EDGA promotes the following player pathway:
This pathway describes the typical journey of a person involved in golf, regardless of age, gender, ability and background.
The journey starts with an individual picking up a golf club for the very first time and typically follows a spike in interest to try or experience the game. This interest is usually the result of seeing or hearing about the game. Therefore, raised awareness of the game, its characteristics, benefits, opportunity and locality are critical factors to encourage newcomers to sample golf.
Current golfers with a disability reveal the person responsible for providing their first experience of golf is often a close family member, relation, friend, or trusted colleague. This is no different for people with a disability than it is for non-disabled players. An informal setting for this introduction is common for younger samplers. Those who start later are more likely to begin in a formal or semi-formal setting, such as a structured activity with friends or
colleagues.
The next three sections identify those who commonly service the sampler, participant and competitor and describe the resources used by EDGA to develop their knowledge and skill set. This overview also contains information on the coach education provision EDGA can deliver collectively with coaches who operate within your federation or PGA.
EDGA’s coach education resources
EDGA provides education and resources for each level of coach education – Sampler – Participant – Competitor. The process at each level will involve coaches engaging with a balanced mixture of theory and more developed practices including experiential and reflective learning at the more advanced levels of the coach education pathway.
The various elements of the coach education programme will ensure that wherever the coach is positioned they will be better prepared, competent and confident to deliver not just more inclusive sessions, but have a deeper understanding of how impairment can influence the ability of the generic (non-disabled) population.
1: Sampler Coach – Delivering fun, accessible, inclusive sessions in non-traditional club environments. Could potentially be a physiotherapist, support worker, volunteer, club member or coach.
2: Participant Coach – Developing players with disability at club level and gaining more insight into the range of impairments, creating impairment specialism. Targeted at the qualified workforce operating in clubs of golf facilities or medical professionals who also operate inside the golf industry.
3: Competitor Coach – Working on specific athlete development to further improve the participant to represent at national and international levels – including specific skills around impact factors and low point control, use of specialist technology to optimise the performance of the competitive golfer with a disability,
Approved coaches and their representative federation or workforce education provider will also be recognised within the EDGA geographical database and recommended to people who submit local inquiries around coaching golf to people with disabilities.
For more information and to discuss the training options that EDGA can provide your organisation please contact:
Mark Taylor EDGA Head of Development, Instruction & Education- PGA Fellow Professional
| EDGA development team office: +44 (0) 800 8611472 |