Having represented both England and GB & I as an amateur, spent six years playing on the Ladies European Tour, started a successful coaching business and gone on to become owner of Stanedge Golf Club in Derbyshire, Fame Tate certainly isn’t one for taking her foot off the gas when it comes to her career.
And now, the 41-year-old has been awarded the status of PGA Advanced Fellow Professional through PGA Excel.
“When the news came through, I was absolutely over the moon – it certainly put a smile on my face,” said Tate, who is one of only 67 PGA Members to be awarded Advanced Fellow status “For me both personal and professional development are extremely important – every step of the way I’ve always endeavoured to develop my own skill set and knowledge, with a focus on specialist knowledge, business management and golf growth and development which of course appear heavily within the value blocks of PGA Excel.
“Writing about yourself can be quite a daunting process – writing about your journey, your achievements, the plans you’ve made and such – but for me the whole process has aided much more clarity and conviction. It’s certainly helped with honest self-reflection, which I’m a big believer of. In terms of the business, I’m continually looking at areas where we do really well, or areas for improvement, but with this, I felt it provided a vital insight into myself within my overall career and enabled me to look at areas both personally and professionally where I have done well, and areas that I’d like to focus on in the future.
“Overall, I was truly elated and very honoured to be accorded the status and ultimately just proud to represent The PGA at this level moving forward.”
PGA Excel is the Association’s new dedicated assessment framework that enables PGA Members to demonstrate their impact, achievements and value to employers, golfers and the wider industry. Replacing the Association’s old APAL system, PGA Excel will continue to recognise and reward PGA Members for their impact and achievements, and enable them to move up through the membership designations.
One of Tate’s key reasons for starting her PGA Excel journey was the opportunity to test herself against the four ‘Value Blocks’ which underpin each PGA category (Professional, Coach and manager). These Value Blocks consist of a number of expertise areas, detailing skills, attributes and capabilities required for PGA Members to excel in their chosen Member category.
Tate continued: “I have a lot of involvement with The PGA, so I felt inspired to begin my application having seen the PGA Excel brand and how it’s been marketed. I saw it as an opportunity to have my skills, expertise and overall value that I’ve accumulated over the years and currently in my role at Stanedge Golf Club, tested.
“More importantly, it was something that I wanted to do for myself – to test myself against the various value blocks, see what the outcome would be and hopefully progress my ranking within the association.
“I never saw this as a one-off thing, for me it’s an in-depth continuum of my own personal and professional journey, and as that journey continues and my career evolves, so will my expertise and knowledge. As that happens in the future, hopefully I’ll be able to submit more information into an ongoing application. So, without a shadow of a doubt, I’ll continue – it will be interesting to track my career development.”
Asked how important PGA Excel is to PGA Members and the golf industry, Tate added: “It’s all about advancing your own standards and reflecting on your own personal and professional development and career. It also gives you the chance to compare yourself to your peers and where you sit in that ranking continuum.
“Plus, for those members looking to change careers, or those looking to showcase their skills to their existing employers, completing the PGA Excel programme can only be an advantage in showcasing your value and what you can deliver. It also serves as the perfect tool for self-reflection – it gives you clarity, focus and looking at yourself for future development – looking at the criteria and value blocks, it really makes you think about the different areas that you might need to advance yourself further in, or not.”
CLICK HERE to find out more about PGA Excel.