CPG ANNUAL AWARDS SUPPORTED BY ROLEX

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Past President of the PGA of Czech Republic, Petr Nitra, has etched his name into the history books becoming the latest PGA Professionals to earn the CPG’s 5-Star Professional Award.

“I would like to sincerely thank you for this prestigious and high honour that I have been awarded,” said Nitra on receiving his award at the CPG Festival of Golf at Saïdia Resorts in Morocco.

“The news of my nomination for the award reached me whilst I was on vacation and surprised me greatly but has brought me immense joy…and for me to be a PGA Professional is really living my dream.

“I am proud of the Board of the Czech PGA who do a great job, they are very strong and we have many coaches, and their cooperation with the Federation is great now and I am pleased to have done everything I can to help this over the years.”

Since 1992, the 5-Star Professional Award has been acknowledging the efforts and excellent of golf professionals that truly exemplify what it is to be a PGA Pro. Nitra joins this elite and illustrious group of some 90 individuals from around the world.

Nitra has been involved in many facets of golf from coaching players of all levels of ability, owning and operating his own golf facility in Germany, to influencing the administration and development of the sport in his role with the PGA of Czech Republic.

Nitra took up golf in 1970 and at the time Czechoslovakia was the only communist country where golf could be played, with him relying on minoring countries or peoples’ rare trips abroad to access golf equipment.

With opportunities in golf being limited, he moved to Hamburg, Germany, in the mid 80s and completed his training under professional Hans Heiser who himself contributed to European golf.

After sampling American golf in the 90s, but ultimately deciding not to move there permanently, Nitra returned to Czechoslovakia where he joined, and subsequently led, the PGA of Czech Republic, becoming it’s President from 2002 to 2016.

“I firmly believe that the Czech PGA is now an integral part of both the European and global PGA communities,” added Nitra.

“The current board, which has continued our work, is doing an excellent and responsible job – there is no doubt about that.”

Nitra’s efforts across the sport, both in his native Czech Republic, and his adopted home of Germany, display just how varied and impactful a PGA Professional’s roles can be and make him a worthy winner of this famous award.

To find out more about the Annual Awards and the Festival of Golf visit cp.golf/festival.

CPG ANNUAL AWARDS SUPPORTED BY ROLEX

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World renowned coach, Hugh Marr, has been announced as the 2024 recipient of the CPG’s John Jacobs Award for Teaching & Coaching.

Hugh is the latest winner of the award that is known as one of the highest accolades a golf coach can earn in the world, all in the name of the godfather of golf coaching, John Jacobs.

“Any time you are recognised by your peers it feels a privilege, and to have my name associated with John Jacobs is something that can go down in history, so yes I feel incredibly fortunate,” said the Master Coach on receiving his award at the CPG Festival of Golf at Saïdia Resorts in Morocco.

“I love golf, and I know how much pleasure it gives people to play, so anything I can do to contribute to that, whether it’s coaching players or coaching coaches makes me genuinely happy.”

Hugh has worked with a variety of players at all levels, including those at the very pinnacle of the sport. He currently works with Thorbjørn Olesen and has helped shape his multiple wins in previous years, whilst also supporting Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, Scott Jamieson and various others who have been highly successful across the world’s tours.

But he continues to also be known for his efforts in supporting and developing the coaching community at large, through activities such as The Coach Alliance that he helped to found, his ‘Coach Hub’ platform and community, as well as numerous webinars, interviews and workshops designed to share knowledge with coaches at any level of the game and any level of experience.

“I firmly believe that the coaching community is the single most important stakeholder in our wonderful sport,” Hugh states.

“To be truly effective as coaches we must develop our skills with this in mind. I want to up-skill coaches to deliver on their responsibility to the game, to create a high-functioning community of like-minded people all passionate about improving themselves and the game.

“I’ve always been driven by ensuring I am doing all I can to make the players I work with better, and now it’s the same for coaches…so I am always trying to do the right thing at the right time with the best information available to me.”

To find out more about the Annual Awards and the Festival of Golf visit cp.golf/festival.

Inside the Ryder Cup with CPG Chief Executive, Ian Randell, and Jeremy Snape.

The CPG Business Club hosted a live forum with Founder and CEO of Sporting Edge, Jeremy Snape, interviewing Ian Randell live from Whistling Straits, host venue of the 2020 Ryder Cup. Visit the CPG Business Club and find out how you can join future events: https://cp.golf/CPG-Business-Club​

THE WINNING MINDSET

This article is available in The Insider by CPG magazine, click here to download your digital copy.

The similarities between sport and business are often discussed, but there are few people better placed to shed light on the subject than former England cricketer Jeremy Snape. Here, he tells us what the two worlds have in common and what they can learn from each other.

CPG: You were a successful sportsman and changed tack totally on retirement. Why was that? 

Jeremy Snape: I had always considered myself a journeyman pro. I had 19 years as a professional cricketer, starting at Northants with an incredibly talented team with the likes of Allan Lamb and Curtly Ambrose and a squad full of legends that did not win a huge amount but had a great time. And then I moved to Gloucestershire, who were always underdogs. Everyone fitted together into this tight unit, and we surprised so many people, and ultimately redefined one-day cricket during that period, winning five or six trophies around the turn of the century. And that gave me the springboard to go and play for England. I was man of the match on my debut, but I guess I did not always find I was naturally confident. I was hard on myself and quite analytical – I remember playing a game in front of 120,000 screaming people in India but the loudest voice was in my head, and it was the one that was saying, “Are you sure you are good enough to be here?” I let the emotions divert me from my gameplan and no one had ever coached that, and I suppose it sparked a fascination for me in psychology and mindset and how leaders create a high-performance environment. So that is what I turned to.

CPG: I guess whatever we do we can all empathise with those doubts creeping in…  

JS: Yes, absolutely, and I have spent more time trying to understand this now over the last decade or so but often the highest performers are the ones that have the most doubt and insecurity because they have built up so much and they have got so much to lose. And part of that mindset is actually continually testing the boundaries, which means you are living on the edge and you are out of your comfort zone. Elite performers can actually find comfort in that uncomfortable space and they keep going there because they know that if they can overcome those fears, then that is where their proudest moments come from, and their best achievements.

CPG: And you studied this formally?

JS: Yes. I did my Master’s degree at Loughborough University while I was still playing actually, and there was a moment of epiphany, in the final of the Twenty20 Cup in a tight game at Edgbaston, when I needed to hit a boundary to win, and I used some of these skills that I had learnt from my Master’s degree. In India I had been so focused on what the newspapers and the media might say the next day that I forgot to watch the ball in front of me. Here, I was so focused on my breathing and my routine that I played an instinctive shot, and won the game for us.

So I saw the power of these techniques personally in my own career. I wish I had learnt them earlier but that is the way it is, and that gave me the passion to become a performance coach and help people to understand how they can use their mindset to give them a competitive edge rather than be a hindrance. And that led on to coaching in the IPL with Shane Warne’s team, the Rajasthan Royals, coaching South Africa as they went from number four to number one in the world, and then joining the League Managers’ Association (LMA), supporting the leadership development for the Premier League managers and below.

CPG: And you set up Sporting Edge. What was the aim there?

JS: Sporting Edge is ultimately about going inside the mind of champions, elite performers from sport, the military, academia, best-selling authors, futurists, and trying and find out what is it about this high-performance mindset and this high-performance leadership style that can be broken down into tangible tools that business leaders around the world can use. For me the mindset of high-performance in elite sport and in business are exactly the same. We are trying to get the best out of ourselves and to overcome those doubts, we are trying to get the best out of our individuals that are around us, and we are trying to bring an organisation together and help them to navigate change. The lessons absolutely translate across perfectly and we have proven that with thousands of executives around the world, using our digital library of video insights to fast-track their success.

CPG: Do business leaders need to be selfish to succeed?

JS: As a professional athlete you need to be self-focused. Not necessarily selfish but definitely self-focused, and that can lead into selfishness. The team dynamic is all about selfless performance – what can I give to my team? What does my team need of me now? And we tend to think more selflessly and longer-term in a team situation, whereas when we are under pressure we tend to think about survival in the short-term in our own career. I guess in golf that is where that incredible resilience of living in the moment and being able to build a strategy for your tournament or for the day or the round that you are playing and then be able to break it down into these tight routines. So, for example, if you are playing golf for four hours you are actually only playing golf for 23 minutes and it is the transition between the downtime when you are walking up and down the fairway, what you are thinking there, and that ability to really dial up your focus onto the next shot. You have got to be able to forget the last shot, whether it was a brilliant shot and you feel euphoric or whether it was a terrible shot and you have ended up in the woods. You have got to be able to stop that last shot from contaminating the next one, and that is one of the key mental skills that golf demands.

And it relates into business in that you might be a salesperson who has had three bad sales calls but the fourth call, you cannot afford to go into with low energy, low mood and a negative mindset, because that fourth call might be the one that actually transforms your business. It is that ability to reframe and reset yourself every so often rather than just seeing it as a whole day at work or a whole round of golf. Elite performers have that ability to break the game and the day down into focused units of performance.

CPG: The idea of an individual focus is really interesting but what about when golf becomes a team game?

JS: It is very interesting, I did an interview with Paul McGinley about his leadership at the Ryder Cup, and I think there were a few key elements there. One of the things he tried to do was build this emotional connection with the team. So, clearly all the stars are incredibly successful, they are financially secure, there is nothing that they really need but this team culture has the opportunity to be the thing that they are most proud of in their career and Paul McGinley leveraged this in a couple of ways. First of all he connected them back into the emotional history of the Ryder Cup, so all the players that had gone before them in that lineage. They used really powerful, emotive imagery of people like Seve Ballesteros and tried to bring some of that mindset, almost like the ancient wisdom of these forefathers was speaking to them, that they wanted to be part of this community. And then he, sort of, fast-forwarded it again and asked the players, you know, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we were sitting in a pub in 15 years’ time when we were old and grey and we could look each other in the eye and say we did it, during those few days, we were the ones that absolutely sacrificed and delivered and we stayed true to the team spirit.”

McGinley was one of the first people to use data in an analytical review. For two years before the Ryder Cup he was looking at the course profile and the pairings and match-ups. He had got really strict rules around meetings only being 30 minutes, so he had to make sure that in those 30 minutes he had got their attention and their focus. And then he made sure he understood different people’s requirements so, for example, some leaders would have mandated a team meal every day at a particular time whereas McGinley had a rolling buffet because he knew that some of the Scandinavian golfers might have wanted to eat early and go to bed early whereas some of the Southern European might have stayed up later and gone to bed later. Having that ability to flex the environment for individuals to be at their very best meant that they did not feel as if they were fighting against the team, they were bringing their best as an individual into a team environment. And then because they had been supported as an individual, they could give as much as they could.

I have also interviewed a lot of Olympians who have spoken about individual performance being great but actually what really make them proud are when they have played their part in something bigger than themselves. Because that is not just a test of skill, but being part of a high-performing team is a test of character as well.

CPG: Are there attributes that these elite athletes, and by extension business leaders, share?

JS: Elite performers need certain core attributes, without a doubt. What I have learned from interviewing some of the world’s elite performers is that they have got this ability to visualise the endgame in high definition. They can imagine what it is going to feel like. And they can see themselves on the podium, they can build this incredible vision of what it is like and that is what motivates them. But they are also able to break that down into the behaviours and processes that are going to help them to do that. And then, more importantly than anything, they can set out a strategy. The discipline to be able to stick to these basics day after day after day is what sets them apart. So, we all see the Olympians on the podium, we all see the Tour de France cyclists in the yellow jersey, but what we do not see is them hacking up the mountains in the rain for four hours a day, for five years in a row.

The other thing I think is really important for entrepreneurs and elite sports stars is the ability to create a high-performance team around them. They rotate their hitting partners, physios, biomechanists, psychologists, nutritionists around them depending on what their game needs at the time. One of the challenges when you become successful is you get an echo chamber around you of people that just want to say that you are doing really well and they do not want to challenge you. What you actually want is a group of advisors who are going to support you and challenge you to be the very best you can be, to give you honest critique to keep you on track, and that could save you years of making the same mistakes.

CPG: Moving away from the absolute elite level, what would you say to the 12,500 professionals who are part of the CPG?

JS: The analogy I often use which is relevant here is that we are all the CEO of our own performance company. It is very easy when you are part of a big organisation to feel like you are another cog in the machine but actually when you run your own business it is critical, every decision that you make about how you communicate, your marketing outreach, the customer service that you offer, the risks that you take with the events that you are putting on. I think having real resilience is absolutely critical, having that optimism is absolutely critical, and we have needed both of those things over the last couple of years with COVID. But I think it is also important to have some kind of strategic roadmap of where you want to be.

One of the experts in digital strategy that we interviewed spoke about three time horizons being critical for leaders. The first time horizon is what’s your email inbox and your to-do list for the next few weeks or the next quarter. And then he spoke about horizon three being this disrupted future which is maybe five to ten years out where technology might have a different role to play. And the most important place to focus on is horizon two, which is this middle ground between our to-do list and this crazy world that may be very different in the future. Having that ability to plan some of these skill developments or entrepreneurial activities where a golf pro may be learning new skills or setting up a website or building some digital courses, they might seem like they are nice-to-haves in the future but if we are constantly just focused on navigating the short-term and surviving, we never build that business model in horizon two, which could be the thing that completely transforms our business.

CPG: Do you believe that golf is the sport of business?

JS: I do. First of all you get to meet lots of new contacts. If we get to play golf with a friend or a business partner and their colleague or client, then that sort of proximity is already a trusted relationship. And as the game unfolds you get to see what people are like under pressure, when they are losing, when they are winning. You do not often see that on a zoom meeting or sitting in a business meeting. Seeing somebody’s emotional profile as they go through pressure I think is a fascinating tell of what that person’s character is like. And again, you are spending a long period of time, maybe three or four hours, out in the fresh air, you are getting plenty of exercise. You are able to be creative because you have got the blood flow and your brain’s switching off from a lot of the analytical processes and often that is when our best ideas come.

In so many of our social interactions there is a power hierarchy, isn’t there? This person is a more senior leader than me, this person is a multi-millionaire, therefore we defer to their power. But in golf, you could have a multi-millionaire who is rubbish at golf and a young buck who is playing off scratch and those power hierarchies are inverted, and you get a pretty good sense from the way people interact with each other what they are like in business. So yes, I would say golf provides a great shared experience and is very much the sport of business.

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Prairie girl Amanda Minchin has always been a master of all tasks. As a youngster she excelled in a variety of sports — hockey, softball, soccer, basketball — and when she started working at Estevan Woodlawn GC in her teens after getting hooked on golf at 12, she didn’t limit herself to one gig. She toiled in the back shop, on the turf crew and in food and beverage. Need a grip changed? Check. A green cut? Check. A burger for lunch? How would you like it cooked?

Now, some three decades after starting in the junior program at the 400-member Saskatchewan club — known as TS&M Woodlawn Club since 2012 when a naming rights agreement was struck with TS&M Supply to fund a renovation after flood damages — Minchin is its general manager. Serendipitously, but also maybe predictably, she’s the boss.

“I guess I had the best education in terms of experience,” laughed Minchin, who was born and raised in Estevan.

But just like her days punching a clock, general manager isn’t Minchin’s sole title. Along with being vice-president of the PGA of Saskatchewan, she is also Woodlawn’s head professional. She’s one of 29 female head professionals in the country and one of a very few to hold both head pro and GM titles. Minchin says she enjoys a bond with other female head professionals in Saskatchewan, and across the country, citing Bobbi Brandon, the head pro at Saskatoon’s Moon Lake G&CC, as a friend and mentor specifically. However, she also says she doesn’t ever think about working in a male-dominated industry.

“It’s never been an issue, if you’re a woman or man,” she said. “To me, I wasn’t raised like that. I was just raised that you do whatever you want. The stuff that you want to do, that’s what you do. Sort of a genderless thing. And that’s how we try to approach things at our golf club.”

A club that recognized and conceded her desire to keep the head pro job when she was named GM. Minchin was adamant about that.

“I got in the golf business because I love being a golf pro, I wanted to be a golf pro,” she stated. “I didn’t want to give up that side of it.”

Not necessarily a club pro, however. After getting into the game just for fun, Minchin improved dramatically around the time she turned 16. It seemed to happen overnight, she explained. It was then that she started to play competitively and discover the places the game could take her. She won multiple Saskatchewan Junior Girls titles and twice finished second in the Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur. She wound up on provincial teams and competed nationally for the first time at the 1998 Canadian Junior Girls at Toronto’s York Downs G&CC. She loved it all — the trips, the courses, the people she met. A U.S. college scholarship emerged as a possibility and she wound up a two-time tournament winner and three-time first team all-conference player at Eastern Illinois University.

Upon graduating Minchin gave tour life a shot, plying her trade on the old Canadian Women’s Tour and teeing it up in mini-tour events whenever and wherever she could. Success — and cash — didn’t come, however, so at 27, having already lent a helping hand in the TS&M Woodlawn junior program from which she graduated, she became a PGA of Canada member and joined the club as assistant professional. She became head professional in 2016 and head professional/GM in 2018. Through the years the accolades have piled up: PGA of Saskatchewan Assistant of the Year in 2012; PGA of Saskatchewan Teacher of the Year in 2015; PGA of Saskatchewan Junior Promoter of the Year in 2013 and ’16; and the PGA of Canada’s Jack McLaughlin Junior Leader of the Year in ’16 as well. She was also an assistant coach for Golf Saskatchewan’s 2017 Canada Summer Games team. It’s those junior leader awards of which she is most proud.

“I love teaching kids,” Minchin said. “As a GM/head pro I still get to do our Tiny Linkster junior lessons. I still get to be out there with the five-, six-year-olds on the weekend and teach those lessons. Might be funny to some people but I think it’s cool.”

Of course, a world with COVID-19 has changed some of that. After a long shutdown, Minchin was just getting junior camps at Woodlawn up and running again in early June, having to create regimes for physical distancing, especially at the youngest levels. But she also noted enrollment for camps is up over last year as are junior and adult memberships. The school of thought that golf might benefit from the pandemic with people unable to participate in teams sports has come to fruition at TS&M Woodlawn with members of the public struggling to get tee times as season pass holders gobble them up with the ability to book seven days in advance. That is something Minchin said she has never seen at the club. As for golf being a safe haven in these uncertain times, her sell of the game remains the same.

“I’m going to push junior golf no matter what, COVID or not,” she avowed, noting the club has produced nine juniors who played competitively last summer and had graduates playing collegiately in the U.S. before the shutdown. “I feel bad for kids. I can’t imagine not being able to play sports and do all of their activities. I mean, I grew up loving all sports. So I feel for kids. And adults. I mean, I miss sports. I miss watching hockey and whatnot. If I could say anything, it’s that we of course feel very safe here, it’s a great place for kids to meet other kids. We see it now. Kids are coming here, they are learning how to make tee times on their own, they’re booking online because kids are so good on computers obviously. But it’s not just about hitting golf balls. It’s learning how to talk to adults, play with adults because we have to fill those tee times. The life skills alone, I’ll always preach that, in a COVID world or not a COVID world.

“We want your kids — boys and girls,” she continued. “We just think kids should be introduced to golf. Whether they decide to go play competitively or whatnot, obviously as golf lovers we see the benefits of it as a lifelong game, so we’re going to be really pushing that in the next year.”

And why not? Look what joining the junior program way back when has done for Minchin.

“I’m from the junior program and here I am 30-odd years later as the GM. To me, that’s a cool story.”

The SAGDB has been operating in South Africa since 1999 and has grown a network of coaches and officials who work across the country to develop the game in cities and remote areas.

The President’s Award for Golf Development aims to acknowledge the work of an individual or project that has excelled in developing golf. The SAGDB has helped over 17,000 young people have been coached through their programme across 14 areas of South Africa, with the aim of broadening the golfing community and transforming its composition to be more representative of society.

“For a small country like South Africa to be recognised internationally by the Confederation of Professional Golf really is something special,” said SAGDB Managing Director, Grant Hepburn. “It is a credit to the people back home that do the work – our coaches around the country, our managers – and obviously the youngsters who participate in the programme, who have done so well.”

The SAGDB has been successful in part at least due to the collaborative nature of the Board and the support given by the Department of Sports and Recreation, The R&A and a variety of South African golf organisations such as the Sunshine Tour, PGA of South Africa, and GolfRSA, as well as financial supporters, The Remgro Group and Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation.

Hepburn added: “We need to say thank you to Mr Johann Rupert – what he does for the Board, for golf in South Africa in general, is amazing. It is nice that we can win this award and give something back to our supporters by achieving something and being recognised.

“We are fortunate that the golf clubs are involved, all 14 golf unions are involved, and we have corporate South Africa involved as well – and it is really important that the PGA plays a big role too – they help us with our coaching programmes, they legitimise what we do, they endorse our coaching programme, and recognise our coaches, so that’s really important to us. We are also grateful for the generous support of Nomads, who provide regular playing opportunities and financial support for our players.”

The children that take part in the programmes are often those that would never have come into contact with golf, bringing a new audience to the sport and increasing the number of players at all levels.

But the Board are also able to then offer them many additional social benefits such as helping the children become positive and stable role models and mentors in their own communities through exposure to the discipline, etiquette and values that they learn through the sport. They also become healthy and active and can become economically independent with their acquired skills making them valuable members of their local communities and society in general.

The programmes are another way that golf can be taken directly to people, particularly helping underprivileged communities through the provision of free coaching and practice equipment, and nurturing elite players by sponsoring equipment, club fees and competition participation and making facilities more accessible.

Many of the children that have been a part of the programme have taken on golf as their sport with one senior national player and four players in senior national squad, 25 senior provincial and U-23 players, 108 junior provincial players, and over 1,500 junior tournament players. 34 of its most talented players have been invited to join prestigious and recognised High Performance Centres such as the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation, and six former SAGDB players have earned their tour cards on the Sunshine Tour.

The work of Hepburn and his colleagues continues with a vision to make golf more accessible in South Africa by providing and facilitating practice and playing opportunities for learners and talented players from all the underprivileged communities.

“I think if we strive to improve in terms of the results that we get and focusing as much on results as social-uplift, then I think we’re doing our job well. Hopefully it keeps going the way it’s been going – we’ve had success and I don’t think we need to change much, but we do need to keep looking after the core values of the Board and keep moving forward.”

For More Information On All of 2018’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2018 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress),follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, and Aegean Airlines.

With over 60 years in the broadcasting and sports journalism world, Zachrisson receives the award in recognition of his impact on Swedish golf through his commentary, both verbal and written, on golf. He is also receiving the same award as his friend and colleague, Renton Laidlaw, a fellow legend of the golf journalism world.

With over 60 years in the broadcasting and sports journalism world, Zachrisson receives the award in recognition of his impact on Swedish golf through his commentary, both verbal and written, on golf. He is also receiving the same award as his friend and colleague, Renton Laidlaw, a fellow legend of the golf journalism world.

“I am very surprised to have won this award…and makes you wonder ‘why me?’,” said Zachrisson. It will take a long time for me to understand being given the award…I don’t think I’ve done anything more than what I should of.”

“I have always enjoyed the game. I am a journalist, a writer, I create things – I could have been a lot of other things, but it happened to be golf…and it makes you realise the intricacies, and despite golf being a small world, it is important.”

Zachrisson is known throughout not only Sweden but further afield as well, for his distinct style of reporting on golf and a variety of other sports including multi-sports events such as the Olympic Games, as well as his wealth of knowledge around golf as a sport and its traditions. In 2012, he also conducted a famous interview with then Captain of the Swedish national football team, Zlatan Ibrahimović, which was watched by over two million people across the country.

His commentary is known as legendary for its easy-going and gentle tone, as well as his incredible knowledge and experience that helps him portray what is happening to the viewers or listeners with trust and understanding.

“All I’ve done is woke up one morning, started doing it, and I’m still alive and doing the same thing…!” said Zachrisson. “I have the greatest respect for the game and I swore I would not mistreat it – not the history, the passions, the players, not anything.

“I hope that my legacy would be in telling stories, whether it’s golf or whatever it is, a story has to be told. It has to be told clearly, but with a sense of humour and warmth. If I can reach someone and their story, if we can find a relationship then I love it…you want to get in behind the scenes and find the magic of a story.”

His career began in the early 1960s when he became Editor in Chief of the Swedish golf magazine, Svensk Golf. By 1966, he was commentating on the largest golf events in the world for Swedish national television, including the Ryder Cup in 1965 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, England, and the Open Championship won by Jack Nicklaus in 1966 at Muirfield Golf Links, Scotland.

In the early 90s, Zachrisson was hired by Swedish broadcaster, Viasat, and since then has been a commentator across its portfolio of channels. He has also authored a variety of his books, as well as continuing to write for Svensk Golf and other magazines such as Golf-Store Magazine and Golf Digest.

Having joined the Association of Golf Writers (AGW) in 1987, he more recently has held the position of President of the Association from 2015 – 2018, succeeding Renton Laidlaw and becoming the first non-Brit in the AGW’s history to hold this senior position.

Not only was he involved in the coverage of golf, but, having started with hickory-shafted clubs in his family garden, he played to a high level, competing in the Swedish Championship in 1964 – and showed more incredible sporting prowess by also competing nationally for squash and alpine skiing in that same year as well.

Zachrisson continues to reside in Sweden and is a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, as well as Royal Liverpool Golf Club, England, and several golf clubs in Sweden including Djursholm Golf Club, Sand Golf Club, Stockholms Golfklubb, and Svartinge Golf Club.

For More Information On All of 2018’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2018 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress),follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, and Aegean Airlines.

Olazábal wins the award in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contribution to golf across his career, becoming a recognised ambassador for golf in his native country of Spain, in Europe and across the world.

“It is a true honour for me to receive this award, especially coming from the Confederation of Professional Golf,” said Olazábal. The award was presented as part of the 2018 Annual Congress Gala Awards Supported By Rolex at Costa Navarino in Greece, and given to him at a hugely well-received Q&A session with Confederation of Professional Golf Board Director, Ken Schofield.

“I am humbled by this experience – all I tried to do in my career was to play golf the best I could, to respect the rules of golf, my peers, and my opponents, and to be fair and honest – and hopefully this was the result of that.”

The Spaniard is widely known for his major victories, Professional wins around the world, as well as for his incredible Ryder Cup record as a player, with the most successful pairs partnership with friend Seve Ballesteros, and his captaincy of the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012.

His golf career began at a young age in northern Spain where his father, a greenkeeper at Real Golf Club de San Sebastian, taught him to play with a cut down three-iron. He went on to win The Amateur Championship at the age of 18, and then turned professional on the European Tour earning the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award in 1986 after finishing second in the order of merit.

Olazábal formed part of a generation of golfers that made an impact not only in Europe but also in the United States, and his consistent finishes spanning a decade ensured he was in the world top-10 for over 300 weeks between 1989 and 1995.

This was helped in part by his break-through major win at The Masters in 1994, becoming the sixth European to win the tournament in seven years. 1999 saw him repeat his victory at Augusta National, securing his place in a list of legends who have multiple Masters wins and major victories, as well as a further 21 European Tour wins, four PGA Tour wins and a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“As a golf player I believe that winning major events is key for us,” said Olazábal. “Those are the ones that determine your career and, in that regard, obviously those are my most important, or highest achievements as a player.

“But I cannot forget the special moments in my career, being Ryder Cup Captain in 2012 was the happiest and most special – it was the first time Seve wasn’t with us and being able to really feel the joy of so many people, the spectators, family members, the team with their wives and girlfriends, children, parents…that is the beauty of the event. I think it reached a lot of people and that is why it is so special to me.”

This Ryder Cup role is what Olazábal is perhaps most known for – as a player he formed one half of the ‘Spanish Armada’ with Ballesteros, the most successful Ryder Cup pairing in history with 12 points from 15 matches together. Olazábal played in seven Ryder Cups between 1987 and 2006, and was victorious in ’87, ’97 and ’06 with a total of 20.5 points to his name; the seventh highest points tally in the European Team’s history.

Having become a Ryder Cup legend, his experience and knowledge has proven to be hugely valuable as he took the role of Vice Captain for three matches in ’08, ’10 and ’14, was also the orchestrator of the previously mentioned ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012 as European Captain, producing one of the greatest comebacks not only in golf, but in all of sport.

Many forget, however, that Olazábal’s career has been one that often saw triumph overcome adversity. On multiple occasions his determination and attitude were relied upon to pull him through difficult times of injury.

Notably in 1995/96 when intense pain in his feet caused by back problems meant he thought he may never compete at a high level again, making his green jacket win in 1999 and return to the top of the sport even more impressive.

“Unfortunately, I had to go through tough times with my health,” added Olazábal. “I had some serious physical issues from playing golf, but not just that – I was in such pain I could not walk for weeks and could not do anything at all…at one point I thought my career was over.

“That puts things in perspective, when you overcome a situation like that…you see not so much the game in a different way, but from a different perspective, you realise golf is not everything. There are other things in life, friendship, family…sometimes even when you are on the golf course and things don’t go your way there is a split second where you go back and say ‘yes I made a double-bogey but there are worse things’.”

Competitive golf has not left the Spaniard just yet with aims to play on the Champions Tour in the USA in the future, as well as continue to play in European Tour events. Off the course the Olazábal Design business continues to grow, now with the inclusion of the latest two golf courses at Costa Navarino:

“In Costa Navarino we are in a very special place and the Navarino Hills site is beautiful with wonderful scenery of the Bay of Navarino and the mountains, it will be a fantastic place to come and play golf. When you design a course, you want people to have fun and enjoy it, all whilst challenging them, and the feedback is very important from the people that play them – if they are happy then I am happy.”

For More Information On All of 2018’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2018 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress),follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, and Aegean Airlines.

Kearney, who was nominated for the award by the PGA in Ireland, has spent much of his 25 years as a PGA Professional as a keen student of the sport. He has taken every opportunity to learn from those around him and develop his abilities as a coach, a tutor, and a mentor, and is also a key part of the Confederation of Professional Golf Golf Development Team, utilising these skills around the world.

“It is a big honour…I didn’t expect it…but I am delighted with the award,” said the Irishman after collecting his award at the 2018 Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner Supported By Rolex at Costa Navarino in Greece. “It’s been a great lifetime in golf to date and hopefully, touch-wood, I am only half way through it!”

Kearney’s impact on all levels of golfers, both as sportspeople and as individuals, across many different facets of the sport make him a fantastic example of a 5-Star Professional that has shown the highest standards and achievements in his areas of expertise and the activities he has undertaken.

“I had great training and a great professional, Kevan Whitson, at Royal County Down set me up on a good road,” added Kearney. “Initially to get the support of my mum and dad to go into a profession that might not have been the place for a west-of-Ireland boy to be heading towards, and end up here 20 years later is very fulfilling for all my family.”

Kearney began his golfing career at Claremorris Golf Club in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland, before moving to the world-famous host of many professional and amateur tournaments, The Royal County Down Golf Club, where he began his PGA apprenticeship under Whitson.

After qualifying as a PGA Professional, he moved to the United States and The Richmond Country Club near San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, where he was able to learn from two renowned teachers in Dr Jim Suttie and Mark Evershed.

Suttie’s own clients of Paul Azinger and Loren Roberts exposed Kearney to the highest levels of the game, whilst one of Canada’s greatest teachers and thinkers in golf, Evershed, was able to mentor him, leading the Irishman to move to Toronto, Canada, to study under him.

His globetrotting continued as he moved on The National Golf Club of Turkey for two years where he worked with local players of all abilities, often in using non-verbal communication to coach when language proved to be a barrier. He was able to work with local children and local Professionals to help develop many players, some of which are now fully qualified PGA Professionals themselves.

He would later work again with Turkey as National Coach for the Turkish Golf Federation, training and preparing teams for international tournaments such as the Eisenhower and Espirito Santo Trophies in 2008.

Moving back to Ireland, he opened his own academy and developed his own teaching system that pulled from his experiences and focused on all-round player development, where he also had success with local teams and players with his various activities with junior programmes, as well as with disability golf.

His early experience of working with emerging golf nations no doubt led to Kearney’s interest in both golf and human development, and this has been shown by various activities he has become involved in, including being a prominent member of the Confederation of Professional Golf’s own Golf Development Team, visiting countries such as Panama, Brazil, India, Bulgaria and Hungary, and as a Swing and Golf Coaching Tutor for the PGA of GB&I at the National Training Academy at The Belfry, England.

His national team work has continued as well with the Irish Ladies Golf team, being a key part of the development of many of the greatest female players to come out of Ireland in the past two decades – notably former world number one amateur, Leona Maguire, and current world top-30 amateur, Olivia Mehaffey – helping players earn titles such as Ireland’s first Girls Home International win in 2016, the Ladies Home International 2017 title, and numerous successful individual performances.

Most recently Kearney left the role of Golf Director at Carton House Golf Club in County Kildare, Ireland, having helped to deliver a highly successful World Amateur Team Championship Espirito Santo and Eisenhower Trophies with the International Golf Federation, all whilst continuing his role as Performance Director for Irish ladies golf.

Kearney is a true example of the adage of never stop learning and through seminars and conference appearances is always quick to help his fellow Professionals in their own development, and offer sage advice:

“I often tell Professionals straight away to follow their interest and follow their heart. Ultimately what gets you out of bed in the morning and what makes you make an impact with somebody is the interest you have.

“I learnt a little bit late that it was people I was interested in as opposed to sport or golf, but I would tell people to sit down and have a really good conversation with themselves and see where their interests lay… if you follow your interests it never feels like work at all.”

For More Information On All of 2018’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2018 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress),follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, and Aegean Airlines.

With a career in golf commentary, presenting and journalistic reporting that spans over 60 years, Laidlaw has provided the narration for most of golf’s greatest moments across 15 Ryder Cups and 150+ Major Championships, including over 40 Masters Tournaments, seeing first-hand the development of European golf and its players on the world stage.

“I’m particularly happy about this award as I’ve spent so much time in Europe covering the European Tour,” said Laidlaw during his acceptance speech shown during at the 2018 Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner Supported By Rolex at Costa Navarino in Greece.

“I’ve always enjoyed Europe from the point of view of the different cultures, food, etc., but more importantly, the people we’ve met in Europe over the years. There are so many who were so helpful and I think that was one of the great things about being in Europe – we were all different but we were all alike. It was, as Seve used to say, a real family.”

Laidlaw’s journalism career began at the tender age of 14 when he took a job as a copy-taker in a local newsroom in his home city of Edinburgh. Following in the footsteps of his father, he then moved into reporting positions for the Edinburgh Evening News, and into golf after an editor asked him to cover multiple sports.

These reporting roles were the springboard for his access to some of the world’s largest golf tournaments in which he had the freedom to pick and choose which events to attend, including his first Major in 1959 at Muirfield where Gary Player claimed his first Major Championship as well.

A decade on, having worked in a freelance capacity for Reuters covering golf worldwide, he was then able to change medium having seen the opportunities that lay ahead in television. Initially working for Scottish Television, and later with Grampian TV where he became an evening news anchor, he was recruited by the BBC as a news anchor.

By the mid-seventies he was golf reporter for London’s Evening Standard newspaper whilst also taking television and BBC radio assignments on weekends, spending the next 15 years as BBC Radio’s golf correspondent.

In the early 90s he was working full-time with British Satellite Broadcasting, which was later taken over by SKY, and by the middle of the decade he broadcast his first European Tour event for The Golf Channel from the Dubai Desert Classic, where he became the mouthpiece for European golf in the United States and brought a European viewpoint to an ever-increasingly global sport.

“I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve been able to work in newspapers, write books, in television, and in radio,” added Laidlaw. “To be able to work in all these media is quite something…but I’ve been able to somehow scratch my way through and do them all which makes me, I suppose, a wee-bit unusual.

“I was always delighted with my work with the Golf Channel in America, because what we were doing on there was bringing to the Americans knowledge of the European players who they really didn’t know all that well and spreading the European golf message to that market.”

Laidlaw has also played a significant role in golf journalism around the welfare and support of journalists covering the sport through his various roles with the Association of Golf Writers (AGW).

He was Secretary of the organisation from 1978 – 1995 after which he held the positions of Chairman (1995–98) and President (2004–15) in which he was able to influence the working conditions and support of golf journalists working in the field. His influence has undoubtedly played a key part in helping to foster the successful relationships that exist between the professional and amateur organisations and the men and women of the golfing press.

Up until its last publication in 2014, he also edited what is known by many as the ‘golfing bible’ – The R&A Golfer’s Handbook – whilst also authoring many of his own books about the game.

After retiring in 2014, he was awarded the 2015 Masters Major Achievement Award in recognition of his coverage of over 40 Masters Tournaments, becoming the first non-American journalist to win the award.

This joined a significant list of awards received throughout his incredible career, including the title as first European winner of the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism in 2003, and the 2012 PGA in Scotland Lifetime Achievement Award.

For More Information On All of 2018’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2018 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress),follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, and Aegean Airlines.

Kenyon was nominated by the PGA in England and Wales’ North Region committee and selected by the awards panel in recognition of his continued success working with some of the greatest golfers of our time, such as Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Thomas Björn, and Louis Oosthuizen to name just a few.

“It is obviously a great honour – John Jacobs is a pioneer of golf coaching so to be even just associated with John is fantastic,” said Kenyon during his acceptance speech shown at the 2018 Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner Supported By Rolex at Costa Navarino in Greece.

“In particular it is a great honour for me as well because Harold Swash who has been my mentor was really good friends with John, I know they had a great relationship, so I would like to dedicate this award to Harold really.”

The John Jacobs Award is the Confederation of Professional Golf’s highest coaching accolade and is presented to a PGA Professional who has excelled as a golf coach at all levels of the game, be it with elite or beginner players alike across a number of years.

Previous winners of the award have included Shane Lowry’s coach, Neil Manchip, along with Michael Bannon, coach of Rory McIlroy, Salvador Luna, coach of Sergio Garcia, coach to seven of the 2016 Ryder Cup Europe Team, Mike Walker, and last year’s winner and coach to the likes of Andy Sullivan and Brandon Stone, Jamie Gough.

“Jamie Gough and Mike Walker are really good friends of mine, I know them both from my travels on tour, added Kenyon. “Jamie is one of the hardest workers out there and he’s had great success with his students. Mike is a great coach and a really good friend of mine as we often share hotels or travel together so to follow in their footsteps is great for me.”

Having been introduced to the game by his parents and playing at a high amateur level, Kenyon concentrated on his academic studies before turning professional, completing an undergraduate degree in psychology and sports science and a Masters degree in sport science at Liverpool John Moores University.

After competing worldwide as a tournament professional on developmental tours, he decided to go into coaching and began his PGA of Great Britain & Ireland training. Having known and worked with the legendary putting expert, Harold Swash, for a number of years, Kenyon was able to absorb much of his knowledge, shadowing him in his work with many of the top players of that time, enabling up close and personal experience of dealing with top level players in that side of coaching.

Since Swash’s passing Kenyon has taken on the Swash Putting business and works out of the Putting Solutions studio at Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa in the north of England, as well as at sites in Lancashire, England, and Georgia, USA.

His continually evolving client list now reads as a who’s who of the golf world, with numerous major winners, Ryder Cup players, European and Challenge Tour winners, Race to Dubai champions, as well as English, Scottish, and Spanish national squads, all of which has contributed to his recent acknowledgement as a Master Professional by the PGA of GB&I.

Notably he has worked for a number of years with 2018 Open Champion, Race to Dubai champion, and European Tour Player of the Year, Francesco Molinari, as well as the other half of ‘Moliwood’ and another European Tour Race to Dubai Champion, Tommy Fleetwood.

“There’s many things that I’ve enjoyed, and got a lot of satisfaction from, in my career,” added Kenyon. “Being involved with guys that have won majors – Darren Clarke, Henrik Stenson, Francesco Molinari – have been great experiences. I’ve really enjoyed the Ryder Cups that I have been involved with as well.

“But I just enjoy working in golf, and week to week there are highlights for me. Helping players have good tournaments or keeping their tour card, or simply helping aspiring amateurs knock shots off their handicaps – I enjoy it all really and I am very lucky in that respect.”

For More Information On All of 2018’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2018 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2018AnnualCongress),follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, and Aegean Airlines.

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Fact File

Formed: 2002

Members: 36

Players: 1,222

Courses: 16

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“We literally built the first golf hole in Hungary during the early 1980s.” How many people can lay claim to such an achievement? Well PGA of Hungary Professional, László Tringer, can. Not only was László, his father and a few friends right at the sharp end of golf’s re-emergence in the former communist state around the time of independence, but he was also responsible for the creation of the PGA of Hungary at the turn of the century.

I caught up with László and Áron Makszin in a very cold and snow-covered Budapest in February. Why I agreed to go to Hungary at that time of the year is something that I have asked myself for the last few days. Even so, the cold exterior is more than made up for by the warm hospitality and of course the celebrated Goulash soup.

The reason for my visit was to deliver the Confederation of Professional Golf’s Tutor Training course to a group of Professionals who currently are or soon will be, delivering the PGA of Hungary professional education programme. Education is taken very seriously in this part of the world. The University of Sport and Physical Education, which emerged from the world famous Semmelweis University, is an education partner of the PGA of Hungary.

As is the case in many emerging golf markets, there are those who have lived each faltering step along the way. László and Áron are such people. I also caught up by Skype with PGA Professional, Damian MacPherson, who was out of the country during my visit.

Damian moved to Hungary 20 years ago and has since built a career and reputation that has resulted in an award from the government to recognise his services to the game. Thankfully all three were willing to share their experiences. Lived experience is often a subjective account of what actually has happened, but this potential weakness is more than made up for by the rich understanding that emerges from every ounce of their being.

For most of us, it is hard to imagine starting to play golf when there are no facilities, no equipment, and no access to knowledge. Imagine starting to play on an athletic field, or building your own hole. With no courses available, what would you do?

For László the answer was obvious – build one. Well, perhaps not a full course, but a least one hole and then another. Three holes later, these creations eventually became holes seven, eight & nine on the Kisoroszi Course, and once again golf was on its way.

Not content with his efforts, and after a period of training with the PGA of Germany, László returned to Hungary to form the PGA of Hungary. As the President, he has overseen every step of the development of the Association and now acts as Vice President.

Meanwhile, Áron was competing in the Decathlon and racking up two gold medals in the national athletics championships. Imagine his surprise when this seemingly simple game that involves swinging a club and hitting a ball proved too difficult to master. Áron says that the “challenge and the environment were the key drivers” for his involvement in golf. He found it hard to understand as an athlete who could easily control his body positions and copy from master teachers, that he was unable to do the same in golf. He was hooked. Áron is a lifelong learner and sees every situation as an opportunity to develop his knowledge or skill. Golf satisfied his thirst for continual exploration and learning.

Golf has been played in Hungary since the early 1900s, but it was football that was the major sport when under the Communist party rule. Golf was banned as it was thought to be a potential threat to the party and so the existing golf facilities were destroyed. The nation had success in other sports, swimming, water polo, athletics and handball, but surprisingly there has been success on the golf course too. Although the link to Julius Boros, the son of two Hungarian immigrants to the United States, is somewhat tenuous, ‘Boros’ as they simply call him here, won two US Opens and played on four USA Ryder Cup Teams.

Hungary is a very different nation today than it was just 30 years ago. In an economy that has zero unemployment, one might think that golf professionals might have an easy life. This is not the case for the 37 PGA of Hungary members who serve 1,300 officially registered players along with another estimated 500 nomad players. You can do the maths, but it clear that from a population of ten million people, golf is not likely to feature in the top ten sporting pastimes. Why so?

According to László, people like golf when they see it on TV. The Olympics he says has had a small positive effect – so why do more people not play? Many people try golf, but few are really grabbed by the shirt and bond to the game. Time? Expense? We have heard these reasons before and yet alpine skiing, sailing and tennis have all gone onto to enjoy a burgeoning appeal. Why then has golf not made this step?

Damian, who arrived in Hungary in 1998 with no intention to stay more than a year, is fully integrated into the Hungarian way of life with his family and friends. He has no intentions of going anywhere else. He has experienced the difficulties of getting golf to penetrate into the hearts of the Hungarian people. People try the game but rarely take the next step, “perhaps it is perception,” says Damian. “The government see it as an elite sport and when youngsters go home saying that they have tried and enjoyed golf, it is met with parental advice to forget golf and take up one of the more mainstream games.”

Áron, who is the Secretary-General of the Hungarian Golf Federation also makes the point, “perhaps the perception built up by the media is not helping”. Golf is no more expensive than alpine skiing and sailing, and it likely takes around the same or less time, so is there a misguided perception? The Hungarian people see the sport as elitist, for the rich, the powerful and the famous. Until now it is not a game for the people, or so they think, he says. The Federation together with the PGA and golf facilities, of which there are now 18, are all behind a project that will help newcomers have an experience that is inexpensive and entirely inclusive.

Even after more than 20 years, László, Áron and Damian still have the passion to help the Hungarian people get into golf. Typically Áron sees education as being an essential tool for the professionals and says that all professionals now, more than ever before, need to have great communication, personal relation and coaching skills.

All three agree that Hungary needs more players, to which László adds that they also need a good player, someone who can make it on the European Tour and perhaps win a tournament. A dream? Perhaps. But a dream that the professionals in Hungary will keep working for.

Click to Find Out More About the PGA of Hungary

The PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Professional is an established part of the coaching tour de force from the Peter Cowen Golf Academy, having worked with, and influenced, over 40 European Tour players across the last decade.

Much like many coaches, Walker started his golf career on the playing side but, having left the game, it was only when he actively sought out his old coach, Peter Cowen, to help him out of his then office job in London that he got fully into golf coaching.

“When I look back now to my younger years, possibly to my detriment, I was almost more interested in coaching and practicing than playing because I used to get very nervous,” says Walker.

“I was bored in an office job in London and I contacted Pete who was my coach before I gave up golf and it was he who said well you could teach, in his words, standing on your head. I was just really interested in coaching, and I couldn’t wait to get to work every day.”

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“I think it’s a shame that a lot of coaches keep their cards to their chest because I’ve found that just by having conversations you learn different things from everybody…”

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Walker was placed as the Padawan Apprentice to a Jedi Master in Cowen, whose coaching pedigree speaks for itself when you see the list of players he has worked with. His exposure to Cowen’s working environment enabled him to absorb much of his knowledge whilst also being given the freedom to establish his own philosophy and opinions.

“I am extremely privileged with the fact that I have had ‘on-tap’ access to one of the best coaches in the world. All the questions that would make you scratch your head; you could get answers or Pete’s opinion of that answer.

“I think it’s a shame in the golf industry that a lot of coaches keep their cards to their chest because I’ve found that, whether it’s Pete or other coaches, just by having conversations with them you learn different things from everybody.”

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“I wouldn’t be doing what I did last year if it wasn’t for Pete – it’s that simple. I owe him a lot.”

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Clearly even a slight dipping of the toe into the mind of Walker shows how much Cowen, and other coaches, have influenced him:

“Without Pete then I wouldn’t have received any awards if it wasn’t for him – I wouldn’t be doing what I did last year if it wasn’t for him – it’s that simple. So I owe him a lot.

“What I most enjoy is talking technique and hitting balls with Pete and comparing ideas, what some players do that he’s worked with, what other players do that I’ve worked with – it’s just constantly stimulating your interest so it’s a fortunate position to be in.

“Other coaches that you travel with – for example Phil Kenyon, the putting coach – I talk to him a lot about coaching because it transcends into other areas, not just technique. Managing people, looking at statistics or score reports – it’s a myriad of things that you’re actually doing. I wish people would have more open conversations or forums because I think it helps everybody ultimately.”

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“What I’ve found is that if you’ve got a pupil you were on the same wave-length as then it’s gratifying whether they’re just starting or whether they’re playing for a living…”

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The professionals covered by the Cowen/Walker partnership reads more like a football squad than a roster of individuals, and the multinational, multi-tour group mean that it can be non-stop for Walker throughout the season, travelling to various tour events and making sure he is available to his students.

“Coaching tour players around the world is a bit of a double-edged sword – I don’t like the travel, and I don’t know many people who do, but the places that you go the other side are more than worth it…you get unbelievable experiences.

“Being on tour might test you a little more, but it’s all contextual and rolls along the way. I would have been just as nervous doing my first lesson to a group as teaching on a large stage like the Ryder Cup or something like that because it’s new at the end of the day. I guess the more you do it the less nervous you get.

“What I’ve found is that at any level, if you’ve got a pupil that you were on the same wave-length as and you get on with then it’s really gratifying whether they’re just starting or whether they’re playing for a living. It can be gratifying coaching at whatever level – a beginner to a 12 handicap just as much as coaching somebody to win his or her first tournament.

“It’s especially gratifying with someone like Matt Fitzpatrick who you’ve coached from being a kid. When he won the US Amateur that personally was one of the most satisfying moments because you’d seen him as a 13 year old kid coming to the driving range and then you’ve taken him all the way up to walking on the first tee at the Ryder Cup with him.”

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“The fundamentally important thing is to know your topic absolutely inside-out whatever level you’re at…”

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Much of Walker’s success is attributed to the help of his fellow coaches. This culture of sharing and advice is evident in his own views on how PGA Professionals can advance themselves as

coaches and it doesn’t take much to get him enthused and impassioned about his area of expertise.

“Some people are extremely good at coaching juniors, others at coaching your bog-standard player, and other people would be more interested in elite coaching…I think you need to identify what you prefer early on.

“But irrespective of any of those avenues, you need to know your subject inside out because all of the best people I’ve come across – not just in golf but in different industries – they make complex subjects appear simple, and to be able to make it simple you need to know as much as possible.

“The fundamentally important thing is to know your topic absolutely inside-out whatever level you’re at – then pick your route and try as hard as you can.”

Earlier this year Walker was awarded the John Jacobs Award for Teaching & Coaching at the Confederation of Professional Golf’s Annual Congress Gala Awards in recognition of his position as a leading light in the profession.

“I felt very humbled and very proud – especially with John Jacobs linked to my roots at Hallamshire and Lindrick Golf Clubs at different stages. Matt Fitzpatrick, originates from Hallamshire, and my first proper golf lesson was at Lindrick with Pete so it seems quite fitting.

“I am extremely honoured to be associated with such a household name, especially with his recent passing. I know it’s a cliché but everybody values being acknowledged by their peers…if things like this happen then it gives you a boost of confidence and it’s really satisfying.”

Evans’ vast experience of working in some of the world’s best golf facilities, including creating the hugely successful Centurion Club, make him a worthy winner of the award that acknowledges those who show the highest standards and achievements in the areas of expertise and activity they have been involved with.

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“I am very honoured to receive this award – to be accepted and recognised by your peers and colleagues is everything you work towards,” said Evans in his acceptance speech video shown to guests of the 2017 Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner supported by Rolex at Costa Navarino in Greece.

“Receiving the award means so much to my family and I – there’s a lot of people to thank from throughout my career, young and old, past and present, who have been a huge help and support – I really accept this on their behalf as much as my own. It’s a tough business we’re in and I just wanted to be tougher than the rest…it comes from Scottish grit, determination and doing the best job that I can.”

Described as a great example for those working in golf management and a consummate professional, Evans joins the outstanding roll of honour that reflects the extreme merits, diversity and international nature of Confederation of Professional Golf 5-Star Professional Winners, which include Ryder Cup Captains and Open Champions since the award began in 1992.

Evans began his career training as a Civil Engineer and carried out his PGA training under the guidance of the much respected former PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Captain, Bill Watson, at Whitecraigs Golf Club until 1990.

He then moved on to work in the USA at the prestigious Tom Weiskopf-designed Troon Golf and Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, working alongside Weiskopf himself and also the creator of Troon Golf, Dana Garmany; a move that would prove to be the catalyst for his career in club management.

Evans worked in Arizona for two years, and by 1995 had also worked through the opening stages of Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club with Peter Downie, and Loch Lomond Golf Club with Paul Dellanzo.

In 1996 and at the age of 28 he moved onto Bearwood Lakes Golf Club in the UK where he was responsible for taking the project from the latter stages of construction through to the finished product. It was here he spent 10 years working under Ray Wilson of Southern Golf fame and seeing first hand the construction of some of Europe’s finest golf courses.

Adding another big name club to his CV, Evans moved on to the London Club as General Manager in 2005 where he was instrumental in turning around the fortunes of the club and creating an agreement with the European Tour that ultimately led to its hosting of two London Senior Masters, two European Opens and a World Matchplay Championship.

Moving back to Troon Golf in 2007, he then worked on many new European projects whilst becoming Managing Director of the La Quinta Resort in Marbella, overseeing its renovation whilst introducing the European Seniors Tour Benahavis Senior Masters.

In 2010, Evans continued his journey to where he is now with the development of the Centurion Club just outside London, where he recently received the award from Confederation of Professional Golf Chief Executive, Ian Randell [pictured above, right] and Confederation of Professional Golf Honorary President, George O’Grady CBE [pictured above, left].

Finding a piece of land just 30 minutes from central London was just the first step in a journey that, along with his Dutch business partners Bert Pronk and Andre Hendriks, has led to the creation of a club that is now famed for its forward-thinking approach, including an acclaimed golf course, a unique membership structure and, a modern club culture and facilities – such as a restaurant operated by the Michelin-starred chefs, the Galvin brothers – that are relaxing, comfortable and high quality in equal measure.

The club has also gained international recognition for becoming the venue of the innovative European Tour GolfSixes event that began earlier this year.  Centurion has been instrumental in the success of the revolutionary format of two-man teams from 16 different countries that brought over 9,000 spectators through the club’s gates, and also gave it huge exposure to millions of people around the world with its extensive TV coverage.

The development of the club is a great example of the dedication, drive and expertise that Evans has, having overcome many challenges, including the development of a successful and sustainable facility during one of the worst economic periods in our lifetime.

With this exceptional list of facilities and clubs that Evans has poured heart and soul into, he is more than worthy of being named a 5-Star Professional.

For More Information On All of 2017’s Award Winners Visit http://eur.pe/2017AnnualCongress

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For more information on the 2017 Annual Award Winners visit Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2017AnnualCongress), follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

The Annual Congress Gala Awards are partnered by Rolex, Costa Navarino, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, BMW and Aegean Airlines, and are supported by The Botanist, The Blue Beetle, Bulldog, G’Vine gins, Marendry apperitivo, and Fever-Tree Premium Natural Mixers.

“I think women’s golf has a great future if it can market itself correctly. For me it’s as exciting watching a ladies’ tournament as it is watching a men’s tournament. Sometimes people get a bit drawn to how far the ball flies and they attack impossible pins and take on impossible shots, but the ladies play really clever golf too.

“I was at the Evian Championship last year and what I saw was very impressive – they had a very professional attitude and were really focused on the range so there’s no difference between them and the guys. I would like to see ladies get much more TV time and more acknowledgement for what they are doing.”

Interview Highlights:

00:29 – How Marie got into golf…

01:39 – Entering a golf club as a young girl golfer…

02:21 – The changes in golf in Austria…

03:23 – Marie now works at the same facility that she started her golf career at…

06:25 – Being driven by those that originally discouraged her golf…

08:23 – Getting the Austrian National Team Coach job…

09:20 – Becoming involved in ‘Communicology’…

11:25 – Using ‘Communicology’ to break things down and not get lost in the detail…

12:10 – Key learnings from Marie’s career so far…

14:19 – The difference between teaching & coaching…

16:00 – What changes has Marie seen over the time she worked with the Austrian Girls squads…

18:49 – Working as a National Coach is a 24/7 role…

19:41 – What is the future of girls’ golf…

20:48 – The challenges face in women and girls’ participation…

23:01 – The difference between girls and boys’ sport …

24:26 – What are the mistakes most beginner golfers make…?

28:15 – Who is the best lesser-known coach Marie has worked with…?

30:19 – What advice would you give your 25-year-old self…?

31:09 – Marie’s views on who she feels are ‘successful’ people…

32:05 – Marie’s favourite book…

33:01 – The advice has Marie found beneficial up until now…

35:01 – What might surprise listeners about Marie…

35:19 – The golf equipment that gives Marie the most joy…

35:55 – Marie’s dream Fourball…

36:34 – Advice for aspiring PGA Professionals…

Find out more about Marie at www.functionalgolf.at and at functionalgolfat on Facebook.

Find out more about the Confederation of Professional Golf Golf Development Team at http://eur.pe/GolfDevelopmentTeam

Interview Highlights:

01:14 – Early beginnings in golf…

04:38 – Alastair’s first golf coach…

07:58 – How has the way Alastair learnt golf shaped his coaching style…

08:48 – Turning Professional…

12:58 – Working at Hintlesham Hall Golf Club in Ipswich…

16:16 – An increased in development and working as a County Golf Development Officer…

22:24 – Taking an interest in gender disparity in clubs and golf in general, creating an interest in women’s golf development…

23:54 – How did Alastair create a women’s participation-led programme…

27:37 – Barriers to developing women’s participation programmes…

29:06 – How will female participation help the industry in general?

30:32 – Learning from the stories and communities developed at ‘Park Runs’…

33:12 – What changes have you seen in golf across your career?

35:00 – What’s the main mistake golfers make when taking up the sport?

37:05 – What would you tell your 25 year old self?

38:57 – Alastair’s favourite books…

39:34 – What might surprise us about Alastair Spink?

40:21 – Alastair’s dream fourball…

Follow Alastair on Twitter at @Thegolfcoach and find out more about Love.Golf at www.love.golf.

Find out more about the Confederation of Professional Golf Golf Development Team at http://eur.pe/GolfDevelopmentTeam

With job security and a standard career path less and less attainable across many industries, a capacity to handle uncertainty and adversity has never been more important (or in demand).

Such is the case that many employers will try to find out about your resilience through interview questions on how you’ve handled stress, pressure and failure in the past. Additionally, job hunting itself can be an incredibly demoralising experience if you let it. Focussing on building your resilience can make all the difference to your inner confidence and success rate across many areas in your life.

This might be easier said than done though – to achieve resilience means possessing the right blend of self-awareness and inner strength, and the flexibility to adapt to changes in circumstances and surroundings. It’s rather like a palm tree: a strong, firmly rooted base supporting an element that’s far more flexible and able to cope with being blown around by different winds.

Here are three key building blocks that can help you towards developing a resilient professional persona:

1. Positivity

Having a positive view of yourself and the world around you is the basis for developing resilience. Pay attention to the messages you send yourself throughout the day. If you find yourself making negative assumptions about yourself or anything around you, consciously switch to a positive thought. With practice this should become automatic. That will keep you grounded, rooted like a tree, and give you the stability you need for a positive mindset.

2. Commitment

Get to know yourself and recognise what is important to you. Have a clear idea of your future aspirations and where you want to go in your career. You need to be willing to commit to your goals and invest in making them happen. Knowing what is important to you and being committed to your goals strengthens you in your core. Don’t forget however, that even the best-laid plans can sometimes go off course or need to be abandoned altogether. Make like a palm tree and allow yourself flexibility to go with the flow when things don’t go to plan.

3. Control

Control means being aware of the situations or areas in your life you can influence as well as recognising those that you can’t. Being able to distinguish between the two will allow you to focus your energy on the things that are most important or achievable. It will give you the flexibility to prioritise your goals and adapt to different circumstances.

Remember that in order to be resilient you also need to be healthy in mind and body so pay attention to your general well-being, take proper breaks, eat well, and look after the relationships that support you. When it comes to resilience it’s about knowing that you can’t stop the waves, but that you can certainly learn how to surf them.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Our PGA Professional Spotlight is cast over Adam and we find out more about what he gets up to on a day-to-day basis and how he got there…

IGPN: How did your career as a PGA Professional first begin?

Adam: Following my years of representing the Greek National Team as an amateur, and having completed a BA(Hons) degree in Golf Management at the University of Central Lancashire, I was approached by Costa Navarino to take on the role of Assistant Professional and to also grow the game in our local region.

IGPN: How did you end up in your current position?

Adam: I got a job offer from Costa Navarino to work as the Pro properly – I was lucky as my reputation as a player was known and then my qualifications from the UK with the PGA of GB&I.

IGPN: Explain a bit about your business that you run now…

Adam: As the PGA Pro at Costa Navarino I cater to giving lessons to customers, as well as organising club competitions and other operational needs of the club.

I am also in charge of the ‘Costa Navarino Junior Golf Academy’ – a scholarship programme aimed at developing local kids into elite golfers. After 5 years, the programme has reached 55 junior members.

IGPN: What does being a PGA Professional mean to you?

Adam: For me a PGA Professional is an ambassador for the game in every sense. Things like dress code, behaviour, playing ability, attitude and work ethic are things that being a PGA Professional is all about and I’m very proud to be able to say I am a PGA Professional.

IGPN: How important is it for PGA Professionals to strive to continually improve their skills, knowledge and development in general?

Adam: It’s important to stay up to date with the ever-developing trends and skill-sets in today’s job markets. Being up to date with social media trends, equipment news, technology, like Trackman or FlightScope, and CPD, like workshops, are important to add value to your profile as a PGA Professional.

IGPN: What would the biggest top you could give a PGA Professional looking for a news job or trying to develop themselves and their skills?

Adam: Attention to detail – and make sure the service you provide is the best possible.

IGPN: What would your advice be to someone looking to work abroad?

Adam: Do your best to adapt to the local way of life and try to learn the local language – both of these things help you integrate more with colleagues and customers and ultimately you will enjoy yourself more and get more from it if you can do that.

For more information about Costa Navarino visit www.costanavarino.com.

This article originally featured in International Golf Pro News. Visit the IGPN Page to find out more and subscribe for free.

IGPN spoke to Craig to find out how he built his career and how what he learnt is now shaping how he employs people and advances his business.

IGPN: How did your career as a PGA Professional first begin?

Craig: I started as an Assistant Professional at the Fancourt Resort in South Africa in 1992, under Jeff Clause, the American Director of Golf there. After moving to Germany in the mid 90s, I did the PGA of Germany program, which was a very thorough experience and one that I am very glad to have done.

IGPN: How did you end up in your current position in Germany?

Craig: At Fancourt we had many German guests staying in the hotel. They were always telling me how the game of golf was booming in Germany (Bernhard Langer had won the Masters in 1985) and there was great potential for Professionals who wanted to teach or run golf clubs.

The owner of a driving range was a guest at the hotel and after we had spent a round of golf or two together he asked me if would consider coming over to Germany and working for him. He didn’t have to ask twice and six weeks later I was on a plane to Germany.

IGPN: What was it like moving to, and working in, a new country where you had to learn about the culture and the language?

Craig: A lot tougher than I was expecting, that’s for sure! The language was tough and the German attitude and way of doing things was very much more structured than in South Africa.

The weather was also a shock. I will never forget the moment I walked off the plane (in February) and was “hit” by the coldest wind I would not even have been able to imagine. And then realising that it was a typical winters day!

IGPN: What was the biggest challenge you faced when deciding to work in another country?

Craig: Leaving the country you have grown up in is about as tough a decision as you’ll ever make. Not being able to speak the language properly in the first year or so is very tough and your self-confidence takes more than its share of knocks.

IGPN: What would your advice be to someone looking to work abroad?

Craig: It’s great if you have someone there that can help you in the beginning. Going to a governmental department to go and get yourself registered when you cannot speak the language is an experience you either take with humor or you’re in for one hell of a day!

If you are moving to country where they speak a language you can‘t then I strongly suggest doing a language course as soon as possible, maybe in your own country before leaving.

Being able to communicate in your “new” country is THE most important tool to getting ahead in everything else. You need to get integrated as fast as you can make friends from your “new” country as fast as possible, which as a golf Professional is normally quite easy to do.

IGPN: Explain a bit about your business that you run now.

Craig: I always had the dream of building my own course (what golfer doesn’t!) and in 2007 I managed to get the piece of land and found an investor to finance the building of the course.

In September 2009 we opened West Golf (www.west-golf.com) and we had 300 members even before the course was opened. It’s a public facility, where golf is not expensive and we cater to a younger crowd, making it also attractive to families.

I manage the facility and also run the Golf Academy, which turns out about roughly 350 new golfers every year, where we then get most of our members.

IGPN: What do you look for when you are hiring PGA Professionals?

Craig: I have had several Apprentices and Professionals come through the Golf Academy and to be honest, the most important thing I look for is that someone truly loves the game. Everything else takes care of itself after that. I have never had the feeling of having an actual job; I just love what I do and get to do it everyday if I want to.

I also look for someone who is keen to learn, willing to take advice and spend time learning from the best teachers, not thinking that what they do is “good enough” for the people they teach.

Being able to communicate and thoroughly enjoy people is also very important. If you have to pretend to be friendly then teaching golf is going to be a tough business!

IGPN: What would be the biggest tip you could give a PGA Professional looking for a new job or trying to develop their skills?

Craig: You have to sell yourself! What can I offer this Golf Academy? Am I good with kids? Not all pros are. Can I teach better players? Can I teach teams? Do I just want to teach private lessons?

Everybody has their strengths and when hiring I look for someone who can give me something that I don’t have.

I also like having different personalities in the Academy, some people like a Professional who talks a lot, others are happy the less they say. Some Professionals are great with groups and entertaining people, others are happy to go the whole day just having one student per hour in front of them. There is a niche for everyone and you just have to find it.

For more information about Craig and West Golf visit www.craigwest.de or contact office@west-golf.com.

This article originally featured in International Golf Pro News. Visit the IGPN Page to find out more and subscribe for free.

@Sales_Source

Coaching is more than just giving advice. Use this process to help your team members hone their own behaviour.

Coaching is the process of preparing your employees to succeed.  Good coaches can create the mental resources, emotional resilience, business skills, and career development that employees need to achieve their goals.

Unfortunately, while coaching is a well-established part of the sports world, it’s a neglected art in the world of business. Much of the time, coaching is relegated to a five-minute conversation at the end of a yearly performance review.

There’s a better way to handle business coaching. Try this five-step process, based on a conversation with Linda Richardson, founder of the huge sales training firm Richardson:

1. Ask for a self-assessment.

Ask the employee’s opinion of a recent event (e.g. meeting, interaction, project) in which the employee was involved.  Don’t accept a pat response like, “Uh, it went fine.”  Instead, ask additional questions that help lead employee to discover both the strengths and weaknesses of the employee’s performance. If the employee says something like “You’re the manager, what do you think?” respond with, “I want you think this through, then I’ll give my ideas.”

2. Give balanced feedback.

Start with honest praise for the employee’s strengths and your perspective on how those strengths were an asset during the event in question. Then identify one or two key areas where you feel improvement would have helped the employee’s performance. You’re not providing advice, just identifying areas. It’s important to limit the discussion to one or two areas, by the way – more than that and you’ll be “flooding the engine.”

3. Check for agreement.

Resolve any differences between your understanding of the event and the employee’s perception of the event.  Gain agreement on the area where there was a gap between the employee’s performance and how the employee would have liked to have handled the event.  It’s crucial to come to agreement at this point, because otherwise the subsequent steps will be off-kilter.

4. Identify the obstacle.

Ask the employee to identify the obstacle that he or she feels is keeping him or her from better performance.  Ask what he or she suggests to remove the obstacle, and what might be done to address that aspect.  Then provide your perspective on the obstacle and your ideas to address that obstacle. Decide together what needs to be done in order to improve the performance.

5. Set the next step.

For each obstacle that’s identified, establish an action step with a time frame for follow-

up.  Provide positive input and express confidence in the employee’s ability to succeed.  Then revisit the issue at the agreed-upon time.

According to Linda, this coaching method works for several reasons:

• It reduces the amount of time that the manager must spend coaching.  Because the coaching process addresses only one or two of the most important skill areas, a typical coaching session need take no more than 15 minutes.
• It encourages the employee to become more independent, because the employee gradually learns the self-assessment technique and is more likely to buy into the solution.
• It puts the action items in the hands of the employee, leading your worker to become more independent and more likely to internalize the training into daily habits.
• It strengthens the relationship between the manager and the employee through mutual success, and builds rapport throughout the entire process.
• It provides a structure that’s easily followed and can apply to virtually any business situation or problem.
• It is not confrontational, thereby making it much easier for the manager and employee to participate in the process.

@EntryLevelRebel

A new study finds that great coaches don’t focus on finding and fixing their team’s weaknesses. They do this instead.

Sure, running a business is about maximizing the bottom line, but few entrepreneurs care only about the dollars and cents.  For most, going into work every day is also about making the world a slightly better place and helping your team get better at what they do.

In other words, most business owners aspire to be not just managers but coaches.

How do you learn to be a great coach?

Thinking back to your Little League days or star turn on the girls’ volleyball team in high school may give you some inspiration.  Didn’t the coach point out your weaknesses and provide guidance on how to get better?  Your memory doesn’t fail you–traditionally, coaching has largely been about identifying areas in need of improvement and supporting folks as they work towards better performance.  But according to the latest science, there’s actually a better approach.

Positive vs. Negative

A new study, published in Social Neuroscience, used brain sans to test two different approaches to coaching on a group of undergraduates.  The first approach mirrored traditional coaching, asking students to identify areas in which they might be struggling at school and think about ways to improve.  Coaches asked questions such as: “What challenges have you encountered or do you expect to encounter in your experience here?” and “How are you doing with your courses?”

In contrast to this negative approach, the second group of coaches focused on possibilities and positives, asking the students about their aspirations and urging them to visualize their future goals.  They asked questions such as, “If everything worked out ideally in your life, what would you be doing in 10 years?”  The student volunteers were then run through a functional MRI to examine how their brains responded to the two techniques.

The different types of coaching lit up different areas of the brain, the scientists found, with the positive approach stimulating areas involved in:

• Visual processing, which come online when we imagine future events
• Global processing, or the ability to see the big picture
• Feelings of empathy and emotional safety
• The motivation to proactively pursue big goals rather than simply react to loss or fear

The Takeaway

If you want people to dream big and actually have a shot at reaching their lofty ambitions, the list above would be a pretty good place to start, right?  The researchers thought so too.

“These differences in brain activity led the researchers to conclude that positive coaching effectively activates important neural circuits and stress-reduction systems in the body by encouraging mentees to envision a desired future for themselves,” UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center reports in their write up of the research.

More research needs to be done, and the encouraging effects of a positive coaching style doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no place for the more traditional find-the-problem-and-fix-it approach, but the results should give business owners a nudge towards a positive coaching style.  Why not try spurring your team to dream big, set ambitious goals, and nurture their strengths?

How do you approach coaching your team?

Image designed by Freepik

@WillYakowicz

Studies show that strategic thinking is the most important element of leadership. But how do you instill the trait in others at your company?

What leadership skill do your employees, colleagues, and peers view as the most important for you to have? According Robert Kabacoff, the vice president of research at Management Research Group, a company that creates business assessment tools, it’s the ability to plan strategically.

He has research to back it up: In the Harvard Business Review, he cites a 2013 study by his company in which 97 percent of a group of 10,000 senior executives said strategic thinking is the most critical leadership skill for an organization’s success. In another study, he writes, 60,000 managers and executives in more than 140 countries rated a strategic approach to leadership as more effective than other attributes including innovation, persuasion, communication, and results orientation.

But what’s so great about strategic thinking? Kabacoff says that as a skill, it’s all about being able to see, predict, and plan ahead: “Strategic leaders take a broad, long-range approach to problem-solving and decision-making that involves objective analysis, thinking ahead, and planning.

That means being able to think in multiple time frames, identifying what they are trying to accomplish over time and what has to happen now, in six months, in a year, in three years, to get there,” he writes. “It also means thinking systemically. That is, identifying the impact of their decisions on various segments of the organization–including internal departments, personnel, suppliers, and customers.”

As a leader, you also need to pass strategic thinking to your employees, Kabacoff says. He suggests instilling the skill in your best managers first, and they will help pass it along to other natural leaders within your company’s ranks. Below, read his five tips for how to carry out this process.

Dish Out Information

Kabacoff says that you need to encourage managers to set aside time to thinking strategically until it becomes part of their job. He suggests you provide them with information on your company’s market, industry, customers, competitors, and emerging technologies. “One of the key prerequisites of strategic leadership is having relevant and broad business information that helps leaders elevate their thinking beyond the day-to-day,” he writes.

Create a Mentor Program

Every manager in your company should have a mentor. “One of the most effective ways to develop your strategic skills is to be mentored by someone who is highly strategic,” Kabacoff says. “The ideal mentor is someone who is widely known for his/her ability to keep people focused on strategic objectives and the impact of their actions.”

Create a Philosophy

As the leader, you need to communicate a well-articulated philosophy, a mission statement, and achievable goals throughout your company. “Individuals and groups need to understand the broader organisational strategy in order to stay focused and incorporate it into their own plans and strategies,” Kabacoff writes.

Reward Thinking, Not Reaction

Whenever possible, try to promote foresight and long-term thinking. Kabacoff says you should reward your managers for the “evidence of thinking, not just reacting,” and for “being able to quickly generate several solutions to a given problem and identifying the solution with the greatest long-term benefit for the organisation.”

Ask “Why” and “When”

Kabacoff says you need to promote a “future perspective” in your company. If a manager suggests a course of action, you need to him or her ask two questions: First, what underlying strategic goal does this action serve, and why? And second, what kind of impact will this have on internal and external stakeholders? “Consistently asking these two questions whenever action is considered will go a long way towards developing strategic leaders,” he writes.

Eva Zitzler [Via LinkedIn]

“Do what you really love, not just the job in which you might earn the most.”

Richard Lane – Chairman, PGA of Bulgaria

• Stay with something you are good at and then you are more likely to sustain effort and perform well
• Research all the areas relative to your subject matter
• Enrol on CPD courses and make contact with specialists in the field you work
• Always keep an open mind to learning
• In interviews – Great body language, eye contact with the person you speak to at any given time, whilst doing the same with the group and smile. 90% of what you say does not come from the mouth

Martin Hasenbein – Education Coordinator, PGA of Germany

“Never stop asking yourself if you have done your best!”

Matthew Ellis [Via LinkedIn]

“For career development, for me, it’s about looking at a long-term goal and working towards developing a strategy to achieve it.  Be clear on your goal, really think as to what area you would like to work, who you would like to work with and what position you would like to attain.

“You could also think as to what skills, capabilities, qualifications and knowledge you might need to acquire such a position. This will help you to determine today, on the path you need to take to start your journey towards this goal.”

Tony Westwood [Via LinkedIn]

“Along with the necessity of organisations looking for people who are well qualified, there is a growing need for people showing the right attitude and behaviours needed to perform and succeed in any business environment.

“Having the ability to think flexibly and appropriately. Show a level of emotional resilience and competence. Be driven with a real sense of purpose and be able to connect meaningfully with others. If you can tick all of these boxes then success will never be too far away.”

What’s more important to you when you hire someone? #careers #PGA

— CPG.com (@pgasofeurope) November 13, 2015

Stephen Dundas [Via LinkedIn]

“If you are looking for a job make sure you research your potential employers, get to know who they are, what core values they have and basically show any potential employer that you are prepared, motivated and organised. 
If you are trying to develop your career that’s easy. Find out everything you can about your competitors and make sure you are better in every department!”

Emma Ford [Via LinkedIn]

“Think about your long goals and aspirations for your life not just your career and then develop a strategy. Remember your next job should deliver the skills, experiences and contacts you need for the one after that. And never forget to network.”

Adam Keable ‏‪(@adam_keable) [Via Twitter]

‪”Find a mentor who can act as sounding board for your career decisions. Learn from their experiences & let them challenge you.”

David del Cerro ‏‪(@delcerrogolf) [Via Twitter]

“Start at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb and take every opportunity from there.”

Nick Solski ‏[Via LinkedIn]

“Know your personal brand and be honest about what you are good at, what are your weaknesses, what you enjoy doing and also what you don’t! This way you won’t waste your own time applying for jobs that you know don’t suit you. You should identify your dream job based on your self analysis and this will allow you to follow your career plan in a more structured way.”

What's the best way to prep for a #job #interview?

— CPG.com (@pgasofeurope) November 25, 2015

Mark Henderson [Via LinkedIn]

“Lets get back to basics similar to learning golf. Make sure your CV is less than 2 pages and ensure your content is truthful, described well, and not repetitive. Additionally ensure your cover letter / application states your great interest in the position, why you are interested in the role, keep it short and precise. Ensure your grammar / spelling is flawless.

“Create a strong network and make contacts throughout your career, stay in contact with them, try to help them in times of need “in advance” this is called creating relationships.”

Ed Chapman [Via LinkedIn]

“When going through 150+ CVs anything over 2 pages or with mistakes tend to get dumped. Network of relationships is super important of being in the know for the best jobs. And I’d add if applying through official route of HR use LinkedIn to find the managers name (eg. Director of Golf) and address it to them.”

Lincoln Birch [Via LinkedIn]

“Take yourself seriously. Health and Environment first. Pay attention, listen and be inquisitive. Show interest, engage and watch details (e.g. CV, clothing, language etc.)…and ask for advice or an opinion.”

For more information and articles on career development, and to view and add your own vacancies, visit the JobZone at cpg.golf/careers-and-jobs

This article originally featured in International Golf Pro News. Visit the IGPN Page to find out more and subscribe for free.

Nevertheless, there’s a growing belief that having charisma means possessing a healthy balance of external qualities – including showing an interest in other people – to complement positive internal traits, such as self-confidence. While people might disagree on the exact ingredients needed for a charismatic persona, a fairly tasty recipe might look like this:

Ingredients:

C – Confidence

This is clearly one of the most important ingredients in charisma. You need to be confident enough to communicate with people in a variety of situations and social settings. However, there’s an important difference between confidence and boastfulness or arrogance.

H – Happiness

Happiness, as we know, is contagious. Research suggests that oxytocin (also known as the love hormone) goes hand in hand with charisma: the happier you feel, the more people are likely to gravitate towards you and take on board your views.

A – Assertiveness

A close friend of confidence, being assertive means being able to influence and encourage those in the same room, subtly bringing them round to your way of thinking in a way that’s non-confrontational.

R – Regard (for others)

Charismatic people are genuinely interested in what others have to say, not just the sound of their own voice. This means using your ‘active listening’ skills to really engage with your conversation partner and take on board what they’re saying.

M – (e)Motion

A high level of emotional intelligence goes hand-in-hand with charisma. You need to be aware of your own emotions (including knowing those you should be displaying and those you shouldn’t) as well as being aware of, and empathetic to those of others.

Method:

Putting all these qualities into the mixing bowl at the same time may be harder than it looks, however: too much of one ingredient and the balance tips too much towards either internal or external character traits. Like most things in life, it all comes down to self-awareness, experience…and practice. Perhaps it’s worth giving that charm school a call, after all.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: The Telegraph; Mind Tools; Skills You Need

@talentsmarteq

Failure is an inevitable part of life, but smart people know how to make it work for them.

One of the biggest roadblocks to success is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is worse than failure itself because it condemns you to a life of unrealized potential.

A successful response to failure is all in your approach. In a study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers found that success in the face of failure comes from focusing on results (what you hope to achieve), rather than trying not to fail. While it’s tempting to try and avoid failure, people who do this fail far more often than those who optimistically focus on their goals.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

This sounds rather easy and intuitive, but it’s very hard to do when the consequences of failure are severe. The researchers also found that positive feedback increased people’s chances of success because it fueled the same optimism you experience when focusing solely on your goals.

The people who make history–true innovators–take things a step further and see failure as a mere stepping stone to success. Thomas Edison is a great example. It took him 1,000 tries to develop a light bulb that actually worked. When someone asked him how it felt to fail 1,000 times, he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.

That attitude is what separates the successes from the failures. Thomas Edison isn’t the only one. J. K. Rowling’s manuscript for Harry Potter was only accepted after 12 publishers denied it, and even then she was only paid a nominal advance. Oprah Winfrey lost her job as a Baltimore news anchor for becoming too emotionally involved in her stories, a quality that became her trademark. Henry Ford lost his financial backers twice before he was able to produce a workable prototype of an automobile. The list goes on and on.

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Henry Ford

So, what separates the people who let their failures derail them from those who use failure to their advantage? Some of it comes down to what you do, and the rest comes down to what you think.

The actions you take in the face of failure are critical to your ability to recover from it, and they have huge implications for how others view you and your mistakes. There are five actions you must take when you fail that will enable you to succeed in the future and allow others to see you positively in spite of your failure.

1. Break the bad news yourself.

If you’ve made a mistake, don’t cross your fingers and hope no one will notice, because someone is going to–it’s inevitable. When someone else points out your failure, that one failure turns into two. If you stay quiet, people are going to wonder why you didn’t say something, and they’re likely to attribute this to either cowardice or ignorance.

2. Offer an explanation, but don’t make excuses.

Owning your mistakes can actually enhance your image. It shows confidence, accountability, and integrity. Just be sure to stick to the facts. “We lost the account because I missed the deadline” is a reason. “We lost the account because my dog was sick all weekend and that made me miss the deadline” is an excuse.

3. Have a plan for fixing things.

Owning up to a mistake is one thing, but you can’t end it there. What you do next is critical. Instead of standing there, waiting for someone else to clean up your mess, offer your own solutions. It’s even better if you can tell your boss (or whomever) the specific steps you’ve already taken to get things back on track.

4. Have a plan for prevention.

In addition to having a plan for fixing things, you should also have a plan for how you’ll avoid making the same mistake in the future. That’s the best way to reassure people that good things will come out of your failure.

5. Get back on the horse.

It’s important that you don’t let failure make you timid. That’s a mindset that sucks you in and handicaps you every time you slip up. Take enough time to absorb the lessons of your failure, and as soon as you’ve done that, get right back out there and try again. Waiting only prolongs bad feelings and increases the chance that you’ll lose your nerve.

Your attitude when facing failure is just as important as the actions you take. Using failure to your advantage requires resilience and mental strength, both hallmarks of emotional intelligence. When you fail, there are three attitudes you want to maintain.

6. Perspective is the most important factor in handling failure.

People who are skilledat rebounding after failure are more likely to blame the failure on something they did–the wrong course of action or a specific oversight–rather than something they are. People who are bad at handling failure tend to blame failure on their laziness, lack of intelligence, or some other personal quality, which implies that they had no control over the situation. That makes them more likely to avoid future risk-taking.

7. Optimism.

Another characteristic of people who bounce back from failure. One British study of 576 serial entrepreneurs found they were much more likely to expect success than entrepreneurs who gave up after their first failure. That sense of optimism is what keeps people from feeling like failure is a permanent condition. Instead, they tend to see each failure as a building block to their ultimate success because of the learning it provides.

8. Persistence.

Optimism is a feeling of positivity; persistence is what you do with it. It’s optimism in action. When everybody else says, “Enough is enough” and decides to quit and go home, persistent people shake off those failures and keep going. Persistent people are special because their optimism never dies. This makes them great at rising from failure.

Bringing It All Together

Failure is a product of your perspective. What one person considers a crushing defeat another sees as a minor setback. The beauty is that you can change how you see failure so that you can use it to better yourself.

How do you handle failure? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/1sRwsaq.

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“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” – Bruce Lee

I’ve felt lucky to learn so much from being an avid reader in the past few years. I’ve come to believe that there is such immense power and knowledge contained within books.

As a natural introvert, I’m a reflective person and love to read books and think about what we could try to apply at Buffer.

In fact, we’re such believers in the power of reading at Buffer that all new team members (and family members) receive a Kindle with unlimited Kindle books (of any type, no questions asked).

Something I have done with books in the past is get about 30 to 40 percent through and get really excited to start implementing things.

I think this might be because with a startup, you often have to get comfortable acting without complete information. For example, when we do customer development we’ll never validate an idea or thought 100%. There’s always a leap we have to take.

But with our reading on leadership, I’ve realized that we could improve this and be a little more grounded in the decisions we make.

Here’s the story of two recent books that have had a big impact on our team, and how Buffer changed with each one based on what we read.

Reinventing Organizations: The book that changed Buffer’s direction

One night in late 2014, I stayed up until 4 a.m. reading the book Reinventing Organizations.

It was one of the most exciting books I had ever read, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would impact Buffer.

When I was through with the book, I was so inspired I wrote this letter to the author, Frederic Laloux.

(Frederic and I did eventually get an opportunity to chat, and I’m so grateful to him for his time and the incredible book.)

Eventually, Reinventing Organizations would be read by almost all the people within the Buffer team, and transform how the company operated in many ways.

Here’s the note I sent to the team that sent us on a fascinating self-management journey through most of 2015:

We made a lot of changes, including dropping all titles, stopping all official coaching and mentorship, and letting each teammate choose the goals and projects they wanted to work on (and what they wanted to pay themselves). On the marketing side, we tried to create a marketing plan without any goals.

Fast forward to present day: We’re grateful for the element of wholeness that Reinventing Organizations brought us and have moved away from its ideas in other ways, bringing back mentorship, goals and metrics.

We interpreted Teal as completely loose: the chaos, the forest. We threw out the ideas of management, skills, leadership, experience. Those are some of the things that we got wrong.

I think it was a great learning experience; it did set us back.

High Output Management: A more balanced approach

By the time I came across the underground business classic High Output Management by former Intel CEO Andy Grove this year, I knew we want to get away from the pattern of reading one book and changing everything as a result.

After I discovered and read High Output Management, I knew I wanted to introduce it to others on the team, but in a different way.

This time, it felt important to share the thought that while there’s lot of great stuff in it, a lot of what it describes is also pretty far from what we want to have. (It was published in 1983, when things were a lot different in the business world!)

As a small but important example, I prefer not to call employees “subordinates” as Grove does—or even employees, for that matter. “Teammates” has been a great fit for us at Buffer.

I didn’t want High Output Management be our next “book” but I did want to take what we could from it.

A tipping point for us in valuing “people management” came from came from High Output Management, as did the idea of “task relevant maturity”—relating how many touchpoints a person needs in a task to their familiarity with the task:

These are both really useful concepts for us.

Additionally, High Output Management evolved our one-on-ones and accelerated how we think about and plan for leadership at Buffer, which is important.

My experience when I read High Output Management was very different than that of reading Reinventing Organizations. 

In fact, as I could feel the book moving us further away from elements of self-management I made sure to cue up a Ricardo Semler TED talk on running a company with no rules to make sure to hear the “other side,” too.

My lesson: Be thoughtful in how I embrace new ideas

There’s a certain power in embracing an idea completely and fully giving yourself over to it.

At the same time, I’m finding it increasingly important to apply a lot of critical thinking and hear out an idea from all sides.

This learning reminds me of Jim Collins’ “bullets before cannonballs” blog post, where he advises validating with smaller steps (bullets) first during challenging times, instead of immediately looking for “big solutions, giant leaps, and dramatic success” (cannonballs).

“Wise leaders test idea and assumptions in low risk, low cost way. Try something in a small way and brutally evaluate when it’s over.”

I believe there is still room with our new, more grounded approach to experiment with structuring the team, decision-making, and management processes.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to be really thoughtful about how we do this, and to validate ideas to the appropriate level before rolling them out to the whole team. The bigger the company gets, the bigger the impact of each experiment becomes.

I’m excited to keep reading and learning from what others are trying with various management structures. And yet as soon as we start going pretty far in one direction, we want to start getting opposing thoughts.

The good news is, the more we read, the more context we will naturally have.

The 10 books of Buffer (right now)

Today we’re reading as widely as we can, trying different things and keeping whatever works.

We’ve taken bits and pieces from countless management books, and we’re growing a bit more confident in our mix-and-match style.

Buffer’s management at the moment is a mix of:

• The Decision Maker: Most teammates at Buffer have read this fable by Dennis Bakke. It has helped to shape our ideas of complete trust and confidence in each team member to have the right context to make great decisions.
• Joy at Work: We hope we can retain some of the ideas from Dennis Bakke’s  organization AES, and create management that’s a bit different.
• High Output Management: The way we view leadership, feedback, and one-on-ones has been heavily influenced by this book by Andy Groves.
• Reinventing Organizations: The biggest element of this book by Frederic Laloux that we’ve kept is the idea of bringing your “whole self” to work.
• The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works: I mentioned Ricardo Semler’s TED talk earlier, and this book is another piece that has helped to shape Buffer. Some of Semler’s ideas are so radical it makes me question everything I think I know about work.
• Maverick: Another book by Ricardo Semler; this one helped to reinforce our confidence in many of our budding cultural ideas, like the value of transparency, and having trust in teammates to choose their location and work hours.
• Good to Great: This Jim Collins book helped me to understand how important culture is for building a great, lasting company that has an impact on the world. It helped me to understand that culture can be crafted by choice rather than rather than simply observed.
• Five Dysfunctions of a Team: I read this book at a key point when we were discovering that we needed to put our values into words to shape the culture of Buffer. The book helped to clarify that through culture, provided we lived it, we could get to the deepest levels of trust with one another and enable much better teamwork within the company.
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: The Buffer value of ‘Listen first, then listen more’ comes almost directly from Habit 5 of this bestselling classic.
• How to Win Friends and Influence People: Perhaps the most foundational book of Buffer. We have based a large number of the values within the Buffer culture directly on the principles Dale Carnegie proposes here.

I’m personally inspired by all of these books and lots more.

There’s no one-size-fits-all book for building a company—any company.

I’m sure in the future I’ll discover many new books and ideas that make me want to change everything.

I hope I can remember the lessons I’ve reflected on here and make a balanced decision.

What about you—how do achieve balance when you’ve discovered a new idea or solution? What keeps you from going too far in any one direction?

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Written by Joel Gascoigne (@joelgascoigne)

Joel is the founder and CEO at Buffer. He is focused on the lean startup approach, user happiness, transparency & company culture. Say hi to him anytime @joelgascoigne.

This might seem like something of a utopian scenario, but with an effective, well-structured coaching programme in place, that level of communication can become embedded within the very fabric of your organisation. Establishing the right coaching climate for that programme to flourish, however, is far from straightforward and requires time, effort and involvement at all levels of the organisation. Here are three steps to help you along the way:

1. Seek top-level commitment

The first step towards a consistent coaching climate is to identify one or more senior leaders to be the flag-bearers for your approach. As well as being someone others point to as an example of a great coach and inspiration to their team, these individuals should be acting in a way that gives the right message about coaching across the organisation; they should be people who will spread the word and commit to tackling any barriers or opposition that could arise along the way.

2. Spread the skill

With the right role models in place, there need to be measures in place to allow enthusiasm and understanding of coaching to filter through the organisation. This means making training opportunities readily available across all levels while actively encouraging employees to engage with your approach. Don’t assume this will happen automatically: managers need skilling up in order to deliver effective coaching conversations to their teams who will in turn require training in order to receive their full benefit.

3. Stop and take stock

Once integrated, it’s important to revisit your coaching climate at regular intervals. Like any new policy or strategy, it requires regular attention to see what’s going well and where things could be working better. Think of it as a garden, one that requires regular watering and upkeep in order for the plants within it to grow and flourish.

When it comes to introducing a coaching climate to your organisation there really is no quick fix. Interest and engagement in coaching need to be cultured throughout the organisation along with an understanding of how to deliver and receive it. Rest assured: with the right building blocks in place, there’s every chance of success.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: www.abintegro.com