Alison Johns

Golfing Herald met up with Alison Johns, PGA Teaching Professional at Woodhall Spa Golf Club for our Meet the Professional series.

Alison’s love of golf started when she caddied for her father on the 9 hole golf course at RAF Woodhall. Then, aged 11, she picked up a golf club and really enjoyed the experience of hitting a golf ball for the first time.

Alison then joined Boston Golf Club, Lincolnshire and within 3 years she was playing off scratch!! Over the next few years, Alison won several county and national events. In 1987 she won the England Girls U18 Strokeplay championship and the following year she won the prestigious Ladies Gold Cup, played annually at the Roehampton Club.

Alison represented England many times during her glittering amateur career at school, U18, U21 and full international level. She also represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a tournament played in Canada.

In 1991 Alison turned professional and played full time on the Ladies European Tour for the next 2 years. She then joined Sudbrook Moor Golf Club where she gained her PGA Qualifications. After gaining experience in various Club and Teaching Professional roles, Alison moved to the National Golf Centre, Woodhall Spa in 2008 where she has gained a reputation as a popular, well respected and innovative coach, providing individual and group tuition to players of all abilities.

In 2009, Alison underwent a life-saving liver transplant after an unknown virus attacked her liver. Fully recovered, Alison champions the importance of organ donations. She also heightens the awareness that transplant patients can still participate in sport.

Alison has proudly represented the Great Britain golf team at the biennial World Transplant Games, firstly in Argentina in 2015 and again in Spain in 2017, winning an individual gold medal on both occasions. She is practising hard for the next games which are being held this August in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England.

At the start of next year, Alison will become the first-ever lady captain of the PGA Midlands Region.

Woodhall Spa Golf Club

Golf has been played in the village of Woodhall Spa since 1890, with the original course being a 9 hole configuration. As the village expanded, the Golf Club had to find another home. Thus in 1902, Stafford Vere Hotchkin who was a local landowner and golf club member (and briefly a Member of Parliament after the First World War) provided the land for a new 18 hole golf course.

Harry Vardon, who won the Open Championship a record 6 times, was employed to design the new golf course which was officially opened on 30th June 1905. In 1911, the renowned golf course architect Harry Colt was engaged to redesign the course and his proposals took three years to implement.

Stafford Vere Hotchkin established his own golf course design company in the late 1920s. He then remodelled many of the holes and almost single-handedly kept Woodhall Spa Golf Club open during the Second World War. He died in 1953 but his son Neil continued his father’s legacy.

Neil Stafford Hotchkin was a first-class cricketer for Cambridge University and Middlesex between 1934 and 1948 and in 1972 he was the President of the England Golf Union.

To preserve the future of Woodhall Spa, he sold the Golf Club to the England Golf Union in 1995 and in 1998 when a second golf course was opened (the Bracken) the original course was renamed the Hotchkin. The England Golf Union subsequently relocated their HQ to the site, which is now known as the National Golf Centre.

The Hotchkin is ranked amongst the Top 100 golf courses in the world and is one of the world’s finest heathland golf courses. In addition to the Hotchkin and the Bracken, there are fantastic facilities at the performance centre including an 18 bay driving range, indoor putting studio, short game area and a Quintic Ball Roll machine.

The First Tee

Golfing Herald (GH): I had the hypothetical honour on the first tee and ‘teed off’ by asking Alison where and how her golfing journey all started?

Alison Johns (AJ): My father played so I caddied for him. Actually just up the road from here at RAF Woodhall. He was in the forces and it was a small 9 hole course. I caddied for him and then had a go at hitting the ball and found I really enjoyed it and I could hit it and really started from there.

(GH): How old were you?

(AJ): I was 11.

(GH): Were you into any other sports at that time?

(AJ): At school, I was always pretty good at sports. Just anything and everything.

Hooked

(GH): From caddying for your father and then ‘having a go hitting a ball’, how did you progress to actually playing golf?

(AJ): We eventually joined Boston Golf Club and I never looked back!! All I wanted to do was to play golf.

Down to Scratch

(GH): Can you remember what your first official golf handicap was at Boston Golf Club?

(AJ): I started with a 36 handicap and then I did an amazing score and ended coming down to something like a 24 handicap. Something ridiculous!!

(GH): Even with my degree in Mathematics I can’t work out what you must have shot!!

(AJ): The handicap system was totally different back then (over 30 years ago). I was quite good when I was younger. I got down to scratch by the age of 14!!

Representative Honours

(GH): I think the term ‘quite good’ is a bit of an understatement!! By reaching scratch so quickly and at such a relatively young age, did you get noticed at say county (Lincolnshire) and/or national (England) level?

(AJ): Yes. I got noticed by playing in events such as the Lincolnshire county championships, England Girls and the British Girls. I was playing for the England U18 team when I was 14 so I was very much the youngest in the team.

(GH): Did you then progress and play for England Ladies?

(AJ): Yes. I played for England Ladies many times over a number of years in events such as the Home Internationals.

Fantastic Season

(GH): During my preparation for our chat today, I wrote down 1987. During that year you won, amongst others, the Lincolnshire Ladies Championship and the Midlands Girls Championship. You also became the England Girls U18 Champion. Just a fantastic season.

(AJ): Yes it was a very good year. The highlight was winning the England Girls U18 Strokeplay Championship at Ferndown Golf Club, Dorset. The following year I won the Ladies Gold Challenge Cup at the Roehampton Club and a couple of years later I represented Great Britain & Northern Ireland in an International tournament played in Canada. Just a fantastic experience.

Aspirations

(GH): Alison, you mentioned earlier that after that initial experience of caddying for your father and then hitting a golf ball for the first time, that all you wanted to do was to play golf. So did you know even at that very early age that you wanted to become a Professional golfer?

(AJ): I did. I wanted to play on Tour. I used to go and practise before school, after school. My parents were like a little bit worried that I was doing too much. It wasn’t them saying go and practise they were like “don’t you think you are doing too much?” and I am shouting no, I love it!!

(GH): But if you have got a passion and dreams then one aspect of being a parent is one of encouragement?

(AJ): Exactly. If that is all you want to do then as you say it is about nurturing that talent.

Ladies European Tour

(GH): When did you finally turn Professional?

(AJ): I turned Professional in 1991. I played full time on the Ladies European Tour for the first two years. I had a really good sponsor (Johnson Seeds, a local company where we lived in Boston). Then I started to struggle a little bit though I made my first cut which was great at the Italian Open in Rome.

(GH): Why did you start to struggle?

(AJ): I started to lose my confidence. When you are younger you sort of have a ‘feel for golf’, but in my last year as an Amateur I started to struggle with confidence a little bit, but I had already made the decision to turn professional.

(GH): What happened next?

(AJ): As I said I played full time for two years but then I thought no. I wanted to be on Tour and I would be OK in practice but in Tournaments, I just wasn’t good enough.

(GH): No injury, just one of confidence?

(AJ): That’s right. Just rubbish…I can’t blame anything else!!

PGA Qualifications

(GH): After leaving the Tour, what did you do next?

(AJ): I decided to do my PGA Training. I started at Greetham Valley Golf Club. I was still playing a few events on Tour but then I moved when I did give up being full time on tour, to Sudbrook Moor Golf Club working for Head Pro Tim Hutton.

(GH): Did Tim take you ‘under his wing’.

(AJ): He did, he was great. You work in the shop, did business studies, club repairs, rules of golf, teaching and I became a qualified PGA Professional after 3 years of training.

(GH): Although you had left the Ladies European Tour, were you still playing competitively?

(AJ): Yeah. Pro-Ams and the (big) 1-day Ladies Pro events.

(GH): Did you ever get your confidence back to a level where you thought you could return to the Tour?

(AJ): No. I played a few tournaments until about 1996 and you think “Yeah Yeah I’m ready” but I just knew deep down it wasn’t to be.

(GH): As you say the mind is such a powerful force. I played at my home club, Beverley & East Riding at the weekend and if you had seen me play on about 6 of the holes you would have thought “He can play”…but then the mind ‘takes over’ to such an extent that if you had seen me (try to) play the other 12 holes you would have thought “Maybe not!!”.

(AJ): It is amazing isn’t it. You reach a certain level and then it is all about the mind and confidence.

Club Professional

(GH): How long did you work at Sudbrook Moor Golf Club?

(AJ): I was attached to Sudbrook Moor Golf Club for a number of years and then I did some time at Boston West Golf Club as a Teaching Professional. Then I got a Club Pro’s job at Sutton Bridge Golf Club, which is a fantastic 9-hole course built in the old dock area. Fantastic course, really good, I loved it there.

(GH): How did you find that transition to being a Club Pro?

(AJ): I really enjoyed it. I loved it as I am quite good with people and being that initial point of contact for members and visitors.

(GH): This is a theme that I have touched upon with some of the other Professionals in this series in that the Club Pro very much sets the tone as that initial point of contact and ‘front of house’ representative of the Golf Club.

(AJ): Exactly. But then, unfortunately, the club shop was broken into. I used to stock the shop but they stole most of my stock. So I then restocked and they (burglars/thieves) came back again. After that, I  was going to still shock the shop with golf merchandise apart from golf clubs.

Teaching Professional

(GH): Not much I can say to that. How long were you the Club Pro at Sutton Bridge Golf Club?

(AJ): I was there for 2 years. I then went to Tydd St Giles Golf Club as a Teaching Professional.

(GH): At this point, was your focus and passion all about being a full-time PGA Teaching Professional?

(AJ): It was. Very much so. From there I went to London for some time at Trent Park Golf Club in Enfield. I was really busy teaching, with some time helping out in the club shop. But I didn’t really know anyone. You know when you come from the country, living and working in London wasn’t for me if you know what I mean?

(GH): I know exactly what you mean. Before I totally changed direction and launched Golfing Herald in December last year, I worked for many years contracting away from home and many a night stuck in a hotel in London thinking…I didn’t sign up for this!!

Move to Woodhall Spa

(GH): Where next after the challenges of living and working in Enfield?

(AJ): I came back to Lincolnshire and worked as a Teaching Professional at a couple of clubs. I then got asked to come here (Woodhall Spa) by the Pro and help with teaching the Juniors as he was really busy coaching.

(GH): When you say Juniors was that Woodhall Spa Juniors or County Juniors?

(AJ): At the time it was the Woodhall Spa Golf Club Juniors, though today I do coach the Lincolnshire County Girls team. Then there was an opportunity to be a Teaching Professional here and I have now been at Woodhall Spa for about 11 years!! Now I teach everybody here…Ladies, Gents, Juniors…

One-Day Ladies Start Me Up!!

(GH): That brings us very neatly to a section that really caught my eye on the Woodhall Spa website, namely one of your golf schools which is titled ‘One-Day Ladies Start Me Up’, with the strapline “If you can’t beat them, join them! If you’re a lady whose husband or partner seems to spend all his time playing golf – then why not get involved yourself?”. I am intrigued, please enlighten me!!?

(AJ): Oh yes!! These particular sessions started about 8 years ago. I just thought there was such an opening for ladies who wanted to have a go at golf, so the 1-day sessions are very much run in a fun, relaxed, introductory sort of way to see if they like it…and many ladies have…and then joined the Club!!

Teaching Philosophy

(GH): What is your Teaching, Coaching Philosophy?

(AJ): I think every individual is different, so there is no one set approach for everybody.

(GH): Ok, so where would you start if you were approached by say a new pupil who wanted to take up golf, commencing with a golf lesson or a series of golf lessons?

(AJ): First off I would ask the new pupil to complete a (simple) questionnaire including whether they play or have played any other sports because that can help. Really try to get to know them and their background. Then start to explain about the golf club, how it works if they don’t know, which part of the ball you are trying to hit because hitting the ball to start with is an achievement. Very much start with the basics and build up from there.

(GH): What about an experienced golfer who approaches you for a lesson and let’s say they play off something like a 7 or 8 handicap?

(AJ): I would see exactly what they are looking to work on and improve and go from there. Setting clear targets and objectives.

(GH): I am sure, that after reading this article, a number of golfers (Gents, Ladies & Juniors) will want to get in touch with you to inquire about tuition. What is the best way for people to contact you?

(AJ): If any of your readers wish to find out more information on tuition then please just email me at AlisonJohns@sky.com

Five days

(GH): Turning the clock back to 2009, you contracted a life-threatening virus to your liver. That must have been like…

(AJ): …yeah, amazing!! Just from having a virus attack my liver and within 6 weeks I had a liver transplant. I was very lucky. I was given 5 days left to live and then in the last few hours of my final day, I got a new liver. For me it was fine, it’s your family as you worry about them but for yourself, you just get on with things. I will forever be grateful to my donor and their family. A big change in my life. A blessing really and now I am working far too hard, not a day off in 2 weeks, what am I doing!!?

(Alison’s fantastic outlook on life and self-deprecating humour shone brightly throughout our chat)

(AJ): I lost a lot of strength after having my surgery and it took a while to come back. I was out of work for like 8 months and went back to live with my parents who looked after me. It’s amazing how it just affects you and it was all I could do to get up and wash. I would be worn out and have to go back to bed again. They lived near a golf course, maybe about 300 yards from the entrance of the course. Eventually when I was trying to ‘get back up’, I had a friend who worked at the golf course so I walked there for a coffee but I could not walk back as I was worn out. My dad would then have to come and pick me up. I gradually built my stamina up and then I came back in March (2010) to Woodhall Spa to try and work. It was far too soon!! I tried to run a 2-hour golf school but it was just too much. I did it which was great but I was standing up with all these stabbing pains thinking “my god what is happening”. After that, I did not come back to work again until August.

(GH): When did you first get back playing on a golf course?

(AJ): I played in a Ladies Pro-Am at the end of that August at Market Rasen Golf Club.

(GH): There must have been lots of mixed emotions that day?

(AJ): Exactly. It’s amazing really because it’s not like it’s happened to you. It’s like you are talking about somebody else. That is how you deal with things really.

World Transplant Games

(GH): Since this life-saving liver transplant, you have become very actively involved with the World Transplant Games?

(AJ): Just amazing. To me, something else to play golf in now and it is important for me to play as it is all about the organ register and the donor register and for people to see that there is life after having a transplant and that you can still play sport. I was told I would never swing the club the same way again after my transplant and I said: “Thank god for that!!”

(once we stopped laughing)

(GH): That’s just brilliant!!

(AJ): Yeah. It’s brilliant and I have now played golf in two World Games.

(GH): Your first Games was in Argentina in 2015 where you won a gold medal. Great experience?

(AJ): Just amazing. Never been to Argentina before and it was such a long way. Once we arrived in Argentina we had about a 6-hour bus ride to Mar Del Plata after something like a 14-hour flight!! It was great, really good.

(GH): Did you get the opportunity to watch any of the other sports at these games?

(AJ): Yeah. We watched the cycling and some of the athletics but then I was not very well as I got food poisoning. Luckily I had finished playing golf.

(GH): Then you successfully defended your title at the World Games in Malaga, Spain in 2017?

(AJ): Yeah. The golf was played at Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s course near the Airport and I again won my age group.

(GH): And then later this year, the games are being held in Newcastle-Upon Tyne, England where hopefully you will be going for the hat-trick? Practising hard?

(AJ): Yeah. I am working hard and continuing to get my fitness levels back up.

Highlights and Achievements

(GH): What would you say have been the highlights or best achievements playing golf, Amateur or Professional?

(AJ): As an amateur probably the England Under 18 Girls championship.

(GH): As a Professional, you mentioned earlier about making the cut at the Italian Open.

(AJ): That was probably my highlight!! Also, I played in Turkey in this Pro-Am which was fantastic…Senior, Lady and Male Professionals. That was really nice and I won a bit out there. As a Professional, think it has just got to be winning the gold medal.

The best facet of your game

(GH): What would you say is the best facet of your game?

(AJ): Teeing the ball up!! You didn’t know whether to laugh then or not did you!!? Course Management…short game. In fact, my bunker shots are probably the best part of my game. Driving the ball I am not very long but I am pretty straight and hit most of the fairways.

Still competitive

(GH): Other than the World Transplant Games, do you still play competitively?

(AJ): Yeah. I play in local Pro-Ams in Lincolnshire. We have a really healthy Pro-Am schedule in Lincolnshire which is great. I try to play in as many of these as I can. I used to play the 1 day Ladies Pro Events but not so much now. Having said that, I have just entered the WPGA Championship this year to be played over 36 holes at Copt Heath Golf Club, Birmingham.

Captain (PGA Midlands Region)

(GH): Next year, you will become the first-ever lady captain of the PGA Midlands Region. When does this prestigious role actually start?

(AJ): January/February time, whenever the AGM is held.

(GH): What does this role actually entail?

(AJ): We will run the charity Pro-Am to raise funds for the PGA Benevolent Fund and a charity of my choice, which will be the Transplant Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, who saved my life. There will be certain tournaments throughout the year which I will attend and I might play in some of the events for which I receive an invite as Captain. I will also be on the committee for a year.

Changes in Golf

(GH): What would you say is the biggest change you have observed in the game of professional golf?

(AJ): I think the power and the equipment such as the golf ball. How far they hit the ball now is amazing isn’t.

(GH): Further to what you touched upon earlier on how you are still building up your strength and conditioning, fitness in golf is so important today?

(AJ): Changed totally. They are pure athletes now. Men and Women. They are all working out so much harder now in the gym. They are so strong.

(GH): What other changes have you noticed?

(AJ): The equipment. When I was younger it was more about pronate the club and get the wrists going and swing in to out and so on.

(GH): And as a Teaching Professional, you now have the benefit of a plethora of training equipment and gadgets?

(AJ): Exactly. And today you are using your bigger muscles to hit a ball. Turning through rather than before when it was very much arms and hands.

Outside of golf

(GH): What are your interests outside of golf?

(AJ): I have got a couple of dogs. They are both rescue dogs. One of them we have had for 2 years and he is a labradoodle though he is more Labrador than anything…a Labrador with short legs and a curly head and top!! He is lovely and then a female dog who is a terrier. A crossbreed terrier and we have had her since she was 6 months old and she is nearly 9 years old now. Great to go out walking with them and just switch off. Though I just love playing golf. When I am teaching I try and hit balls most days. I just love to get out and play and practise. It’s just a blessing to be alive and to go outside and play golf on a course.

Favourite Sporting Event

(GH): What is your favourite sporting event?

(AJ): I think it has got to be the Masters.

(GH): You must have enjoyed this year’s Masters?

(AJ): Fantastic that Woods won but for Molinari to lead all the way and then just that bad shot at 12…

(GH): What is it about the Masters that makes it your favourite Sporting Event?

(AJ): The beauty and all of the flowers and it is just an amazing course. The players, the hype, the beginning of the golf season…it just makes you want to get out and play.

Fantasy Fourball

(GH): In addition to yourself, who would you pick for your Fantasy Fourball?

(AJ): I would say Annika Sörenstam as I admire her for everything she has done for the game and mentally so strong. Tiger Woods would be my next pick and then a comedian to complete the fourball.

(GH): Some of the other Professionals who have participated in this series have also selected a comedian for some balance and light-hearted relief!!

(AJ): Exactly. I just can’t think of her name. That’s terrible. I am sure I got brain damage when I had my surgery!!

(cue more laughter)

(AJ): Victoria Wood…Annika, Tiger and Victoria, that is my dream fourball.

If not a Professional Golfer

(GH): Alison, if you had not been a Professional Golfer, then what?

(AJ): I would probably have liked to have been a policewoman.

(GH): Interesting…why a policewoman?

(AJ): I just don’t like to see injustice. There are good cops and there are bad cops but I would be a good cop addressing injustice.

Favourite Golf Course

(GH): Other than Woodhall Spa, which is your favourite golf course in the UK?

(AJ): I love ‘The Berkshire’. When we were younger we used to play in the Avia Foursomes. When I was an amateur, I used to play with a friend of mine and it was just a fantastic tournament and the Red and Blue courses were just brilliant.

(GH): And your favourite golf course outside of the UK?

(AJ): Valderrama. I just love Valderrama. It was a place we went on holiday with a few of my friends. I had just turned Pro and we had our first holiday as such and I went with 3 of my golfing friends. One of them was a really good player and she was quite well known at the time and she managed to get us some free rounds on Valderrama. It was just amazing, the condition of the course, just everything really. There was nobody out there. It was like millionaire’s golf.

Marooned

(GH): A bit of fun. You are marooned on a remote Island. What would you not be without?

(AJ): My imagination is really bad!! Got to be a golf club and ball. It would have to be a good book, any genre, just a really good fictional story and probably music (like the book any genre) to listen to and keep you going.

The Nineteenth

(GH): And finally. You are now in charge of the R&A

(AJ): God forbid…Theresa May eat your heart out!!

(GH): What would be your mission statement/vision for Golf?

(AJ): Short and simple…a lot of courses have just got to relax their dress codes and we need to introduce more children to golf and just be more family orientated.

(GH): Alison, a huge thanks for your time today and for sharing a wonderful, passionate and at times humorous insight into your golfing life and career to date. Also, many thanks to the hospitality of Woodhall Spa Golf Club.

Achievements

For completeness, I have included a list of Alison’s major playing achievements to date as an Amateur and as a Professional.

1985 – England Schools Champion (Golf Foundation)

1985 – England Schools International

1985, 1987 & 1988 – England U18 International

1987 – England Girls U18 Strokeplay Champion

1987 to 1989 – England Ladies International

1987 & 1989 – Midlands Girls Champion and Lincolnshire Ladies Champion

1988 – Won the Roehampton Ladies Gold Cup

1988 to 1990 – England U21 International

1989 – Represented Great Britain & NI at an International Tournament (in Canada)

1991 – Turned Professional (Handicap was +2)

1991 to 1992 – Played full time on Ladies European Tour

1996 – Won the Vivian Saunders WPGA Foursomes with Nicola Way

2008 – Won the Vivian Saunders WPGA Foursomes with Christine Burton

2015 & 2017 – World Transplant Games Gold Medallist

(Since this article was originally published, Alison successfully won gold at the 2019 World Transplant Games)