Stuart Brewer

Golfing Herald met up with Stuart Brewer, Head PGA Professional at Holme Hall GC for our Meet the Professional series.

Stuart’s first involvement with golf came during a holiday with his parents in Scotland, when aged 10 he played on the Himalayas putting green at St. Andrews. He has been “hooked” ever since.

As a Junior golfer, Stuart represented Lincolnshire Boys. The Professional who coached the Boys team offered Stuart the position of Assistant Professional at Lincoln Golf Club. Thus in 1977, at the age of 16, Stuart became a Professional Golfer.

Following a successful few years as an Assistant Professional at Lincoln and Market Rasen Golf Clubs, Stuart secured a role at Kokkedal GK in Demark and so in 1982 Stuart’s Scandinavian golfing adventure began. Over the next 7 to 8 years Stuart built a growing reputation as a golfing coach with spells at various Golf Clubs in Denmark and Sweden.

Stuart returned to England in 1990 as the Head PGA Professional at Elsham Golf Club and since May 2016 he has been the Head PGA Professional at Holme Hall Golf Club. He has coached many Amateur and Professional champions, including Dan Greenwood, who won the 2013 British PGA Championship. Stuart has also coached several Ladies European Tour players.

Stuart is a Fellow of the Professional Golfers Association and one of the few Professionals to have the Golf Stroke Engineering Master’s qualification through the Golfing Machine. His coaching was recognised in 2018 with the Lincolnshire PGA Coach of the Year and the Midland PGA Coach of the Year awards.

Stuart is passionate about the history and the future direction of golf and his motto is “I am never the finished article and thus I learn every day”.

Holme Hall Golf Club

Holme Hall is a superb heathland golf course situated just south of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire.

In 2015 this Par 71, 6413 yards course was recognised by England Golf, who granted Holme Hall championship golf course status.

In June of this year, Holme Hall and Elsham Golf Clubs will host the prestigious English Senior Men’s Open Amateur Championship. All competitors will play 36 holes over the first two days, with one round on each of the courses. The leading 80 players and ties will then play a further 18 holes at Holme Hall.

Holme Hall hosts a variety of open competitions throughout the calendar year, culminating in the August Festival Week, which combines a week of golf competitions and social events.

Holme Hall has produced many fine players over the years, none more so than 2-time major winner Tony Jacklin who was a member of the club as a youth and to this day is an honorary member.

Holme Hall is a proud member of “The Society of 1908 Golf Clubs”. This society promotes friendship between clubs founded in 1908 and enables society members to play courses on a reciprocal basis. Formed in 2001 this society has grown in strength from an initial 8 members to circa. 25 clubs today.

Returning to the 1^st Tee

Golfing Herald (GH): I started our conversation by asking Stuart when and where his golfing journey “teed off”.

Stuart Brewer (SB): I went on holiday to Scotland with my parents when I was 10 years of age. We stopped in Edinburgh and travelled around and one day we ended up in St. Andrews, where my first involvement with golf was playing on the Himalayas putting green. Ever since then I have been hooked. I love the game, I just love it. I love all aspects of the game and the whole feel of golf.

(GH): So, after that first experience, did you join a Golf Club as a Junior member?

(SB): Yes. My father was a stonemason of Lincoln Castle. The custodian (of Lincoln Castle) was a guy called Tom Westwood who actually was a golfer. He recommended to my dad that I get golf lessons. So, my dad went down to Carholme Golf Club in Lincoln where Mervyn Gibbons, a well-respected, elderly golf professional, took me under his wing. He gave me lessons but more than that he showed me everything really. He showed me how to behave.

(GH): Which is such an important life skill.

(SB): Definitely. One day he called me “Hogan” and I asked him who “Hogan” was? So, at about 12 years of age, this is 1973, I found out all about Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead and many more.

(GH): Greats from a bygone era.

(SB): Yes. I got all this for free really by him just talking and me just listening, all in the Pro Shop. It was amazing to me. He was just fantastic. So, my experience through those initial golf lessons has given me a career and a life.

Next Steps and Progression

(GH): So how did your golf progress from those early lessons with Mervyn Gibbons?

(SB): I was a poor beginner, I think. I was initially a poor learner. My elder brother who was 4 years older than me took to the game really quickly. I was slow. But I was taken under the wing of a lot of local workers who had regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday “Golf Schools”. I got involved with those and I played with quite good players. You felt you had to hit quite good shots just to stay with them. So, you did. You had lessons but then it was a framework of playing golf on the course. I was very lucky that I started to play with very good players and they pulled me along. Gradually I started to improve and then played for the Lincolnshire County Junior team. I would say I became a competent player. I could play but I was nowhere near the standard required to be a professional golfer. I had a good sense of scoring. I knew how to get the ball around. I was a golfer.

(GH): Good course Management?

(SB): Yes. Good course Management. Good short game skills. Good head on my shoulders. I knew how the game worked. I knew I had to hit fairways and greens and scramble my way around. I was prepared to battle and fight and tough it out.

Bridging the Gap

(GH): Stuart, I just want to go back to a point you just made about feeling you were nowhere near the standard required to be a professional golfer. How did you “bridge the gap”?

(SB): There was golf professional in Lincolnshire called Graham Bradley. His parents were members at Carholme Golf Club and I used to play golf with them sometimes. They said you should really be in the County Junior team. They recommended me and I got into the County Junior set up and received County Junior coaching. The Professional who ran this coaching offered me a job as an Assistant Professional.

(GH): At which club was he based?

(SB): Lincoln Golf Club, Torksey. I accepted the role but I was still very unsure whether I was good enough. So, he allowed me to work weekends.

(GH): How old were you?

(SB): I was 15.

(GH): So you were still at school?

(SB): Yes. I was working weekends for him and I gradually got more confident in my game. I knew I was improving. I was getting better. Not necessarily technically better because although he was quite a well-known coach my swing was my own swing!! But I found a way to score and get the ball around and I got more confident in what I was doing. The County Junior coaching made me realise that when I stood up with other players I could actually compete with them. That sort of gave me the inner belief to go further forward.

(GH): I assume the weekend role introduced you to the other aspects of being a Golf Professional?

(SB): Yes. The “old days” were very different from today. We had wooden woods. Face Inserts. Club Cleaning with numerous sets of clubs to clean, etc.

Turning Professional

(GH): Was there a defining moment when you made that leap of faith and joined the Professional ranks?

(SB): There was really. Roger Jennings, the Professional at Lincoln Golf Club told me he believed in me as well. I left school at 16 with some “O Levels”. My parents supported me really well and encouraged me to do what I wanted to do. Their view was “As long as you think you have something behind you if it fails you can always go back to college”. But I knew when I decided to do it I could do it.

Aspirations

(GH): Did you have clear aspirations at that time? For example, did you want to become a playing professional or teaching professional or both?

(SB): I knew pretty much then that I wanted to be a Club Professional. As I moved into the Club Professional ranks I have only ever wanted to teach. I never really had the desire to be a player. I have always used playing as education to almost help me learn how golf swings work and how to deal with pressure as a player. Playing has always been my research to help with my teaching.

First Move

(GH): So you became an Assistant Professional at Lincoln Golf Club. How did the move to Market Rasen Golf Club come about?

(SB): I left Lincoln Golf Club at the end of 1977 to join Tony Chester at Market Rasen Golf Club. Tony had been an Assistant Professional to Roger Jennings. I was there until April 1982 when I moved to Denmark.

Scandinavian Adventure Begins

(GH): Denmark!! A quantum leap from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire to working and living in Denmark?

(SB): I qualified as a PGA Professional in January 1981. I thought what I would do was spend the year thinking about what I wanted to do. At Market Rasen Golf Club, the members were fantastic with me. Really good, very helpful, very supportive. I had no reason to leave there. Tony Chester, the Head Professional at Market Rasen gave me a lot more responsibility than a lot of assistants would have had at that time. He was great, he was fantastic. I just thought I would see how my career panned out. I had a couple of offers but I didn’t fancy those. Then I just saw this job on a whim and I applied for it. It was the old Golf Illustrated magazine that came out weekly. I saw this article and I applied.

(GH): What happened next? Did you have to travel over to Denmark for the interview?

(SB): No. Within a few days of applying, I received this phone call whilst working in the shop at Market Rasen. It was a telephone interview with the pro in Denmark. In the space of about 4 weeks, I had gone from having my telephone interview to going to Denmark. It was incredible really, it happened all so fast.

(GH): Where were you based in Denmark?

(SB): I was based at Kokkedal GK. I worked for an English Professional called Nigel Willett. I worked in an area that was called the “Whiskey Belt” which is about 30 km north of Copenhagen. I was quite taken by the number of Swedish people who came to Kokkedal. Helsingborg in Sweden is about a twenty-minute ferry trip away, so we had many Swedish golfers coming across to play at Kokkedal. The conversations we had fascinated me.

(GH): In what way?

(SB): They were much more of a golfing nation. They were more tuned to lesson taking, although in Denmark I was extremely busy as a golf coach. But the Swedes were more into golf and more into golf technique.

Student of Golf

(GH): Was it around this time that you steadily expanded your golfing and teaching knowledge and skills?

(SB): Yes. Whilst I was in Denmark I started to read incredible amounts of stuff. I discovered things like the Golfing Machine. I read Tommy Armour. I read Ben Hogan’s modern fundamentals of golf. I remember when Craig Stadler, who won the US Masters in 1982, came to Denmark to give an Exhibition and there was a guy there called Dr Gary Wiren, a well-known coach, who came over from America. This guy interested me so I started to research. We did not have the internet back then so very dependant on books. I started to read intensely about different coaches and I found out lots of information. But when I went to Sweden it just became massively different.

Scandinavian Adventure Continues

(GH): When did you move from Denmark to Sweden?

(SB): I left to go to Sweden in 1986. I had met my future wife. I applied for a job for a guy called David Nicholson, who was heavily involved with the Swedish PGA Education department. My knowledge base was pretty good I think when I went to Sweden. But David Nicholson seemed to have loads of articles and even more books for me to read and digest!!

(GH): Soaking up anything and everything to improve your golfing knowledge?

(SB): Yes. It was incredible. I am very interested in Music and if you find a group or a band it is very interesting to listen to who their influencers were. Similarly in golf, if I find a really interesting coach, then I look at their influences and trace the trail back. For example, Jack Nicklaus was coached by Jack Grout and he had links with Ben Hogan, Henry Picard and so on and you can see this trail forming.

Sweden (The Early Years)

(GH): Where were you based in Sweden?

(SB): In 1986 I was actually working for two clubs and worked an incredible number of hours teaching. One club was Eksjö GK, the fourth-best club in Sweden and the other was a new golf club, A6 GK in a town called Jönköping. This new club was phenomenally busy and an amazing course was being built there. But I was there at the very start before the course was finished and I was educating all of the members, etc.

(GH): Were you the Head Professional at the A6 GK?

(SB): No. The main reason I was not given that role at A6 GK was that I did not speak Swedish at the time. My girlfriend was Swedish but I was speaking primarily in English. Looking back it would have been an amazing job as it was an incredible golf course. The next year (1987), I was offered the chance to be the Club Pro at Tranås GK. The secretary there was a guy called Anders Wilander, brother of the tennis player Mats Wilander!! This course was then granted Challenge Tour status so we hosted a challenge tour event. And it was about this time in Sweden that Club Professionals were allocated handicaps!!

Professional Handicap System

(GH): Sounds intriguing. Was this handicap initiative unique to Sweden?

(SB): I think it was unique to Scandinavia. When I look back the playing standard at Tranås GK was incredibly high.

(GH): What handicap were you allocated?

(SB): I was given a handicap of 0 and was the 5th lowest handicapper at the club so you get an idea of the playing standards, and I was still on 0 the following year!!

(GH): What was the rationale to allocate handicaps to Club Professionals?

(SB): I think the rationale was that first they wanted the Pro’s to be decent players and secondly, I think there was a respect element. There was something called “open golf” in Sweden where Club Pro’s could play in Club events so I could win the Monthly Medal!! So I used to play some club events.

Playing Competitively in Scandinavia

(GH): How did you fare whilst playing in Scandinavia?

(SB): In 1988 I won the Clock Masters event at Tranås GK, shooting under par and a couple of years earlier I won an event at Eksjö GK, again playing under par. They liked to see you could shoot sub-par rounds and play well. The respect element was quite a big thing. I think in the UK, the Club Pro is not respected in the way they should be. At that time in Sweden, I proved I could actually play to a good standard and I was a genuine scratch golfer whilst being a full-time coach. I became a better player because I was coaching as I understood the mechanics and how things worked.

(GH): Any other competitions or tournaments in Sweden at that time?

(SB): Yes. In 1989, during my last year in Sweden, I finished 12th in the Swedish Club Professionals Championship and I then started having lessons with a guy called Gunnar Mueller. He was highly influenced by a coach called Bernard Cook from Ashridge so another example of a golfing trail/hierarchy.

Sweden (The Final Year)

(GH): Did you work at any other Golf Clubs in Sweden?

(SB): Yes. In 1989 I moved to Ulricehamn GK. In Sweden, golf clubs would be looking for Pro’s that had done well at other clubs so it became easy to move. At the time there was a six-man team event and we won the 2nd division championship in Sweden and I finished the second-best individual. The PR from this was enormous. I was sort of heralded as being a good player and the team I was coaching were doing quite well. There were a lot of good players and juniors coming through, but it was too intense. I was fully booked up with 7 weeks of lessons. It felt like a conveyor belt and that was not really what I wanted to do. I wanted to become the best golf coach I could but in that kind of environment, I was kind of swamped.

(GH): Suffocating almost.

(SB): Absolutely. I just had no time for any learning moments.

Coaching in Scandinavia

(GH): Looking back, what do you think were the benefits of coaching in Scandinavia?

(SB): I think to go to teach in Europe, every Professional would have benefited from the experience at that time. I think now Europe is getting a bit “golf tired”, it is not quite what it was. I think I got the best time to work in Europe. In Denmark when I was there, golf was a growing game and an emerging game. It was a wealthy area. Everybody wanted to speak English. I had a fantastic time really. I learnt an awful lot and hopefully, they learnt from me as well. Denmark was great for me because I had volume coaching there which is something I would not have had in the UK. That is the bonus for a golf pro going abroad. It’s wonderful to be a full-time golf coach as all you do is teach. Hopefully, that is what I am going to get back to later this year at Holme Hall.

Return to England

(GH): A few days ago I was reading your Bio on the Holme Hall Golf Club website and noticed you returned to England in 1990.

(SB): In 1989, I decided to try and find a job in England and really dedicate myself to teaching. I knew the English style was less manic than it was in Sweden. Elsham Golf Club, in Lincolnshire, advertised for a Golf Professional and thus when I was still in Sweden I applied.

(GH): Another telephone interview?

(SB): No. I had a friend who was Swedish and his partner was English and they had also decided to come back to England. So at the same time as I applied for the job at Elsham this guy was also after a job in England. So we actually travelled back together by car. We travelled across Europe from Sweden to England!! I had an interview at Elsham which was very successful and thus I started at Elsham Golf Club on 1st January 1990.

Back in England

(GH): What was your approach and thinking in those early days at Elsham, following the Scandinavian experience and influences?

(SB): When I got to Elsham one of the first things I started to think about was Teaching and how can I go forward. What would be the plan?

(GH): Was that a plan for you as an individual or a plan for Elsham and yourself?

(SB): Everything!! Very much, how was I going to create a cohesive “Whole” from the individual strands, influences and experience? So I wrote a letter to David Leadbetter!! I didn’t really expect a coach with such worldwide influence, coach at that time to Nick Faldo to reply. In many ways, I sent it on a whim.

(GH): Did you receive a reply from David?

(SB): I did get a reply. His written response was incredible. David Leadbetter for me is just fantastic, superb. I was very much looking for direction. In summary, he recommended that I contact one of his associates, either Denis Pugh or Dennis Sheehy. Denis Pugh was in America so I reached out to Dennis Sheehy who was at Sand Moor Golf Club at that time. I started to go and see Dennis and that helped me get an order and structure. I went there initially under the guise of trying to improve my playing. In conversation with Dennis, who is a renowned Golf Coach, he also helped me with the coaching as well. Many of my peers and associates have been influenced by Dennis Sheehy over the years.

(GH): How did Dennis help you with your coaching?

(SB): It was incredible. I had access to films, videos, swing analysis techniques, drills, biomechanical advice, geometrical advice on how a golf swing functions, and so on. Quite amazing really.

(GH): What about your playing, as you mentioned that was the aspect about which you initially approached Dennis Sheehy?

(SB): My playing was OK. I won some local events in Lincolnshire. I was Lincolnshire Open Champion in 1994. The springboard of winning the County Championship for a lot of Pro’s is that they dedicate themselves to playing, but for me, it was like “Thanks very much, that will do me” and now I will just play local events and that was what I did. To be fair, I knew I was never going to do any more than winning this Open in 1994 as my love was elsewhere, namely Teaching.

The Golfing Machine

(GH): Did you have any sort of engagement with Denis Pugh, who you mentioned earlier was also an associate of David Leadbetter?

(SB): Yes. At around this time, I remember Denis Pugh talking to me one day and mentioning this book “The Golfing Machine”, written by Homer Kelly. This book was published in 1969 and took Homer Kelly about 26 years to write!!

(GH): Must have been some book to have taken that long to write!! I must admit, I have never heard of Homer Kelly.

(SB): Homer Kelly was a problem solver for Boeing and was based near Oregon. He was actually not that good a golfer, but he decided he was going to “crack this game” by starting to analyse it as an engineer would. He ended up writing this book which is quite incredible in its technical study and research. Talking about swing planes, angles, power accumulators, lag loading, and so on. I decided that I was going to really find out more about the Golfing Machine.

(GH): How did you go about finding out more?

(SB): Later on, I went back to the Leadbetter Academy and worked with David Whelan in the UK. He passed me a book one day called “Golf Mind, Golf Body, Golf Swing” by Michael Hebron, who is an American master golf coach. I found out that Michael Hebron was also a Golfing Machine coach. All of a sudden I now had this connection as David Leadbetter’s main man in the UK had handed me this book which had a link to the Golfing Machine. I studied the Golfing Machine significantly whilst still working with David Whelan. When you look at the Golfing Machine it is very much about the body moving the arms and hands around and I really like that simplistic approach and understanding. But then David Whelan moved from the UK to work for David Leadbetter in America.

(GH): How did you progress with the Golfing Machine when David Whelan moved to the States?

(SB): I discovered the Golfing Machine had a website in the UK and I found out that a PGA pro called Ian Clark got these (Golfing Machine) qualifications so I decided that I would like to get these qualifications. I undertook this 2-week course in the UK, the first week at The Belfry and the second week somewhere in Nottingham.

Coaching Professionals

(GH): Over the years you have coached several PGA Professionals, such as Dan Greenwood?

(SB): Dan Greenwood applied for a job with me as an Assistant Professional at Elsham Golf Club many years ago, but I never replied!! I never replied back because I already had someone else in mind and I still feel terrible about not replying. What happened with Dan was that I was teaching some members at Forest Pines Golf Club and they recommended him to come to me. In the space of weeks of working with him, he shot 66 and won a PGA event. A phenomenally talented player. He has done brilliantly. Won over 100 events (including Pro-Ams), he won the 2013 British PGA Professional Championship and was a PGA Cup Player.

(GH): Was there a single aspect of his game that you “noticed and changed”?

(SB): We changed everything!!

(GH): Dan must have been very trusting and have been very open to change?

(SB): The golf coach has to be trusted by the individual. If you are going to put somebody’s golf game on the line you are going to make some alterations and so you better know what you are doing. That basically brings me to why I have done what I have done. All of my study and research has always been about giving my pupils the best information I possibly can to make their game better, then how do they go away and process that information.

Coaching Ladies European Tour Players

(GH): In 2015 you became a Fellow of the Professional Golf Association.

(SB): There is a band of PGA qualifications…A, AA, Advanced, Fellow, Advanced Fellow, Master. A Master is world-renowned whilst an Advanced Fellow is internationally well known.

(GH): How did you achieve the level of Fellow? On Merit. Achievements, Experience?

(SB): It is recognised by achievement. In my case, it is through my work with Teaching and Coaching. For example, I have worked with players on the Ladies European Tour (LET), such as Sophie Walker, Trish Johnson, Connie Chen and Whitney Hillier. Sophie Walker came on the scene through Dan Greenwood as she was attached to Forest Pines and she had lost her LET card. She came to see me, we went on the practice ground and then played a few holes. We then came up with a plan of action of what needed to be done, altered, etc. and a few weeks later she went back to Tour School and got her LET card back. I started working with Sophie. I went with her to the Ladies British Open at Royal Birkdale and that was the most amazing experience for me.

(GH): Why was the experience so amazing?

(SB): It was a clear, sunny day and we had arranged to meet at a certain time on the practice range. There was Suzann Pettersen working on the range, there was a gap, then there was Michelle Wie working with David Leadbetter. Sophie arrived and set herself up in the gap and I just thought this is quite remarkable really. One of my greatest influences is working about 6 feet away from me working with Michelle Wie.

(GH): A long way from your days at Market Rasen Golf Club (no disrespect Market Rasen!!)?

(SB): Absolutely. Quite incredible really. Around that time my eldest son Ben graduated from Manchester University where he had studied German. He expressed an interest in being a caddy (he is a very good player). So he asked me what I thought and asked could I get him a job!! So I mentioned it to Sophie Walker and she put Ben in touch with Stephanie Na, an Australian Professional Golfer. Stephanie is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Ben caddied for her around Germany. His degree came in useful!! He caddied in a few events for Stephanie and some events for Sophie. He then met Ladies Professional golfer Whitney Hillier, who became his girlfriend. Whitney had been a very good amateur player but had underachieved as a Professional and she asked me to take a look at her swing. I made a few comments “here and there”. A few months past and at the end of that year she said she needed to make a change and asked whether I would work with her and I said, of course, I will.

(GH): That must be a different sort of coaching challenge with Whitney being your son’s girlfriend?

(SB): Yes…you could only imagine if I had got it wrong!! The first time I worked with her I was at Elsham on an iPad whilst she was on a practice range at a course she was attached to in Australia!! It’s been quite successful really. She finished 17th in the Ladies Order of Merit, lost a playoff in an LPGA event in Australia. She has quite a promising future.

Coaching Recognition

(GH): You recently won a couple of major coaching awards, namely the Lincolnshire PGA Coach of the Year and the Midland PGA Coach of the Year. How do these awards work? Are you nominated, judged…?

(SB): You are nominated by your peers really. Pro’s in the county and in the Midlands will get together and you are nominated and then the respective Pro’s vote.

(GH): Very much like how Professional Footballers vote for their fellow players in the annual Professional Footballers’ Association awards?

(SB): It’s the same thing. The one thing I will say I have taught an awful lot of county Professionals so the influences run quite deep and that for me is really pleasurable. To look back and say I have had an influence on those players is quite nice. The Midlands award was a shock to me. I was asked to go to the Midlands PGA AGM by some friends. I never expected the award. To be there with the Head of the PGA Rob Maxfield and to receive the award was incredibly humbling.

Continuous Professional Development

(GH): I read with interest a PGA News article about a 2-day seminar held at the PGA’s Training Academy at The Belfry in 2017, which you organised. Tell me more?

(SB): Over the years, the Golfing Machine “family” has been incredibly good to me. Through this, I also found a guy called Brian Manzella, who along with Michael Jacobs left the Golfing Machine group to form their own splinter group called 1.68 which then became Jacobs 3D. I believe strongly that we should try and influence golf for future generations as much as we possibly can and to give educational possibilities to my fellow pros. I believe education is the key for any golf pro. We are never going to be the finished article. I am 57 and still learning every day!! So I contacted David Colclough who is head of PGA Education and brought Brian and Michael over to the UK in 2017 for the 2-day seminar.

(GH): What was the focus or objectives of this seminar?

(SB): The seminar saw Brian and Michael present an interactive look at the information they had uncovered using Jacobs 3D, which is their bespoke software on kinetics and kinematics. There were a lot of younger Pro’s in attendance who received cutting edge information from them. It was amazing as I saw in them what I was doing nearly 30 years ago!! We are custodians passing through and the more we can pass onto the younger generations the better we will be in the future. I think it is our duty as Golf Pro’s to educate ourselves to be the most influential golf people and coaches we can be and that never ends until you retire. I would urge any Golf Pro to do Continuous Personal Development (CPD) as much as they can and I saw as a youngster that CPD was something I had to do forever. Even today, I always have my head in a book!!

Changes in Golf (Part 1)

(GH): Stuart, you have been a Professional Golfer for just over 40 years. What would you say is the biggest change you have witnessed in the role of a Club Professional?

(SB): Specialisation is now becoming the way. We now have specialist Directors of Golf. We have specialist Shopkeepers. We have specialist Teaching Professionals. We have specialist Biomechanics people. I think you now have to specialise in your own area of expertise. I am now at that point in my career where I can specialise and as I said earlier Holme Hall has offered me the opportunity of becoming a Teacher at the Club and probably for the rest of my career that is what I will do. Without specialisation the future of Club Professionals is limited. Today, you now have to make yourself unique, different. You have to be a benefit to your golf club first and foremost and add value.

(GH): Having witnessed first-hand the rapport you have with the Holme Hall members as they have come into the shop at various times during our chat, seeking your advice and asking you all sorts of varied questions, you certainly add a lot of value.

(SB): This is an amazing place. This is a very busy place. But what I love about this place is the interaction with the members. They all speak to me, we get along really well. I will look at the results of Club Competitions and see whether my players are in the top few!!

(GH): If I polled the membership what words would they use to describe you?

(SB): Friendly, Knowledgeable, Smiler!!

Changes in Golf (Part 2)

(GH): Following on from the previous question, what is the biggest change you have seen in the game of golf?

(SB): Has to be the equipment. The equipment today is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. When I turned professional we had wooden woods and face inserts. We used to do club repairs. Don’t do club repairs anymore. What is amazing to me is when you look at the size of the heads. This is the driver I used when I came second in the 1993 Lincolnshire Open (see image below). A different world. Golf clubs are now more forgiving, they are more consistent, more performant, the technology is phenomenal. Very hard to bend a golf ball now. When we were kids we could hook it, we could slice it. It is very hard to move the ball now as the equipment is so good.

England Golf

(GH): In 2015, Holme Hall was recognised by England Golf by being granted championship golf course status and later this year Holme Hall will be hosting the English Senior Men’s Open Amateur Championship. Have you been involved to bring this Championship to Holme Hall?

(SB): Not really. A couple of years ago we hosted the English Ladies Closed Matchplay Championship which was fantastic. That was a great event for our club. We are now on the England Golf rota so we were selected for this event to be played in June. I will know some of the players. I am of that age!! People like Stephen East and Charlie Banks. It will be almost like an ambassadorial role for me. A sort of meet and greet type of role. I am really looking forward to it.

Development of Ladies Golf

(GH): Reading the Holme Hall website, I was drawn by the headline that says “The club is committed to developing ladies golf and keen to attract new female members of all ages”. Have you a role to play with this excellent initiative?

(SB): I have. Last year during our inaugural August Festival Week we had some taster sessions and some more taster sessions are planned in 2019. No restriction on age. Young or old, I want ladies to play golf whatever their age. Our Ladies section has been depleted over the years quite significantly. Every Club has a wish list and our plan is to really improve the Ladies section.

August Festival Week

(GH): You just mentioned the Holme Hall “August Festival Week”. What is the ethos behind this “Festival of Golf”?

(SB): Years and years ago, Golf Clubs often used to have golf weeks and that is the thinking behind our Festival. We host a week of various golf events at our club. It is almost a rekindling of old fashioned ideals. Why did things that worked change? We had an invitation team event during the Festival last year and we invited the R&A and they brought a team down to Holme Hall. Just fantastic.

The best facet of your game

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

(SB): My driving is the best part of my game. I’m a good driver. I don’t hit it long but I hit it quite straight and if you are in play you are in every hole. It always amazed me that people thought I was a good putter but the reason I could putt so well was that my approach shots were close!!

Still Competitive

(GH): When time permits, do you still play competitively?

(SB): Don’t play in Pro-Ams anymore as time just does not allow. I still play though. I love it, I absolutely love it. I played a few rounds over Xmas with my wife, my son Ben and Whitney (Hillier). I can still play and over Xmas, I managed to beat my son!! It’s really nice when they come over and we can play and still compete.

Outside of golf

(GH): Outside of golf what are your interests?

(SB): Music. I am a big music fan.

(GH): Any particular musical genres?

(SB): Guitar. I do love Jazz music and the Blues but guitar music is my main sort of musical interest. Steely Dan, Free, Rolling Stones, Elton John (well the early seventies version of Elton John!!).

(GH): Do you play the guitar?

(SB): No. I was a singer when I was a youngster though I wouldn’t dare do it now!! But the most important thing from my side is that I am a golf fan and I still read golf books and golf biographies. I just want to keep abreast of modern ideas and how they link to the Golfing Machine.

Favourite Sporting Event

(GH): What is your favourite sporting event and why?

(SB): My favourite sporting event? That is a good question.

(GH): In the first two articles of this series, Richard Pace and Stretton Wright both called out the Ryder Cup as their favourite sporting event.

(SB): The Ryder Cup for me is becoming very different. It is interesting when you listen to an interview with the players. They all sort of say that winning the Ryder Cup is more important than winning a Major. I find that hard to believe. I don’t believe that Francesco Molinari believes that at all. Surely winning the Open Championship was far bigger. I do love the Open Championship, it is a great event. Wimbledon I think is just tremendous.

(GH): Have you been to the Wimbledon Finals?

(SB): Not the finals. I have seen Andy Murray in a Wimbledon semi-final. Last year I saw John Isner play against Kevin Anderson in the record-breaking semi-final, Anderson winning 26 to 24 in the final set!! Phenomenal. I would have to say the Open Championship but I love all sports.

If not a Professional Golfer

(GH): OK Stuart. If you had not been a Professional Golfer, then what?

(SB): My youngest son, who is also a very good golfer, studied Law at University. Working in Law would have interested me. I think something like a Lawyer or something similar.

Fantasy Fourball

(GH): For you Stuart, I should really rename this section Family Fantasy Fourball!! In addition to yourself, there would be your wife who is also a very good player plus both of your sons, with Ladies Professional Whitney Hillier to come off the bench if required!! But in addition to yourself, who would join you in a Fantasy Fourball?

(SB): Homer Kelly who wrote the Golfing Machine, Ben Doyle who was the first authorised instructor of the Golfing Machine and then it would have to be Ben Hogan.

Favourite Golf Course

(GH): Other than Holme Hall, which is your favourite course in the United Kingdom and why?

(SB): St. Andrews. Has to be the old course at St. Andrews. Standing on the 1st Tee is wonderful but playing the 18th is a fantastic feeling. I am a huge fan of Old Tom Morris. I have got a book by Roger McStravick and it is called “St. Andrews in the footsteps of Old Tom Morris”. It talks all about the Robertson family, the Anderson family and then he goes through all the history of the Morris’ family. Phenomenal stuff.

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

(SB): I would say Pinehurst as for me it is just amazing. It looks an amazing place. There are so many fantastic golf courses I would love to play. Pebble Beach would be another one.

(GH): Any particular reason you picked out Pinehurst?

(SB): It is a Donald Ross designed course with huge greens and throw off areas.

(GH): As you say, there are so many fantastic courses out there in the world, all with their own unique history and stories to be told.

(SB): Royal Worlington and Newmarket Golf Club in Suffolk, England. It is labelled the world’s best 9-hole golf course. The great golf writer Bernard Darwin called it the sacred nine. I have played this course a few times. It is also home to the Cambridge University Golf Team. When the golf writer and broadcaster Henry Longhurst was at Cambridge University he loved it. He went away to serve in World War II and he was always concerned that when he came back from the war it would not be the same. When he returned, he came down the lane towards the golf course and came into the clubhouse. They don’t have a Bar just a little hole in the wall. The board in the wall was pulled back and the gentleman serving said “The usual Mr Longhurst?”!!

Marooned

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

(SB): My wife. And you can’t live without fire so some matches and an 8 iron (with golf balls of course). That will do me!!

The Nineteenth

(GH): And finally. You are now in charge of the R&A so please outline your mission statement/vision on Golf?

(SB): I think a Golf Professional has a massive part to play in the game. I am not sure we currently get the chance to influence the game the way we should. I think at times there can be too much politics in golf. I have never ever lost my love of the game. I think people can fall out of love with golf due to politics. So if I was in charge of the R&A and I had a massive purse or pot of funds I would get Golf Pro’s to influence the game in the way they see the game. It is not all about the development of junior golfers. Maybe there is another way. Don’t just target one specific area. Why not have a golf club full of Seniors? Not every golf club, just certain golf clubs. I think if I was running the game I would have the Golf Pro’s to have more influence over their respective clubs. The Pro is very much the first point of contact and visual face of the golf club. I think the R&A do a very decent job with Ambassadors going around the world growing the game.

(GH): The current R&A approach is very much “Top Down”, whilst you are advocating a sort of “Down-Up” approach, from the grassroots up.

(SB): Definitely.

(GH): Stuart. A huge thanks for your time today in sharing a fascinating and very passionate insight into your golfing journey and career to date and for some very thoughtful ideas on the great game of golf. Also, thanks to the hospitality of Holme Hall Golf Club.