Some of the best UK professional tour players started golf late but they got there by following a ‘Pathway’. Many of you can get there but only those who follow a planned route will have the opportunity to “grow” their talent and obtain professional success in golf.

England team players come up through  a “Talent Pathway” which starts at clubs, then county golf, then England Regional training, then  training with the England U16 squad or U18 squad and finally into the England Team.  Some of the guys on the England team will make it to Tour Professional.

Getting to Tour Player : Every tour player has had and must have a disciplined and planned approach to development directed by experts. No expert help, no self discipline and no buckets of hard work means never becoming a tour professional or even a successful coach and a big waste of your own future. 

So, if Golf Tour Player is your dream, then you start at the bottom being a good club junior who will be  spotted by a county development program such as the one we have in Cambridgeshire (CAGU Juniors).

Once you are in the CAGU Junior development program you are also in our CAGU age group playing squad, and on the “Talent Pathway”. The good news is that there are many boys on the “Pathway” capable of fulfilling their dreams if they are ready to work extremely hard with a good development team and stick to the plan. Look at the English Golf Union diagram below.
 
Outside the “Talent Pathway”, Mum/Dad and a home coach are not enough resources to get to the top of the amateur pile in what is now a very competitive sport.  That is the bad news for the go-it-alone.

So What can you expect as an outcome from a county training program ? The rough Guide follows.

On a County Training programme, if the county has enough resources you will get squad coaching for full swing and short game in equal measures by experts. You will have access to physiologists to train the correct muscles for golf. You will also have access to mental toughness coaches and other specialists for most of the help you need.

Some of it will cost you and the county will provide what is within its means to get you the necessary essentials which are a) being noticed as a County Team Player and b) being recognised as a young hard working golfer dedicated to self improvement and proven not to waste time.  

Being in a county programme gives you that big chance to play in county and national competitions and to be recommended to the England regional selectors for their “Futures” and Regional development programmes.

The regional programmes in turn get their selected best boys access to playing in the England U16 and U18 squads. Finally their elite boys pass on to the England Senior team.

I almost forgot to mention that the England squads take their development players away to Spain and Portugal for sunny winter training.  Last year and as a fast developing county, we made our first ever recommendations for a few juniors to join the U16 England squad. There will be more to come this year and next !

Related pages on this web site:
See the Junior news and Junior Training sections.