All roads lead to Rio for a quartet of PGA Professionals who are set to inspire Brazilians to give golf a go during the 2016 Olympics.
While the likes of new Open champion Henrik Stenson and World No.1 Lydia Ko target a gold medal on the course Ben Stubbington, Konrad Brochocki, Andy Gealy and ex-PGA member Nick Clemens will be busy in the spectator village teeing up a series of fun activities designed to bring more newcomers into the sport.
The team from Provision Events, which was co-founded by Clemens and Brochocki, are familiar faces at golf tournaments across Europe and America where they give thousands of free coaching sessions.
But the Olympics promises to be an extra special affair, especially for 27 year old Stubbington who is the newest member of the team.
“I can’t wait, it’s a new one for all of us,” said Stubbington who was at the Open at Royal Troon in the R&A SwingZone. “Everything was shipped a few weeks ago in humungous flight bags and flight cases and we’ll meet them there.
“We fly out on August 8 and we’ll be there for the ladies and the men’s events. We are setting up a whole spectator village of activities so people can come and have a go. We believe people don’t just come to golf to watch the golf, they want to participate so we try and create a bit more of a family day out enabling everyone comes to have a go.
“We are working for the International Golf Federation to help promote the game out there and offer fans, golfers and non-golfers, to try their hand at all elements of the game of golf.
“It is the biggest stage in the world, every other sport in the world gets huge promotion off the back of the Olympics so as a golfer myself I’m looking forward to watching it and also being involved at close hand.”
Stubbington, whose dad Gary is head PGA Professional at Hockley and whose younger brother Jack is also a pro, has enjoyed a varied career to date. He trained at The Grove before joining Moor Park as shop manager and custom fitter. After that he moved to Foresight Sports in sales.
“Now I’m an events manager with Provision Events which involves sales and business development and staging events,” he adds. “We work with the governing bodies and do a lot to promote and push golf and get it into inner city areas.
“For example we do a lot of down town events pre-tournament, so for the Ryder Cup we had two inner city set ups, at the Irish Open we were there two weeks before and did a set up in Dublin, just to get out and promote the event. We get PGA pros on board to help with the coaching so it’s really positive.
“I’m away quite a lot, we do a lot of European Tour events and provide experiential activations for brands and agencies in all four corners of the world.
“Two of my colleagues did a Summer of Sport at Liverpool Station where we had a short game area and some coaching while we also work with companies like Zoopla, where we did the long putt challenge at the opening of their new headquarters. “I generally do three weeks away, a week at home and then away again. It’s loads of travelling but I’m really enjoying it and love helping people get into golf.”
For more information on Provision Events visit www.provisionevents.co.uk
