commendable job of arranging the tournament. They will have to defend the outcome at the upcoming Apprentices’ Autumn Meeting”.

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Swiss PGA Professionals have a very broad knowledge of all aspects of golf. Not only individual clients but the entire club can benefit from this. On behalf of the 98 Swiss golf clubs, we asked the President of the Golf & Country Club Zurich, Robert Kessler, and the Manager of the Golfresort Leuk link, Giusy Abatemarco, about their experiences.

Creating a win-win situation

Neither in Zumikon nor in Leuk are the Pros employed by the golf club, but are self-employed – like the majority of golf professionals in Switzerland. They work on their own account, but are allowed to use the club’s infrastructure. In Zumikon, the three Teaching Pros have access to the driving range, the short game area and the putting green as well as a modern indoor facility for teaching. Free of charge – which is not the rule in Switzerland but rather the exception. However, both clubs are convinced or know from experience that this model creates a win-win situation.

Giusy Abatemarco explains why he does not charge the Teaching Pros a “mat fee”: “The golf school is part of our golf resort and a very important piece of the puzzle in the overall picture, because the golf school takes care of the training of the golfers, especially the new golfers. In this way, the Pros play a significant role in recruiting new members.” For Abatemarco, it is in a professional’s very own interest to attract new golfers to the club – especially participants of trial courses. Because new golfers book lessons on a particularly regular basis. As the operator of a golf course, it is a matter of course for Abatemarco to create an environment that gives professionals an economic perspective. “Each of our Pros gives around 1000 hours of instruction per year. Of course, we could charge 5 or 10 francs per hour, but I think that’s petty, because in 2019 these two Pros brought the club ten new members,” says the operator of the Leuk Link Golf Resort with satisfaction.

Whoever wants to become a member of the private Golf & Country Club Zurich must have at least a 36 handicap. Introductory courses and the training of new golfers – with the exception of juniors – are therefore not on the programme for the three long-standing Teaching Pros of the GCCZ. Instead, once a week they lead the training sessions of the various interclub teams and are also available for regular courses. “We consider the promotion of our active members, the young people and juniors as a great added value for the club”, explains GCCZ President Robert Kessler. The fact that the members also appreciate the work of their Pros is proven by the fact that in Zumikon the dates in the professionals’ reservation books are “fixed for weeks, if not the whole season”.

Expertise of the Pros welcome

Giusy Abatemarco is proud of his two Pros and is convinced: “The golf academy is a reputation for us.” At the same time, it’s also an indicator of whether the Links golf resort works as a whole: “If the golf school doesn’t work, the rest of the business doesn’t pay off either.” That’s one of the reasons why cooperation between the individual departments in Leuk is very close. The Pros are responsible for the design of introductory courses; the activities that follow up on introductory course participants and entice them back to the course are developed jointly by the club and the Pros. Marketing activities are then the responsibility of the club. In another area, Leuk is going “back to the roots”: Proette Fabienne Gamma took over the Pro Shop at the beginning of the season. She now also practices that part of her profession that was originally an important source of income for every club professional.

The broad expertise of the Swiss PGA Professionals is also highly valued by the respective club boards in Zurich and Leuk. And used. “The exchange of ideas between the captain or the person responsible for the course and our Pros is always very constructive and is much desired by the club”, explains Robert Kessler. “The board benefits from the opinion of the professionals when it comes to course layout and course care and maintenance.”

When it came to redesigning the practice facilities of the Links Leuk Golf Resort for this season, the two professionals were naturally involved in the decision. “They know best what their ideal working place looks like,” says Abatemarco.

Both in Leuk and in Zurich, club members are delighted to see their Pros not only during golf lessons but also in the clubhouse.

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Bruno Griss [pictured left] was leading the assembly at his last year of his 6-year presidency. In his presidential speech he reviewed the achievements made during his two presidential terms and he acknowledged the contribution of all the board and committee members during that time.

The members elected Keith Marriott [pictured right, alongside General Secretary, Irene Oberländer – centre], Head Pro at Golf de Geneve as new SPGA President 2017-2019. All the existing board members have been elected for an additional 3-year term. To replace the vacancy in the baord, Gianlucca Patuzzo, GC Lugano was elected as new board member.

The assembly was visited by more than 130 members. They received greeting messages from our partner organizations ASG, ASGI and ASG GolfCard Migros. Luca Allidi, ASG board member, highlighted the importance of a close cooperation between all players in the Swiss golf market. Hans-Peter Schild, Head ASG Migros GolfCard, emphasized that Swiss PGA Pro are now allowed to take PR-exams in any of the Migros Golfparks (upon pre-registration and no teaching on the driving ranges). Yannik Odiet, ASGI representative and Swiss PGA member reiterated that more than 70% of their members have a handicap of higher than 27. That is a big business opportunity for golf teachers. To support the golf Pros, ASGI with the support of the Swiss PGA will now introduce a new Golf Pro Search engine on its website.

Many of the participants enjoyed the dinner after the General Assembly meeting old friends.