Tullamore Golf Club PGA Professional Bernard Quigley followed the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell when he graced the cover of Irish Golfer Magazine in September having won a search for the top coaching PGA Pro in Ireland.
The Irish Golfer Cover Star competition was a collaboration between the magazine and the TGI Golf Partnership – golf’s leading retail services group – which gave Partners of the group the opportunity to star on the front page as well as an extensive coaching feature inside.
Quigley saw off the challenge of the 105 other Ireland-based TGI Partners to become the first Irish PGA Professional to grace the cover and he was also inducted into the magazine’s regular coaching panel.
“Getting on the front cover of a magazine isn’t something I thought I’d ever do, so a massive thank you to TGI Golf and Irish Golfer Magazine, it was great fun,” he said. “I was delighted when I first read about the competition as I am quite heavily involved in coaching, so I thought I might have a shot.”
The Cover Star promotion was open to all TGI Golf Partners in Northern and the Republic of Ireland. PGA Professionals were asked to submit their top coaching tips or philosophies with the winner being chosen by a panel of Irish Golfer editor John Shortt, Slieve Russell PGA Professional Gordon Smyth and TGI Golf Retail Consultant Peter Smyth.
The panel was unanimous in their decision that Bernard would be winner after he submitted a series of videos demonstrating various coaching hints and tips.
John Shortt added: “When TGI Golf spoke with us about the idea we loved it immediately. It was a wonderful initiative and a great opportunity for Irish TGI Partners to get a huge amount of publicity.
“We had an amazing response to the competition and it was a difficult decision in the end. Bernard was a standout candidate as his submissions were very clear and easy to understand. His approach to coaching is very innovative, it lends itself well to magazine tuition and we were really delighted when he was chosen as the winner.
“This was the first time an Irish PGA Professional was on the cover of a golf magazine in Ireland so it was a big undertaking and we’ve had a marvellous reaction to the cover since it was launched in early August.”
This is the second Cover Star promotion the TGI Golf Partnership has run, following a UK-version in 2015 with Today’s Golfer, which saw Richard Lambert of Crosland Heath and Simon Payne of Cowglen featured on the front cover of the ‘UK’s favourite golf magazine’.
Matt Millard, TGI Golf Head of Communications, said: “The two Cover Star promotions have been extremely successful and have allowed us to help our Partners gain national exposure in two established golf titles.
“As a group we consistently strive to help our Partners enhance both their businesses and their reputations as high quality PGA Professionals and this is just another example of the work we do.
“We look forward to the running the next instalment of this promotion.”
TGI Golf Partnership www.tgigolf.com