More than 100 graduates from 2022 and 2023 celebrated their success and achievements with family and friends at the University of Birmingham as they were officially welcomed into PGA Membership.
The historic Great Hall at the heart of the university campus once again proved to be a fitting setting as graduates were joined by family, friends and staff in what remains one of the most important dates in the PGA calendar.
“Every year we get to this point and I talk to the team back at The Belfry and PING House and stress that this day is the biggest in our calendar year,” said Paul Wiseman, PGA Executive Director – Education. “It’s not just the biggest day for the PGA Trainees, but it’s the biggest day for the education team, who work so hard for the Trainees.
“These graduates might not understand the significance of how important this day is. Many of these Trainees will be celebrating the end of the PGA Training Programme, but this is actually the start of something. This is the start of a membership and a relationship with The PGA that we hope will maybe last 30/40 years.
“As Director of the PGA Training Programme I get a massive of pride that this graduation ceremony comes together so well. This isn’t just a celebration of the PGA Foundation Degree or the Diploma for Higher Education, there’s so many difference elements of the programme that come together.”
Among the graduates was 2022 PGA Trainee of the Year Lee Cardy, who is based at Woodhall Spa Golf Club. He said: “I’m really proud to be the 2022 PGA Trainee of the Year. I’ve been fairly academic since college. I work hard at what I do but it’s definitely unexpected to pick up the 2022 award.
“I was lucky in that I had already studied subjects already like business. I was interested in that subject, but not to the same level that I am at golf, which is my passion. I was learning about getting better at golf and helping other people get better too. I thoroughly enjoyed putting into the practice the learnings and tried to make myself and others get better at golf coaching.”
Georgia Williams, who is attached to Radyr Golf Club, followed in her footsteps when she joined the PGA Training Programme and she was delighted to win the award for 2022 PGA Trainee of the Year.
She said: “I’m from a golfing family. My dad plays to a good standard and my sister has also come through the PGA Training Programme too before I did so she’s already a qualified PGA Member. She did the programme a few years before I started so luckily I knew someone who had been through the process and she was able to guide me though it a little bit.
“I’m really delighted to be awarded the PGA Female Trainee of the Year Award for 2022. I put quite a lot of work into the assignments and exams, so it’s good to see that it’s all come together. My mum is Beverly Lewis so to win an award that goes by the same name as my mum is pretty special.”
Stella McClure (Falkirk Golf Club) was presented with the 2023 PGA Trainee of the Year Award. Stella was previously a doctor but joined the PGA Training Programme at the age of 51 to follow her passion for golf.
She said: “In achieving the 2023 PGA Trainee of the Year Award, I have to say it’s probably been my toughest challenge I’ve taken on in my life. Maybe that’s partly because I’m 54 now but I think it was also the modules that we undertook were really demanding and the assessment standards were really high, so I feel I really deserve this award.
“I enjoyed all of the modules and I didn’t expect to enjoy them all as much as I did, especially the business part of the course, but I appreciated the business aspect of the course because I need to know about this in order to develop my coaching business. I also appreciate how important a knowledge of equipment technology is to a golf coach. I have a background in medicine, so I really do love the anatomy a physiology side of things. All of that is important to providing the right kind of coaching for each client. Overall I enjoyed the coaching module the most but it was the toughest. The coaching exams were tough and they really put us through our paces but we’re all ready now to go on and become PGA Members.”
The PGA Training Programme, encompassing the three-year Foundation Degree, was founded more than 50 years ago and covers all aspects of golf, from business and equipment technology, to sports science and sports psychology. Ninety-seven per cent of people who graduate go on to work in the golf industry where they will undertake more than 70 career options.
Wiseman added: “These graduates need to be proud of days like this. For someone who has worked in education for a long time, well over 30 years, this is a training programme like no other and it’s certainly the most challenging.”