Bye-Bye Belfry

It’s with a heavy heart to announce that I’ll be leaving The Belfry but it’s with immense excitement that I reveal that I’m joining Bromsgrove Golf Academy from March 29th. Bromsgrove has one of the finest junior programmes in the U.K with over 200 children in weekly lessons and I'll be heading up their elite development pathway. I’m so excited to start working with their team of passionate coaches and implement our joint vision to become the best talent development pathway in the U.K.

My time at The Belfry has introduced me to so many amazing people and it gave me a fantastic opportunity to build something I’m truly proud of. The Belfry juniors have grown from 4 to 112 in weekly classes, 23 of the juniors have gone on to represent their counties and 4 now represent their countries. I’ll truly miss all of the kids I have taught and I look forward to welcoming many of you over to my new home.

Although junior development has been my main focus, I’ve loved teaming up with fellow pros and the initiatives we started together such as Start Golf, Progress Golf, Advanced Golf, and This Girl Can Golf has introduced hundreds of newcomers to the game and has led to some friendships with coaches and pupils which I know will last a lifetime.

I’m grateful for my time at The Belfry but the time has come to move on and start a new chapter in my career.

I will be in contact with all clients shortly about diary availability, outstanding packages etc but should you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks

Phil :-)

Ryan Gavins makes the England Squad, Becomes Warwickshire Captain and Qualifies for California....Again

Last year 14 year old Ryan Gavin had an outstanding year of golf, he won the British Junior Golf Tour’s OOM, won events at Wentworth, Woodhall Spa, and Fox Hills, he reduced his handicap by 8 shots to 5, and he qualified for The World Junior Golf Championships in California - a pretty good year in anyones books! Unfortunately Ryan had to miss his chance to play in California due to the pandemic and im sure that for many 14 year olds this disappointment would have been a huge setback but he used it as motivation to grow. Ryans motivation led to him tirelessly working on his game in his back garden over the lockdown and as soon as the restrictions were lifted he hit the ground running.

Ryans hard work was recognised by the county who awarded him the Warwickshire u16’s captaincy which got his year off to a good start before heading to the World Junior Golf Championships qualifier where he qualified AGAIN by winning the event and earning his place in California in 2021. Ryan was later invited to the England Boy’s U18’s trials where he duly impressed the coaches, won the trials and was selected to be part of the Midland Boys U18’s England Team.

Despite Ryan’s recent successes over the past couple of years, It hasn’t all been plain sailing. In this time he’s battled a massive developmental leap, he’s grown almost a foot in this time and increased his clubbed speed by more than 15 mph. Such physical changes make it challenging to control the swing and this twinned with extra speed can make it very difficult for junior golfers to keep the ball on the golf course during this time. As juniors bodies change their swings can look unrecognisable from week to week which is why I place a much greater emphasis on developing skills as opposed to technique at this time.

As his coach over the past 2 years its been amazing to see his progress despite his physical changes, the speed in which his handicap has reduced from 13 handicap to 1 is pretty impressive but we both know there is a long road ahead of us for him to reach his goal of playing on the PGA Tour. He has a strong team around him with a supportive family, a superb strength and conditioning coach in Ray Jakeman and im proud to help shape his development on the technical and psychological side. Im excited to see where his hard work can take him next summer.