For as long as I can remember golf has been my passion. I like nothing more than hitting balls, practicing my short game or going out to play a few holes on a nice course. One of the greatest pleasures in coaching is meeting people who share my passion for the game and helping them improve.

Even when I was trying to succeed as a player I think I had the mindset of a coach. The only difference is that I was trying to coach myself. I would buy instruction books, watch videos and try to emulate the swings of my golfing heroes. Many of the things I tried didn’t work and I was left frustrated at having played poorly but it was useful in that i was improving my knowledge of the game and how it is played.

I did have some success during my playing days. A successful amateur career finished when I won the Scottish Championship and a couple of weeks later turned professional at the age of 21. As a professional I won many tournaments in Scotland as well as twice on the European Challenge tour. I also had the pleasure of playing full time on the European Tour. These tournaments brought me into contact with some of the worlds best players and coaches. This gave me an insight into what it takes to play the game at a very high level.

When you play with good players you realise that there are many different ways to swing a golf club. In all my time coaching I have never taught a method, I always try to teach the individual.

Another thing I learned from being around good players is that to be successful you need to be a complete player. So as a coach I invest a lot of my time studying and teaching the short game and putting. It really is the quickest way to lower your scores.

I have worked closely with top sports psychologists and studied the mental game and how it affects a players performance and will often stop during a lesson to chat with a player about their attitude or approach to the game and give them some ideas on how it can be improved.

I have been fortunate to work with some talented players both amateur and professional and it is great when you see them winning tournaments and getting their names in the papers. However the vast majority of my time is spent teaching enthusiastic amateur golfers who want to improve and play to their potential. There is nothing better for a coach than teaching someone with the right attitude who really wants to improve.

It doesn’t matter to me how good a player you are, what matters is how good you want to be.