Murray Patterson
Cruden Bay GC, Aberdeenshire
Murray took up the game aged ten, when he became a junior member at Mcdonald Golf Club in Ellon. From an early age, he was determined to become a teaching professional and during his time at Cruden Bay he has established a terrific relationship with the club’s members while working with a number of mini-tour professionals and collegiate golfers.
His general teaching philosophy is simple: everyone is different and there is no single way to swing a club. Among his strengths is his ability to simplify the swing. Murray has a special way of empowering his students and giving them more confidence.
“Knowing what to say and when to say it is vital,” Murray says. “Sometimes the student needs to hear your feedback on every shot and at other times they need minimum input. Some players like to be challenged; some
players like to be praised regularly to build their confidence. A great teacher understands what is needed to get the most out of their student.”
With a high percentage of his pupils being engineers in north-east Scotland (oil and gas sector), Murray has found Coachnow to be an effective online platform to communicate with his players, which allows him to provide feedback and additional tuition.
Murray is in only his fifth year of coaching, and he remains an ardent golf student himself, always looking to further his knowledge about the game and improve his own teaching methods. As well as being big on Trackman data, his most recent purchase is Boditrak, something that is helping him to learn more about the importance of ground reaction forces.