Swiss PGA Further Education Autumn Series 2019
08.11.2019

2019 PGA of America teacher Kevin Kirk was the featured guest in the first of our autumn learning series. Kevin is the long term coach of Patrick Reed and consults with many high profile players. He is also involved in the successful golf development programme at the Woodlands in Texas, where he works in a team of 9 Coaches. Kevin shared insights and beliefs based around understanding how to develop people and athletes before delving into the key skills that golfers will need to have to be successful at varying levels. Swiss PGA members were also given the chance to understand how these coaching and practice methods work during a live training session. Kevin is one of a growing modern breed of Golf coaches who are recognising that player development starts with the person and their current skills, which then provides the road map for individualised training plans that will ensure the golfer will make progress and improve their scores.

We are sure this information will aid Swiss PGA professionals create more effective and efficient trainings plans for their clients. We look forward to seeing the results and thank both Kevin and the PGA members in attendance and naturally Migros and Golfpark Otelfingen, our education partner for hosting us in such a fantastic learning environment.

Dr Paul Schempp has roots in Switzerland with his ancestors originating from our country in the 1600’s. Today, he is the professor at the University of Georgia and is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in expert leaders and sport coaches. Dr Schempp shared insights into his work with Team Sweden where they developed a series of highly successful coaches and players. He also aided our Swiss PGA professionals understand what it takes to be an expert coach by exploring communication skills, decision making and ways to develop these skills. No matter what the sport, expert coaches have a deep specific knowledge of their sport, the participants and techniques that aid skill development. They, however, also have fantastic people skills and this mix contributes to successes. Lastly, all have developed the practice of lifelong learning, knowing that they can always improve just like their clients. In the audience, was the former technical director of the Swiss FA, Hans Ruedi Hassler, a personal friend of Dr. Schempp.

We thank all attendees for their support of the event and our education partner Migros / Golfpark Holzahausern for providing fabulous learning facilities.

Golfpark Holzhäusern was the venue of the first Swiss PGA Coaching Business workshop hosted by Steve Astle. Steve has developed a reputation in the UK for helping coaches evolve their business by breaking down marketing into 4 key areas namely reflection of own business, recruitment of new clients and golfers, retention of existing clients and development of a strategy for the up and coming season. The interactive workshop format was filled with group discussions on many themes including social media / online marketing but Steve was quick to highlight the importance of developing and maintaining personal relationships with golfers at their own facility before expanding into the online world. In retaining clients, coaches must help golfers get better and ensure their sessions meet the needs of the golfers attending. The feedback received from participants may mean that Steve returns to Switzerland in the future to help more PGA members improve their business.

We thanks all attendees for their support of the event and our education partner Migros / Golfpark Holzahausern for providing fabulous learning facilities.