Lysa Jones
Walker’s Golf Academy, The Oaks GC, Yorkshire
Lysa is a senior coach at Walker’s Golf Academy. She is widely regarded as the leading female who is coaching elite golf in the UK and Ireland, and has recently been included in a 19-strong group of women – across various sports - identified by UK Sport as having the potential to coach at the 2024 Olympics and beyond.
Lysa played briefly on the Ladies European Tour, but always knew that she wanted to be a leading coach. She has now been coaching for 25 years, is a former winner of the England Golf’s Coach of the Year, and has spent eight years as the coach of England’s U18 boys.
In recent years Lysa has continued to work on her own development, spending time with Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott (Vision 54) in Arizona as well as a visit to renowned short-game coach Stan Utley. However, the bulk of her time is spent working with elite players.
“I’ll watch them play at a combination of the practice ground for the technical part and how they perform in tournaments. I’m not just looking at their technique but how they control their emotions and deal with pressure. Do they have that bouncebackability?”
As for Lysa’s greatest teacher, the answer is her long-time and hugely respected boss. “I’ve worked with Graham Walker for 17 years. I love the way he communicates, engages and gets the player to respond. He’s been a great mentor to me.”