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My Experience as a PGA Tutor – Jim Mitchell

Jim Mitchell PGA Training

Alongside my fitting role here at Peter Field Golf, I’m lucky enough to spend a few weeks of the year helping the PGA trainees who are taking their training to become fully fledged pros in the Equipment Technology module. Read on for an inside look at a year one residential week as a PGA tutor:

For anyone unfamiliar with the PGA qualification, it is a 3 year course that all prospective pros must take to be accredited as a pro. Trainees work at their home club all around Britain and Ireland while learning remotely for most of the course. Then once per year hundreds of trainee pros descend on The Belfry, just outside of Birmingham, which is where the PGA headquarters is located, to spend a week doing some hands-on learning in what is called a residential. And that is where I spent my last week as a tutor.

My station was the driving range, where I showed 8 different groups of trainees the key processes of an iron custom fitting throughout the week and explained the underlying concepts of why each step of the process is influential on a player’s golf game. Here are a few of my takeaways from the last week:

A Practical Module

I must say as someone who is passionate about equipment technology, passing this kind of knowledge on to a group of enthusiastic trainee pros is a massively enjoyable process. The equipment technology module is a really hands-on part of the course, with trainees also learning the steps of how to assemble a golf club in the other half of the day. Which this week was led by fellow Norfolkian Dean Gibson. The trainees really seemed to respond to this and the engagement we received made tutoring a pleasure all week.

Varied Groups

One of the coolest parts of the PGA course is how varied the demographics of the trainees can be. Golf is of course a sport with a history of being perceived as unwelcoming to a number of groups, and while there is absolutely work to be done on that front, there was a nice spread of ages and genders particularly who were all integrated in the groups and certainly brought a number of fresh perspectives to the sessions. I also came across many different experience levels of fitting, some had been fitted many times, done some fitting themselves and shared my almost psychotic interest level in the finer details of shafts and heads. While there were also a number of people with no experience of fitting from either side of the aisle, all aspects that kept me on my toes and made the experience of talking to the students fresh with every individual.

My Own Personal Development

I’m sure anyone reading this can relate to the fact that when you do something so regularly in or outside of work, it’s easy to fall into lazy habits or draw your own conclusions that may not be universally applicable. This experience has also been hugely beneficial to my professional acumen. Being so detailed and descriptive due to the academic nature of the content that I’m delivering has only deepened my knowledge base and secured the good habits that can so easily slip over time in one’s day to day work life. This will only improve the experience for my customers and my own professional enjoyment and that’s a massive bonus of this experience.

My experience in tutoring has thus far been hugely enjoyable, as I’m sure many who’ve performed such a role can attest to, while it is an intense experience at times it really does reward you as well. This is a credit to the institution itself of the PGA and the members who work to make it as helpful as possible, along with the trainees on the course who have only come across as enthusiastic and passionate about golf. If you have any questions about any of the topics that have been touched on here, feel free to reach out to myself or any of my colleagues, some of whom passed their course decades ago, some just years and even one who is still taking the course. This variety in experience levels is another part of why the team here at Peter Field Golf is so good. So if you’re looking at taking your PGA or are just curious about the ins and outs of the process, feel free to reach out to us!

Jim Mitchell
Custom Fitting Specialist