Groundbreaking women’s coaching initiative, love.golf, has piloted its innovative teaching method to a 10-strong group of coaches in Madrid, Spain, as part of its commitment to growing female participation globally.
Following great success in the UK, where it has pledged its support to the R&A Women in Golf Charter, the programme has drawn significant interest from international coaches wishing to engage potential female golfers in their own countries, including Spain, Sweden and Germany.
For the programme’s first venture into Spain, love.golf Head Coach and Founder Alastair Spink, supported by fellow love.golf coach Jo Taylor, demonstrated the programme’s methodology to a group of Spanish coaches, led by Head of Training for the PGA of Spain, Jose Perez, at Centro Nacional de Golf in Madrid.
Coaches were educated on the love.golf concept, which focuses on learning through playing on the golf course, rather than technical lessons on a driving range, alongside the need for the coach to ‘step back’ at various times to allow female participants to benefit from the group dynamic that the programme creates.
Reflecting on the pilot, Alastair Spink commented, “It’s thrilling to see that the desire to bring more women into golf is something that transcends borders, and that there is a universality to our approach that professional coaches in other nations feel they can connect to.”
Jose Perez said: “Our coaches have been inspired from what they have seen of love.golf and see it as a great opportunity to engage new female golfers in Spain. They are looking forward to putting what they have learned in Madrid into practice at their respective venues around the country.”
With methods based upon industry-leading research by Syngenta and academic study by Alastair Spink, love.golf removes many of the perceived barriers for women entering the sport, creating an engaging and unintimidating introduction to golf.
The programme, which is supported by the PGAs of Europe as a Golf Development Partner, has seen significantly improved retention rates and has gained wide recognition for successfully challenging traditional perceptions and rewriting the standard model of women’s coaching.
love.golf love.golf
Pictured top: Spanish coaches come together following the love.golf pilot in Madrid