Matt’s on course as hard work pays off with award
COVENTRY golf pro Matt Pugh is proving the adage that life begins at 40 by winning The PGA’S most prestigious award for its trainees.
There are more than 200 trainees spending three years qualifying to become PGA Professionals at any one time and Pugh has been named Titleist PGA Assistant of the Year.
The award, which carries a £3,500 prize and is usually won by a more callow candidate, marks the latest stage of a journey for Pugh who turned 40 earlier this month.
As a teenager, however, he thought golf was boring. That is until the emergence of Tiger Woods.
“He changed my perception that golf was boring and inspired me to start playing,” recalled Pugh, who works at the John Reay Golf Centre, Keresley. Pugh took steps to turn his interest into a career by completing an HND in golf course management at Reaseheath College in Cheshire. Most of his contemporaries went into greenkeeping but Pugh harboured ambitions of becoming a golf pro.
“I didn’t fancy greenkeeping,” he added. “So I started working in the pro shop at the Welcombe Hotel in Stratford-upon-avon and took things from there. It’s been a long road because of injuries and illness but once I got my handicap down to four to be eligible for the course that was it.”
In addition to combining his studies with working full time at the John Reay Golf Centre, Pugh has a young family. All of which has meant burning the midnight oil to complete his assignments.
“There’s been a lot of working into the early hours to get them done,” he explained. “The family has been very supportive, so have John Reay, my fellow pros at the golf centre and Julie Otto, my mentor.
“Julie won this award a few years back and, like me, has a family and left it late to turn pro. As a result she’s been able to empathise with my situation and reassured me when I was panicking about completing everything. It’s been hard graft at times so this award makes it all worthwhile, especially during this worrying time when we’re all having to stay at home and self-isolate because of the coronavirus.”
The John Reay Golf Centre, in common with golf courses and pro shops everywhere, is currently closed due to the coronavirus crisis and Pugh is relishing a return to normality, not least because he is due to step up his involvement in the coaching side of the business.
“Coaching is my favourite part of being a golf pro,” he said. “There are plans to increase the number of bays at the centre for coaching and I will play a big part in running that. I can’t wait to get back.”