Co-hosts Steve Jackson and Ian Waterhouse look back on all the Progress Junior Golf podcasts over the last year. Guests included Stephen Gallacher, Catriona Matthew, Georgia Hall and other top stars. Broadcast on Thursday, January 18th, 2024.
Hello every and welcome to progress junior golf with live sport now and the England golf young ambassadors my name is Steve Jackson and this is a very poorly Ian waterhous hello Steve hello everybody uh I don’t want any sympathy at all you’re not gonna get any don’t
Worry about that I am suffering from a severe case of manle very severe um I don’t feel very well but but I just wanted to see you and everybody tuning in because uh because Steve we finally took a bit longer than we thought but we eventually got to
Episode 50 absolutely yeah I know it’s a different sport where we are 50 not out yeah yeah absolutely we raise our bat and all that kind of thing you know to the to the to the thousands watching out there but um but yes we’ve got to 50 ra
Putters to the sky that’s it yes yeah 50 50 on the front line that’s probably about right for me actually yeah actually isn’t it in cricket 50 is you just point the back forward and it’s 100 when it goes up isn’t it is that right I
Think so I’m not sure okay we’re talking cricket here this is a golf podcast by the way for anyone who is who is it’s interesting right now this podcast the thing is though steeve it’s too cold to play golf at a minute you say that you say that then
But I I’ve I’ve been organizing some events during the winter um in in a local County and we’ve got an event coming up on Sunday and it’s sold out we’ve got 52 Juniors playing in it so the kids out there they want to play golf and they don’t care what kind of
Weather it is so so let ask everybody that question shall it it’s the 18th of January today how many rounds of golf have you played comment below uh in there’s a live chat where that QR code is just above Steve’s head there scan there I’ll take you through to the live
Chat or if you’re watching on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn wherever just comment below how many rounds are go have you played and tell us where you play at as well just so we can find out because I haven’t played any golf this year um so I’m sorry no NE well look
I’ve I’ve got to be perfectly neither have I can but I but that’s more down to the weather with obviously a lot of rain around you know and actually I did have another event organized earlier in the year which was cancelled because of the rain so um so you know golf courses have
Been suffering a little bit over the last few weeks or so but fingers crossed everything to be okay hopefully on Sunday for for my latest Junior event right now as we mentioned there are 50 podcasts we’ve had this podcast is all about junior golf it’s about the next
Generation of golf is about getting more boys and girls playing the game of golf now in general you know we’ve covered lots of different subjects in this podcast over the last two years this year or or should say last year rather we did 23 podcasts then the first one
Was a review of 2022 this one will be a review of 2023 but just looking back at those podcasts we did 22 different subjects we covered how many different guests did we have on in how many guest whe it’s pre-recorded interviews or live guests how many oh my goodness okay 23
Shows so we had at least one show per guest so start at the base of 23 that’s not my answer by the way um I would say but we had a lot of guests on video pre-recorded videos didn’t we 23 I would say over the course of the year we
Averaged just over four guests per show I’m going to say 100 and and anyone who’s a regular on this podcast knows that Ian is horrendous at guessing when I give him these questions and once again he lives up to his tag there we’ve got 39 guests
On I 39 is that it yes oh I thought a lot more than that but we’ve had we had lot repeat we had some repeat guesses well did we actually we did yes true but we had some big names and we had rder Cup players we had tour professionals we
Had solemn Cup players solemn cup captains we had on we’ve had major winners we’ve had Club professionals we’ve had Junior organizers Club secretaries England golf Representatives uh we’ve had company bosses golf company bosses we’ve had Junior Tour organizers we’ve actually had other sports we’ve
Had s on we’ve had a sir on this show haven’t we we have from from another sport we’ve had International journalist yes 50 not out yes absolutely and we might see him a little bit later on you never know but one of the things which we have pushed with this progress uni
Golf podcast is to give Juniors a voice as well so okay next question then for you 39 guests on how many of those have been England golf young ambassadors then here um well I don’t want to look stupid different different young ambassadors okay different I’m gonna
Say 12 you’re getting better 13 so one out of every one out of every three guests that we’ve had on this program has been an England golf Ambassador so I think we we we’re doing a good job there we’re giving them the opportunity to to to to give a junior perspective on all
The subjects that we’ve been covering and throughout this show we’re going to look at those subjects and also as the start of the podcast said we’re going to be looking ahead as well to 2024 as well and about what we might be covering in the podcast to come over the next uh 12
Months or so right do a little bit of housekeeping and then we’ll get on with the with the news which will be a review so just tell us anyone who wants to get involved again how they can do that here yes absolutely as ever Steve this is an
Interactive show we are live right now so we can see your comments if you do want to get in touch with us uh we’d love to hear from you the live chat is open at livesport now there’s a QR code just above Steve he you can give that a
Scan it’ll take you straight through to livesport now and YouTube where if you put your comment into that live chat we can show it on screen there is a link in the body of this broadcast wherever you’re watching it as well it can take you straight through again to live sport
Now’s YouTube channel while you’re there just hit that little subscribe Button as well uh also at any point if you do want to find out more about progress junior golf there is also a link to Steve’s website in the body of this broadcast too so give it a click you can find out
All more information about progress junior golf but don’t do it until after the podcast St and as far as the podcast as far as the with the website is concerned as well it has all Junior competitions in the country I’m continuous updating that as I went I find out where these
Events are taking place there are already 500 Junior events on there already and that’s from all the different tours County events and that’s coming up in 2024 that’s and that and last year there was over a thousand so you can imagine how many more I still
Need to put on there but but yeah that’s throughout next year uh in England Ireland Scotland and in Wales as well so so throughout the UK and Ireland we’ve got loads of events which people can play right first things first then let’s look at the junior golf news from last
Year then as it’s normally the case here I mean we did do the junior news right through until April but generally speaking the start of the golf season traditionally is the US Masters and there was no and there was well it’s but and actually I should mention
And there were some Juniors playing in that as well but not the person who I’m about to mention because the defending Champion for the sunny down fors wasn’t available to play in it but lty W did play at austa she played in the austa National Women’s Amateur Championship
Which is a Prelude to the US Masters uh gives the opportunity to for players that I think they have two rounds on another course and then if you make the cut you then go and play OD austa and LTE went on to finish 1 with the best of the British players Kaye McGinty
Charlotte Heath were the only other ones who made it through to to play at austa so so well on to her um us obviously the the US sorry the British and the US amate champion both play in the US Masters as well and last year’s winner
Well pre previous year’s win of the the British am champ was alri potg got poge I think he South African and he was a junior golf when he won the championship he played at the US Masters uh missed the cup but obviously what a great experience for him now so moving on to
Competitions which did take place then during the season then lots of them around the country and you know I can’t really mention all of them but we’ll go through a few of them H Scottish boys championship took place at London that was won by Sha keing from Ireland H
Scottish girls Championship that took place at long nitry Olivia Castello won that by four shots so a double Irish Victory there two Irish uh players coming over and winning in Scotland so welome to them uh staying in Scotland though this was a Scottish home winner
And a very good player as well one which we think we mentioned him on quite a lot of occasions throughout the entire year we think this this lad’s got some real potential and could go on to become you know Scottish golf plus you know yeah with with Bob McIntyre playing in the
Rider cup one who could follow him his footsteps all low 16y old called Connor Graham you might remember him he won the Scottish men’s Open Championship took place at meld house won by four shots um he played in The Walker cup as well a little bit later on in the year uh the
Junior Golf World Cup that took place in Japan H Japan won both the men’s or the boys and the girls titles back in this country then some of the big competitions uh the English under 18th amate Championship that was won by Alex Wells um shot 68 68 7 and 70 so 12 under
Par uh the Irish boys and girls amate Championship took place uh this is what we’re talking about all competitions quite early on in the year these These are boys Was Won by John Doyle and the girls was won by uh Kareem o Grady now best finished to a tournament of the
Year you might remember this took place well this is my my opinion I think this probably the best finish to the tournament of the Year English boys under 16 Championship the McGregor TR he took place at hunstanton golf club that was a playoff the playoff was was was
One on the second uh playoff hole but you got to get into a playoff haven’t you I think yeah I think I remember where this is going this was some and to get into a playoff you have to do something special and when you’re coming
Down the last hole and you need an eagle to get into a playoff you need to do it from 144 yards out that’s what cam mukaj did he h out from 44 yards out for an eagle who did he beat in the playoff he actually lost the playoff but so what oh
He lost the he lost but to get in the playoff he he he go the last hole the 72nd hole and he lost to Chris Kim now Chris Kim had a fantastic year he’s I think golf Awards have got some Awards coming up this year and I think he’s up
For the performance of the year we mentioned the performance of him win the McGregor trophy well he won one of the big competition as well we’ve got a photo of him the winner of the boy amateur Championship which took place at ganton golf club he won the boys once
Again a playoff and if we’re talking about best finishes of the year then this probably the the worst finish he not necessarily from him but the poor guy who’s played against American called Alex papayon on the second extra hole he had three-footer to beat Chris missed it
And then miss the return put as well so that that’s my kind of golf that is three put in from three foot out but um I think we I’ve got I’ve got the picture I’ve got the picture here Ste sorry I there we go look there’s Chris on the
Right the uh the girl on the left hand side is Helen Bree who won the girl Championship which took place at ganton golf club and she became the first ever German to win that title so so well done to her and well done to Chris as well
And good luck to him when they have the England golf Awards I’m sure he’s going to be you know probably one of the favorites to win that will you be there Steve you be at the awards um I’m waiting for that invite that that you’re still waiting for to the F series Grand
Final I don’t know I’m still waiting for the England golf invite as well but it to be uh I don’t know I don’t the potal service in your are is terrible isn’t it I tell well I tell do you know what it is generally it’s because in brol it’s
Because F Jitsu are in brn they not even making it off it’s true a right we’re not going down that route please don’t right let’s start with golf right okay quiz question or quiz question question for you though I’m going to give you three options here of
Who you think this one the family Award right three stories here you have to pick the best family okay right no not the Wes they’re not one of the three so one of them right the Weavers friend of the podcast towards Weaver I like those guys a lot okay fair enough right England
Golf then England International Tyler Weaver he won the English boys amate championship wire to wire first round leader went all the way through to the the fourth round and won it scores a 68 68 69 and 67 so 16 under the par that was at Mo Park won by five shots then a
Few days later his older brother Max won the Welsh men’s amateur clo championship at Newport won the final two and one against Tommy Bowen so that’s option one okay the option one okay right the Richardson’s then option two the Welsh golf junior Championship took place at Cardiff Golf Club the winner of the
Under 16 Championship was Thomas Richardson the winner of the under 14 Championship was Fon Richardson so Thomas and F richardon became the first ever brother and sister to win the both the tournaments on the same date so that’s the rich yeah that’s pry AB right finally then the peits oh yeah so the
Peits then this might take some beating Annabel absolutely Annabelle and Emily so this is this all surrounds the women Women’s Championship which took place the Women’s Champion Club event sorry at St Ives Golf Club in Huntingdon then the course record was broken three times in
The space of two days on the first day Annabelle pford who’s 14 years of age by the way she sh a 70 to set the course record the following day it was broken by ganton’s Amy St stavely shot 300 part 69 and she held the course record for a
Grand total of two hours before Emily pord who’s twin sister of Annabelle broke the course record with a five under par 67 you said it was a good story didn’t you so the pord then what a fantastic time they had in that event but Emily also broke a course record
Again later on the same week at North Ham’s golf club and she shot nine under par to set a course record so there we go yeah I I think I mean look is it the wavers is it the richon or is it the PE I I’ve got a bit of bias towards the
Weavers because I it was Tyler won the um English under 18s at Woodle not not 20 in 22 I think I was there for that but the the way the peeds I think you know to beat course records at their age as well um also North Hans golf club is
Just up the road from it’s a track I know very I’ve filmed there a few times with um clutch Pro Tour and stuff and um yeah I I think the peeds are going to just Edge this one just Edge this just Edge this one we’ll get that unofficial
Vote we’ll give it to turn that now well tell tell us what you think everybody tuning in who story which look at the end day all three of them fantastic families and they all had a great year so well done to all three right uh so
Few a few other stories over the last year home Internationals Was Won by Ireland sorry England won the home Internationals rather the boys and girls confined but the but the boys actually was won by Island which is the first time they won that I think for a decade
So that took place at lindri other team events and this might get mentioned as well when we go through the podcast which we’ve done because the Junior solheim Cup took place this year and Europe won that back-to-back wins so they won it uh the previous time the
First time in history then they won it two times on the trp they beat the USA in Spain 159 and the junior Rider cup and we’re going to have the captain on the show a little bit later on um because we did speak to him this year
Steven Gall was the captain and Europe won that 8 and a half three and a half and bear in mind that the USA had won the last six matches so that’s some wi really came down to the second day where they won the second day six nil and then
Carried it through on the final day to to win in the singles so well done to uh and obviously we we won the Ridder cup we held on to the soim cup we won the Junior soim Cup and we won the junior Rider cup so I think you have to say it
Wasn’t a bad year for Europe as far as team golf was concerned well it sounds like PJ tour’s collapsing to me and that might got mentioned in one or two of the podcast this year as well right uh right just a couple of them mentions then the F series Grand Final
Which we mentioned earlier another friend of the podcast Ben Bolton won that over in the UAE really great stuff as well uh 65 7066 he won by seven shots uh um the boys under 18 Championship another English winner there Teddy Hall won in the playoff there right finally though best performance of the
Year the Irish Junior open tour do you remember in right the under 11s Championship then what was the winning score from pppa cuff fromal school right so I’ll give you a bit of a clue it was a 69 was the uh par for the for the course so what do you
Think she shot over how many rounds one round just the one round oh I’m sure I want to say something really silly we are we are talking here this is the best performance of the year so remember you asking me I remember you ask me this earlier in the year Well
Back into 2023 and I said something like it was past 69 you know 11 years old uh from from the te she was playing for for AG yeah I think I said something like 66 or something but wasn’t it like but it wasn’t that was it it was no it
Wasn’t that no wasn’t it something silly like 55 or something it something silly like that yeah 55 you’re right yeah it was 42 underpart next I wanted to say something in the fours but I didn’t want to look stupid yeah but it was 42 underpar yeah net 27 on a P 69 golf
Course so like I even now I’m amazed when I read that story when I was going back over the stories we covered in the year so so by a distance that wins the performance that didn’t make national news is beyond me I have no idea no but that’s that’s that’s good on Michael
Gallager who runs that who runs the champion the Champions event little announcement I have to make as well in is the fact that I’m going out to the champion the Champions next year take place theate July but they’re taking the photos for the grand finals so we’re
Going to get a we we’ll do a proper good podcast on that I think there are think there are 40 different countries which will be representing in that Grand Final so that’ll be U 250 Juniors from across the world so that’s going to be a massive event for next year so um so
Yeah right let’s look back then on 2023 then because as we mentioned 23 shows 39 different guests there was a few people who came on the podcast on a few occasions um not well there might well have been 100 guests in total if we count me and you kind of yeah 100
Appearances of faces throughout the course of the year it’s probably about right you know you might be yeah that’s that’s yeah but 39 different people right it all started off with we we kind of we did the review of the year then we did like a beginner’s guide to Junior
Golf so we had Aaron lby on who is a um former winner of the England coach of the year you know it it was our way of kind of like almost reintroducing golf to the Juniors out there because you know there’ll be people who watch this
Podcast who might be new to golf might not know the terms and conditions you know so we went through you know may sound silly to some people thought what’s a birdie what’s a PA you know what’s what’s you know because there are lots of terms which sound weird don’t
They if you don’t know a sport you know if if you know I know you do handball I’m sure there are terms in handball whereby people who know handball would know what it mean not compared to golf Steve I’ve never known anything like golf no yeah I you know a bogey to most
People is something completely different from what it is in golf isn’t it I’ve got a lot of nose at the minute with my MTH absolutely yeah so we so we covered that now next podcast which we did and actually we’re going to be doing it again this year we did one with Charlie
Hull there was three golfers who had the opportunity to have a round of golf with Charlie Hull at Wen golf club that’s been set up again it’ll happen it’ll happen again in February but it was fascinating the fact that we had a chat with Charlie you know and how Role
Models you know the the professional golfers the big stars in the game are role models to Junior golfers and that’s what she did she gave her her time and gave those youngsters the opportunity to you know to have round almost a year ago did you know I know you know and you
Mentioned earlier about how you know the weather the weather was pretty good on that day you know bearing in mind that you you know it was it was late January I think when we when we did that um and actually we also mentioned as well of
All the podcasts that we did during the year it was the only one whereby I wasn’t physically in the studio we had a guest presenter and who was that um why weren’t you there I can’t remember see it was it wasn’t me you were there it was England golf young
Abor Jen Myers who of course it was J yes yeah oh she well she’s she announced which university she was going to as well didn’t she is that right during the show and I think she went to Sterling in the end did you’re right from the south
Coast right the way up to pretty much as far north as you can well certainly far north and I think that was our most watched episode of the Year actually is that because Charlie or because of Jen or it certainly wasn’t because of either of us two being because you and
Me yes right so then we moved on I mentioned a little bit earlier we had we were talking competition formats we had Ireland junior golf founder Michael gallager came on also UK kids or organizer Nathan Jackson and England golf young Ambassador Courtney martinin so we looked at the different kind of
Competition formats we can have in junior golf you kind of alluded to it a little bit earlier but something like live as well which has obviously brought a different type of format to professional golf which really we hadn’t seen before you know we’ we’ve obviously seen team golf in the Ridder cup the
Solheim cup but we’ve never seen it on a regular basis and obviously we looked at that we looked at staffords and the different ways that you can have Junior competition so you know different different things which can attract different types of golfers you know because you know something a medal
Format in junior golf can can you know can be tough can’t it for very young golfers because it it can be brutal at times can’t it so you know different formats which you can hopefully attract Juniors into the game now the next podcast which took place in in mid-march
Where Junior voices on committees it’s one whereby you know we’re quite proud of the fact that we’ve had England golfers on this podcast we give them a voice well we gave three of them a voice on that show because we had England golf young ambassadors tomone Ford Zara
Watner be and um Emily hored who Emily is the young volunteer of the Year award she won it a few weeks before that so it was our opportunity to to basically almost like go right this is your platform you go and talk about what you want to talk about and and you hopefully
There were clubs out there who watched that and went actually we need to get more Juniors involved in our clubs and get them involved in committee really valuable episode that wasn’t it yeah and and you know with there was an episode later on in the year whereby we had um
A junior organizer who was coming on for the first time and that’s some of the things which we explain to him where by try and get some Juniors involved when you’re organizing your your club events because then you at least you can get their perspective on how you know how it
Runs and how how how and why they enjoy it you know and sometimes you have to hear negative comments from the kids to to go actually we aren’t quite getting it right for the kids so it was it was fascinating and important the fact that we gave them the opportunity to to to
Speak on the show right there was two podcasts we did consecutive where we looked at something which we’ve never looked at really in in the progress in the golf par and that was coaching you know a bit we we chattered a little bit about it but we looked at coaching young
Golfers and coaching slightly older Junior golfers and obviously there is a massive difference isn’t there in between coaching a 5 six S8 n year old to coach in a 14 15 16 17 18 year old isn’t it well I think the thing about golf isn’t it is that it’s a completely
Different game at different age groups isn’t it you know football is football you know okay I know you’re play in different pitch sizes and eighty olds play five aside as opposed to 11 aside but the the principle is exactly the same and and with golf though there’s so
Much to learn so many so many things that can go wrong um it’s it’s almost a different game and the way that you swing the ball and and the clubs that you play I mean it’s it’s yeah it’s you can’t teach somebody who’s eight to play the way that you would teach somebody
Who’s even 11 do you know what I mean absolutely so we had we had PJ Club professional Phil aers who came on both shows he he spoke you know he’s a very experienced coach who works with younger golfers works with older golfers as well so he came it from the two different
Spects and for the one where we were talking about the older Junior gos as well we also got the point of view from Paul broader of course a former Ridder cup player and a major winner at senior level as well had a long chat with him
And he actually was helping out with his Junior open at his local club which is Aon Golf Club pleased to say as well that I’m going to be helping out with their junior open this year and Paul is hopefully gonna be coming along again
For that event as well so so um be great to see him we also had only young ambassadors Olivia Whitt and Daniel Robson who obviously gave their perspective of how the coaching got them into the game and and and obviously has got both of them on to become young
Ambassadors you know so look we don’t expect every player who’s ever going to start playing the game at a young age to go on and become a young Ambassador but you know that’s the kind of thing you know if you get the Love of the Game
Then you you can get more out of these Juniors than perhaps what you might think just by some good coaches the next episode we did was slightly different because we had one person on we were talking about the Alexis Brown go Foundation which is a charity set up
Setup um Aid of Alexis Brown who died you know very tragically um overnight she had a very rare condition and and you know on the back of that you know you think of something the tragedy like that someone who played golf as a very young golfer you know what do you try
And bring out of that well Ben Brown who was the dad came on and he’d set up this foundation and they’ve been running competitions to try and raise money for under privileged golfers people from backgrounds whereby uh because Alexis was a mixed uh race young golfer um you
Know perhaps from a mixed race background you know some of the races which she’d faced when she was a young young golfer as well so fascinating to talk to him and what the good work it was a brutally open and H honest episode wasn’t it go back by the way if you get
The chance all of the videos stay on um Liv spot now and progress junior golf on YouTube and Facebook and wherever yeah absolutely yeah fascinating as well and I’m pleased to say as well just today he’s contacted me this today and say they’ve got another event set up in the
Foundation taking place at nut Hall Golf Club in war Shar so another big event coming up be there for that um so yeah right um so lots of different subjects we we’ve spoken about one thing which we hadn’t touched upon which we needed to was about joining a golf club because
You we mentioned about coaches of the club well what about how you actually go through that process of joining a golf club so we got young ambassadors Tom Ford and Kennedy Murphy who came on but also we got the club’s perspective as well so former golf club secretary John
Gilding came on and so obviously you had it from the Junior’s point of view is when you first turn up of the golf club how you know sometimes it it was scary sometimes it little over being overo so you obviously had whereby John was trying to give it from a club’s
Perspective as what they were looking for from a junior go and also how they had to deal with you know you know one of the fascinating conversations I’m sure you remember this was when we were talking about the interview process you whereby you had to you had to have go
Through an interview to become a you know a junior member at some clubs kind of thing you know and you know that is that can be scary you know any age but but for for and there’s still some pretty old fashion clubs out there isn’t
There yes you know so we heard from John who who basically tried to you know tried to make it as informal as possible you know at the same time he obviously still wanted to meet them and and still wanted to you know I think he probably tried to avoid the phrase interview
Tried to make it just a bit of a chat you know just to find out a little bit more about what they wanted to do with their golf kind of thing so yeah but interesting talking you know from a golf cl’s point of view and also from a
Junior’s point of view now the next one was won whereby you were heavily involved with this podcast and that’s when we talked about innovation in junior golf so we had golf genius who who are a um package whereby they use for events I know England golf have got
Involved with them now they they’re using them to do all they’re a software company aren’t they they produce live leader boards and and things like that they do a lot more than that as well of course yeah um you know one of the state of the art basically they use a
Lot of in Innovation with the way that they they use their system uh James CBL came on and we also had Stadium golf’s Nick ADOT and something a little bit different you know trying to use some stadium so they they they did an event at uh twick if you might remember yeah
They were looking to do some events at some other different venues Cricket venues rugby venues they they T it around the country I I mean you went didn’t you I didn’t go to any but you went what what was it like I unfortunately I couldn’t actually make
It to the event in the end and and typical that the event which I was hoping to go to was one of the ones that they unfortunately had to postpone kind of thing you say so but I know that we’re g be looking to them to try and do
Something similar this year as well so but you know really interesting the fact that you know and and I know from your point of view you’re very keen on Innovation within Junior gol to try and attract Juniors and use different ways I know that one of the things with with
The F series you you love the fact that they you know let’s use music you know on the driving r that type of thing in the sense of you know make it a little bit different so it’s just something but it’s not even really Innovative it’s
Just having music and I’ll tell you who did it very well was was farham golf club and they did it when England golf were there for the English under 18s actually the year lty W won it um and it just had music on a driving range and
Local coffee Vans had turned up and it was just a real Festival it had a festival feel to it whereas I’ve been to certain events Junior events as well where you just almost wouldn’t know there was an event taking place unless you really knew do you know what I mean
And I would have like uh like the starters as well they all do a very good job but when it’s Juniors they could be a little bit more funky you know on the first te is Steve Jackson yes from from ketton Park you know and it’s like right stepping up
Onto the te right now we’ve got Steve the man Jackson from Kett Park take it away Steve you know just something you know with yeah I’m a big one for breaking from tradition keeping the elements of tradition which make the sport great but just moving forward as
Well you know just to just to mention as well I know we did actually mention this might well be in the last podcast to say it was coming up it was postponed because of the weather but we’ve got a night golf coming up on the shy Jia golf
Tour coming up in a few weeks time so once that’s just something a little bit different playing playing golf in the dark have you ever played if you asked that question yeah is if it’s not hard enough finding my ball when it’s light Yes actually I remember one of the first
Times I ever played night Golf and I remember I remember hitting this shot and thinking oh that’s nowhere near the pin and my playing partner went well that was that looks pretty good I’m like I wasn’t aiming there I was aiming somewhere completely different and and I
Got to the H and it was three feet away from the pin nice and I wasn’t even aiming there I was aing way left and I managed to slice it and put it next to the pin maybe you should play night golf more often absolutely yeah oh by the way
I missed the pod there you go right so obviously Innovation was one of the podcasts which we looked at the next one was was you know and we do touch upon subjects which are a little bit more serious on occasions and we talked about dealing with success and failure within junior
Golf and that is something which you know everyone has to deal with at some point you know it’s great when it’s brilliant it’s great when everything’s going well but when it’s not going quite so well you know it can be tough out there you know golf is a is is a brutal
Sport because you know I think you know some Tiger Woods might well have threw the comment you know 156 players start the Open Championship there 155 who were failures and one winner you know and that’s how sometimes you have to forget you know the fact that you know just by
Doing well and around the golf you don’t have to win the tournament to have done well you know and even if you don’t do well it comes down to your own definition of success doesn’t it making the cup might be you winning basically you know yeah absolutely and and the
Same dealing with success as well not to become you know too ful of yourself because you know just because you win a competition doesn’t mean that you’re the greatest thing since SLI bed kind of thing you know and also it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to be
Go on to become a professional golfer and top top professionals so fascinating you’ve got to remember even Tiger Woods lost more tournaments than he won so absolutely yes yeah and and on that show we had a couple of young young B we had George coup and James Beard by the way a
Lot of the people I’ve mentioned so Farland ambassadors that was their debuts on the podcast as well so these people first time they’d ever come on the podcast they were all excellent as well absolutely yeah well done well done to all of them coming on they all contributed all give different
Perspectives on on you know inevitably different perspectives on how they got into golf and some of the experiences that they’ve had during their time they were new on the podcast but we had an old face on as well Aaron Cox came on the podcast so so Aaron Aaron gave his
Perspective on success and failure and obviously from a from a golfer’s Prof golf professional’s point of view is that something whereby you know he has to coach those players who who might be you know bit down on themselves you know and how he kind of like had to pet them
Up you know and try and get them to to try and still love the game even if you know the the the results might not be going as well as they you know they would expect you know so fascinating to talk to our can I can I just say Steve
Might have a little bit of breaking news actually because Ash who uh is the director of golf at Darwin escapes runs the Trilby tour um has said there must be some tritor invites to be given out on this podcast for over 16s so I know it’s a junior golf podcast but if
There’s any uh anybody over the age of 16 16 17 18 as well who might be interested then yeah well 16 is still a junior go there we go so I will speak to Ash and see if we can arrange some tritor invites to go out for some people
Absolutely and actually we will come to one of the podcasts which we covered which was about golf tours junior golf tours so we’ll mention a little bit more about the Troy tour and we’ll mention some of the other tours as well we’ll come to that in a moment right next
Podcast which we did which was just a one person one interview and it was me I was over in Ireland playing at a a Legends tour pram my playing part of the time on that day was European tour winner and Legend tour professional Jonathan lass and it was just
Fascinating afterwards to take if I’m being honest I just wanted to take him inside and just have a little bit five 10 minute conversation with him I think 45 minutes later we finished the interview and I just thought well there’s a podcast on its own because it
Just brilliant to talk to him about his experience of coming through junior golf and then playing at the highest level so it was fascinating to hear from someone who been there done it and also now who is a senior golfer now about how he looks back on you know his life and how
He progressed through the junior ranks because obviously it’s a very different experience now for the junior golfer so it’s interesting you know how the things that he had to go through and and in some respects how how more difficult it is now for juniors you know and how much
Respect he has for those Juniors who who do go on to become professional golfers so you know great to hear from him now the next podcast you might remember this one because this is probably one of my favorites during the year and it was one which we always wanted to do completely
Different we did a rules quiz we had we had three junior young ambassadors on we had England golf young ambassadors Tom Ford Daniel Robinson and Henry Price and we did like a bit of a quiz didn’t we we had 18 quiz questions and we got them to hold their cards up
To say A B C or D D if they ever put D up then they knew they got it badly wrong because that was like the jokey answer so realistically it was a b or c for the for the for the quiz question actually I think we’ve got a video here
Because we had DP Chief referee Mark L who comeing and it was fantastic for us because he did all the answers for us you know someone who you know I got to admit when I when I put the 18 questions out there was a few of them I didn’t
Know what the answer was and well we needed somebody who definitely so just just to give you a flavor of of the kind of questions which we did that we did raise here’s here’s Mark here’s one of the ones which we did so if you take a practice ring take a
Divot which hits your ball what happens if the ball is moved by that divot then you would have to replace it and it would be a one shot penalty so that was the kind of questions we were getting kind of thing you know that was the 18th question and
I think in the end we had a bit of a playoff because I think two people uh did yeah they all did well actually yes they all did really well they did you’re right but even then there was a few questions whereby you it started off
Quite easy did way would s very what what should have been easy questions then we and it started getting a little bit more tricky a little bit more and then they started getting a few of them wrong so even those Juniors who felt as if they knew what all the rules were and
There are loads of rules out there let’s be honest golf is not an easy sport to you know we talked about the terms and conditions within golf well trying to know the rules is it can be you know and we’ve seen plenty of professionals get it wrong as well haven’t
We I think actually you you’ve got the you have the story of course with the event that you whether it was last year or the previous year whereby in the playoff whereby they got the rules wrong didn’t they yeah they did yeah it was 2020 PRI to rock cliff Hall up near Darlington
And Chris Hansen of course played hundred times on the European tour was in a playoff against Dan Brown actually funnny enough who’s now playing on a European to so they had had a playoff and Chris’s t-shot went over a fence into some trees um but it wasn’t out of
Bounds um and anyway he picked up the ball dropped it the other side of defense and even said to Dan are you okay with we doing this we think this is the right rules we filmed it all live of course um went on carried on Chris won
The won the tournament and um won the whatever the prize put was only for it to go viral after and um I don’t know if somebody got in touch to tell him that actually you’ve broken the rules so Chris you know fair play to him he forfeited um dced himself and handed
Down in the win and now England golf used that clip to teach their referees the rules of the game we ought to use that actually when we do some the some of the Junior stuff as well because you know it kind of that illustrates doesn’t it that even even
You know you you shouldn’t be embarrassed if you do get the rules wrong and that can for for a junior go that can be intimidating can’t it if if you feel as if you got the rules wrong and you know and in that instance you know what about if you got disqualified
Or you you know or you get penalized a couple of Strokes it can be embarrassing can’t it well that’s a perfect example by even the best players can can make errors on occasions yeah it’s almost too easy to to get yourself disqualified these days isn’t it there there’s too
Many rules Steve you know play play it as it lies unless it’s out of bounds play play where it lies yeah that’s my kind of golf right yeah zigzagging now now we’ve we’ve mentioned some of the people who we’ve had on this podcast and we’ve had
Had some big names on this podcast but the next podcast was probably the one whereby we had the big big names because we did a a show on elite junior team golf we had Ryder Cup captain Steven Gallagher we had Curtis Cup Captain Katrina Matthew we had major Champion
Georgia Hall and we had Austin professional Go for Emma spit so let’s just give ourselves a flavor of some of the subjects we covered when we were talking about elite junior team golf uh we covered the junior Solon cup as we mentioned earlier the junior Rider cup
As well so Katrina Matthew was someone who is going to be the Curtis Cup captain next year so we had a bit of a chat about her how she picks a team and all those types of things this is just a flavor of what we what we chatted
About I was up at the um bagano um a couple of weekends ago and watch that which I think will probably be the the kind of bulk of the team the core of the team will come probably from those ones um so it was just nice to um you know I
Knew a few of them but nice to introduce myself to the ones I didn’t know and then they had the Junior bagano on at the same time so you know got to see a couple of them playing so yeah it’s just getting out there and seeing them a
Little bit I’m going to go to a few events next year and see them all playing so um yeah I mean obviously I think the ones who are going to turn pro I know off now so um I know who’s going to be available so that’s her talking about
How she was looking at players for for for playing the Curtis cup there isas another so for those who W aware the curage cup is is a match an amateur match between the best lady amateurs in I think gbn irand against the best lady amst over in uh America but there will
Be a lot of Junior golfers who will be inevitably part of that Squad because you know generally speaking as as Katrina mentioned there some of them will be turning professional and a lot of them she’ll miss out on but there’ll be a lot of Juniors involved in that
We’ll probably win that one as well w we well let’s hope so yeah absolutely let’s go for the clean sweet why not yes now someone who was part of not just the the solheim cup but also the uh junior I think the Junior solheim Cup she played in as well with with
Georgia Hall had a chat with Georgia Hall at Centurion at ladies European Tour event this is what she her experience of when she was playing in that Junior Soul home cup uh obviously over the moon um as an amateur it’s great to have experiences like that and to be under high pressure
Situations I think it sets you up really nicely for your professional career as a lot of times you are under you know pressure and stress and a lot of people watching so to have a lot of crowds at Junior solheim and to play around the
Same venue as well um as the actual so cup was very special so that’s Georgia Hall talking about her experience of when she played in the junior Sol home cup as well now the junior Rider cup as well now the interesting thing about the junior Rider cup is that it’s boys and
Girls who play in that whereas the Jun Junior Sol cup is just for the girls but someone who has played in that event on a couple occasions is Australian professional golfer Emma Spitz also at Centurion Park had a chat with Emma this is what she said her experience of when
She found out she’d been picked to play in that match I got picked for the junior Rider cup the one year I was I think I was just up in my room and I didn’t really expect the call I wasn’t sure if I played well
Enough and I got a call and they were like oh yeah like we just wanted to ask if you would be interested in playing and I was like interested I’m like sure yeah I was so excited and then I started screaming and everyone in my house was
Like what is it what’s wrong what’s wrong I was like I’m playing in the junior Rider cup so yeah that was fun and the second time around obviously the experience of already playing in it as well was it similar experience of when you found out again yeah I think it’s
Always like this excitement is always the same I think it just means like so much in junior golf to be picked for that team so I think it would be the same even if you play like you know seven times like I think it’s like the
Same if you play J like um the actual soam cup or R cup I think it’s probably the same at like you know your seventh time than your first time so that was Emma Spitz there talking about her experience in that and it was great isn’t the fact that these
Tour Pros we mentioned about Role Models but the fact that they spoke to me and came on the podcast you know they they’re some of the biggest names in the in the game aren’t they that you know with with Georg Hall Charlie Hull Steven Gallagher as well who we will see in a
Little while but some of some of the biggest names of the game great to have them on the podcast isn’t it oh it’s it’s amazing it shows the the power I mean they all ow up their careers to Junior Golf don’t they really um and we’ll get tiger on this
Year we can’t well he you joke I I I almost got a very snippet of with raing earlier this year but uh but or last year no I’m serious Steve there there’s a local golfer down there called tiger yes T tiger Smith we’ll get him on
Yes well actually I tell you what I do know tiger Adams he’s a pro golf yes we get him on plays clutch bro get him on yes I know tiger as well I also there’s there’s there’s Robin Tiger Williams as well who’s from Peter and Milton Golf
Club as well and Peter millson’s Junior organizer came on and he was talking on the podcast as well but anyway we digress so next there is there is there’s plent yes yes yes and wonder it be great to get him on the podcast now one of the other podcasts which we
Covered we mentioned a little bit earlier is if we we looked at Junior Golf tours and there were a lot out there you know there there we mentioned about over in Ireland I’ve mentioned about the fact that I help run the shyest junior golf tour which is based
In the East Midlands in England you got the northern junior golf tour who’ve been on this podcast the previous year they got the Robert Rock junior golf tour you got the British junior golf tour so Robert Rock and the British junior golf tour tend to be more
National they they tend to go all around the country uh over in Scotland you have Steven gallager organizes one there’s two tours there’s uh the Scottish junior golf tour and the Scotland tour and so the lots of different tours and they and they and they aim at different types of
Players as well in the sense of some of them have you know shorter te’s where they where they play them halfway down the Fairway some of them are more you know the F series as we well know that’s a more at elite junior golfers so you know it’s fascinating to talk to the
Different types of people about how were their target audiences and what the type of golfers they get in and as always we tried to get some Junior golfers on so we had another debutant uh Olivia Whitt England golf young Ambassador she came on about her experience of playing in different types
Of Tours as well over over the years as well and we had Steven Gallagher on as well who runs his own tour up in Scotland um and you’ve mentioned about the F here but you’ve experienced there and you mentioned about the the clutch which you’ve worked
With as well they do some Junior um uh parts of their tour as well don’t they yeah they do 2020 do it as well now they have their their junior opens and Junior events and I think um you know people are starting to come around that the
Juniors they are the future of the game and they need to be looked after and not being made to sit through a stuffy interview in order to join a club we need people to join golf clubs we need you Juniors to be members of golf clubs
Um and so let’s make it easy for them and not make it hard and then when you’ve got people like Tom at clutch now opening up a junior golf tour and you’ve got Chris and Adam at 2020 opening up a junior golf tour you’ve gone from basically other than just sort of local
Club competitions and County competitions to being able to tear up at the belf free with all the advertising hoardings around looking like you’re you’re playing a real Pro event it’s it’s something quite special right now one of the other subjects which we looked at a fascinating one I found this really
Interesting was looking at golf junior golf and other sports because yeah I enjoyed this one yeah so we so we looked at it from so we had Emma spits on who who we mentioned earlier tour pro she she did a lot of skiing when she was young obviously living in a Austria you
Can imagine obviously with the slopes there but we also talked to a sir was the first sir that we ever had on this on this brog un gol podcast or at least certainly last year anyway we have had yourself on of course we’ll keep that
Quiet for the time we’ve had s Nick fer on to be fair so we have had a couple of sers on in in the past but we had someone who was from a different sport we had England cricket captain S Andrew Strauss on and his this was his take on
Golf and cricket and how he dealt with it as a as a as a youngster when he was growing up research says that early specialization doesn’t particularly help you um so playing other sports also having a break from your main sport and just to refresh yourself mentally is
Important um and yeah I mean I played a lot of rugby and Cricket in particular and a bit of golf so all of those I think help me in some way with my main profession um and yeah as much as anything just you want to stop people
Burning out I think that’s the key like early when you’re in your teens if you’re just playing one sport I think you can fall out of love with it and if you fall out of love with it then you you don’t want to do the practice and
Everything so I think that’s stuff is more important than than anything and that obviously with S Andrew St as well talking at the Sun and D fors when we were down there earlier in the year so we we held on to that clip for for for the podcast a little
Bit later on if if you’re wondering why it looks so miserable outside if you remember the following day it’s snow didn’t it off we got one day of play and then uh it was unfortunately cancelled to be fair we pick the right day then to go down there well we Pi the
Only day play so yeah yes now Andrew St there mentioned about turning professional obviously go from a golf point of view that was an next podcast we looked at you know Junior goers about how you actually go about turning professional because obviously you know there are lots of different
Ways to go about it you don’t have to become a tour pro you can become you know your Club Pro you can work in different ways so so we looked at the different options facing Junior golfers and actually we had England golf young Ambassador Daniel Robson on who had
Recently turned professional so that was fascinating talking to him about the journey that he’d made into turning professional as well and we had rder cup golfer and we keep on mentioning let’s hear from him because Steven Gallagher as well we had a chat with him at the
Belfrey when he was playing um in the uh British Masters at the belfrey this is what um he had to say about his journey to professional golf lucky um golfers in my family so I played since a young kid um but I think some other people has just having the
Opportunity to try it maybe through a school that’s what I’m trying to organize but I I grew up as a gol as a member of B Golf Club as a kid a young kid and um still played football still played other sorts of sports and then
Decided when I was about 12 13 I wanted to take it more seriously quit the football uh just got right into the golf got a bit better got into the boys junior team at the at the golf club and then started to do a little bit of
County coaching and then played for the county and then got a bit of SC National coaching and um playing Boys opens and stuff like that in between so playing competitively a lot and then got picked for the h National coaching going to the national team then going to the men’s
Team then going to the Great Britain Ireland team and Walker Cup team and then it was time to sort of turn pro so I think that’s the I think the key is to keep play competitive I think County gol’s massive I’d love to see a comeback in Scotland definitely where the best
Play against the best more often I think it’s been lost a little bit of County golf um so I think I think that’s the pathway to sort of if you want to be professional but apart from that I think the key is to try golf know that you
Like it and then join your local Club so that was St Giga talking about his journey into professional golf then the next podcast we mentioned about the fact that we we try and touch on different subjects and some of them a little bit more serious than other I
Think perhaps the one that which was the most serious that we looked out throughout the entire year was mental health in junior golf because you know golf is a sport we have to treat it as a sport we try and make it as fun as possible but there are times whereby
It’s important you know and we had England golf young Ambassador Emily hored on you know and she said that she uses golf with her school it helps her it helps her relax it helps take a bit of stress away from you know daily life and and you know you do have to remember
That these kids are having exams they having time you know without going into too many details I’ve just went into my son parents evening this evening before we started this podcast so you know it’s it’s an eye opener to to to see the kind of things that they’re having to go
Through you know and golf sometimes it can get away in get in the way of the studies but sometimes it can actually be helpful for the studies so that was it was fascinating to hear from Emily and also we had England golf lead safeguarding officer Petra d as well who
Obviously you know as far as safety is concerned and mental health you know she gave some of the people if you do have any issues as far as that is concerned please go on to the England Golf website if you do have any issues with mental health you’ve got Wonder haven’t you
Steve like these days like there was a good time isn’t it like we talk now and things are a lot more open than they used to be than say 20 years ago so I wonder how many really talented golfers you know who had the ability to
Make it to the top but didn’t quite get the support they needed from a me mentally who who probably should have made it but never did because the support just wasn’t there that’s good because we’ve made these strides there isn’t it you know and it’s also just
Moving into the next podcast we did as well something which something which which Junior golfers and golfers and people in general have to deal with now more than you know perhaps 5 10 15 certainly 20 years ago social media and that’s a podcast which we covered social media
Within junior golf we had influence of Mia Baker on she obviously gave her take on it as well and we also had the England golf Young Ambassador KY Williams who is the looks after the social media for the England golf young Ambassador so so I know and you as well
As someone who works in the media industry that something you got involved in that podcast and gave your perspective on social media and how it can it can help but also you have to be a bit wary of it at times yeah no I’m a
Big fan of it now we’ve gone from having to buy a newspaper to get any instant information and use correctly it’s a really powerful tool um you know but but it’s like any walks of life any industry is the same everything is just it’s called development it’s called moving
Forward you’ll always get some idiots you just and it doesn’t matter what the development was you know you just thought it’ll just happen unfortunately but you know just got to be better than now the the podcast that we did at the start of November was one about
Running a grand final the reason why we did this is because personally speaking I just ran two grand finals one for the shy uni Golf Tour and one for wari go Union we went through the processes that I went through setting it up getting the players there run on the
Day and then afterwards as well and you know that that process now has already started again for me for looking ahead to this easy so it’s not just a case of you know you always have to throw it together with two or three weeks notice the process starts well in advance you
Know it’s from my point of I have no issue whatsoever sharing that people to try and give them a little bit help and advice about how you go about running these Grand finals and trying to make them you know I’m not a great fan I’ll be honest of using the phrase Grand
Final because that it makes it sound as if you know you have to be you know the best player in the world to play in this ground final I would prefer to call it and and there is a golf grou out there which does do this they call it the
Festival of golf and I like that the fact that you know you know make it sound as if it you know we’re just having a good old time here you know and anyone is welcome kind of thing you know you’d rather win a grand final they a festival of golf
Well true true you know I I get that kind of thing but there are ways of making it sound more fun and and giving priz you know one of the things which I’ve mentioned to you mentioned in that show was the fact that I give a calendar
To every player who made it through to the Grand Final you know of action photos of then during the year you see so just my way of saying to them thank you for for taking part in the event this year and and this is the memories
Of your year kind of thing so there are ways of of doing that next of next podcast which we did um and only three more to go in the year that we did we talked about schools Golf and really we hadn’t touched upon this too often throughout the podcast so we
Had Unleash Your Drive manager Andy Leon and England golf youngor Daniel Robson came on and talked about how when he played golf at schools and what they’re trying to do with schools golf as well um Nick doy who’s a Sky Sports commentator I know that he is very very
Keen on getting more golf into schools so you know so good luck to him and well done him for pushing that the last one or the next one we did was International Junior Golf I got invited out very for to go out to the F series Grand Final took place in the UAE
So I used that as an opportunity to talk to Golfers and some people who representing golf in different countries so we had um we Ted about the UAE obviously the host country South Africa Sweden and Kenya as well which was a country which you wouldn’t necessarily associate with with golf Jun in
Particular um so it’s fascinating to hear different points of view about how they look at golf and how they you know how they how try and promote the game of golf across the world and then the last one that we did last year was talking about Junior organizer about being a junior organizer
And it was you know one of the most rewarding ones for myself because I felt as if I was really giving someone advice and they were taking it on board because we have Michael Lewis who contacted the progress J golf podcast and said I’ve just taken over as the junior organizer
My golf club townly golf club I’d like some advice on on what to do you know so we just thought let’s get him on let’s pile him full of uh people Jun organizer Charles Gun came on we had England golf young Ambassador Chloe saers as well give the
Junior perspective you know you also give your point of view as well but it was great to obviously pass that information on I’m pleased to say that Michael and Charles have been in touch with the Jud since then and obvious trying to get you know trying to get it
Up and running at Tim the go so that was the podcast that we covered last year and I think I think we covered a lot of different subjects yeah it was a great year second year absolutely so we’re into we’re into year three now so you believe that year
Three any ideas about what we might be covering over the next next 12 months what what haven’t we covered I suppose is the question well there’s a lot coming up in 2024 actually Steve tournaments Galore I’ve got a little announcement as well we going to be at
Schools golf uh in Scotland later in the year as well um we are uh potentially going to be doing quite a bit of filming up there as well it ties in very nicely with a with a try Tour event actually uh we got the tri Tour event on a Monday
Straight to scores golf uh the next day so very much looking forward to that I mean there there’s endless things to talk about there there really really is and because it’s been we’re into year three now it’s probably some of the episodes from year one are bit out of
Date now and probably need need to be touched on again you know I mean I know we the rules one last year sort of Midway through the year or so but that’s almost changing so of is it and so there’s there’ll be a lot of new topics
There’ll be a lot of exciting new guests um like you said we’ve got Charlie Hall coming up again soon as well so I’m very much looking forward to that one and if anybody has any suggestions what what needs to be tackled in junior golf if you’re a parent of a junior who plays
Golf and you don’t feel like we’ve answered a burning question or or something that needs seeing to in junior golf let us know contact us in the live chat and tell us what we should be talking about just one of the subjects which we or two subjects which we’re definitely
Going to be covering we’re going to be covering England gol’s new one of their new foot packages that they’re putting together which is called get to golf rookies they’ve got a girls golf rocks Campaign which have been going for a few years and they’re trying to they’re
Trying to develop that now so it’s not just girls it’s boys and girls who are doing a very similar thing and also we’re doing one on Junior Gold is fun I’m just going to do one about just you know mention the night golf there just things which are just completely off the
Scale just you know what it is isn’t it like all sport is fun and golf is particular fun isn’t it yes well you you’ll be the I I started out playing crazy golf that’s where I started out and I I suspect there’s going to be a
Lot of people out there who started the same way they started playing you know on a par three little golf course somewhere you know you’re still waiting for your first hole in one St I I well I’ve had one on the golf simulator that I’m Still Still claiming that that is
Still my again see the see the I’ve got look I’ve got the flag to say I got a hole in one honestly I did yeah yeah I don’t know it looks looks super imposed on the wall that but we’re going to be covering lots of different things this over this next
Year or so you know Charlie Hill we’ll hopefully get some big names on as always because you know inevitably I’m going to bump into some people over the years but um but thanks for everyone who been part of the pro of golf CL podcast over 2023 well done to everyone who did
Well during the pro during the last year but we’ve gotten lot more to come over the next 12 months and Beyond so please keep on watching have a good evening and we will catch up with you very soon take care everybody I’m gonna go get some lmip probably wise byebye
