MY MISSION IS TO INSPIRE PEOPLE TO PLAY GOLF

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2021: THE YEAR OF GOLF // ARTICLE #1

Hello everyone! Thank you for taking an interest in this article. If we have not yet had the pleasure of meeting, let me briefly introduce myself: My name is Elliot, I am Golf Events Manager at The Grove in Hertfordshire and I am responsible for working with our corporate and social clients to realise their ambitions through Golf.

2020 was a very challenging year and if you, like me, spent a large proportion of your time out of the office, you might have spent a lot of time looking inwardly and evaluating your impact on your industry, your job and your relationships and thinking: could I do more? I spent 8 years working in the Theatre & Media industries before transitioning into the world of Golf and one thing I learnt was, by working for companies such as The Royal National Theatre, in order to unlock the magic of effective collaboration - and achieve success - you first have to unlock "being the best you". By "being the best you", you are being a better person for your friends, family, colleagues, clients and those who don't even know you! I am desperately trying to avoid any cliches however I do believe: you get out of life and business what you put into it.

Over the Christmas period, I drafted a "Mission Statement" for myself. Rather than writing down some New Year's Resolutions, I wanted to define what kind of an impact I wanted to have in my job and in my industry. I am toying with the idea of publishing that statement, as an exercise of keeping myself accountable, but for now I am going to keep those scribbles personal. However, I will share with you what my defining statement is:

"MY MISSION IS TO INSPIRE PEOPLE TO PLAY GOLF: THE MOST VALUABLE SPORT IN THE WORLD"

I was first inspired to play Golf when I was 9 years old, watching the World Golf Matchplay Championship at Wentworth on the television. I do not come from a Golfing family, my Mum and Dad both had Golf Clubs gathering dust and cobwebs in the garage, but any infrequent visit to the Gosling Driving Range in Welwyn Garden City with my Dad was complimented with an underlying fear that - due to the Driving Range not having toilet facilities - if I or my younger brother or sister needed to use "the facilities" it would often cut our driving range fun short, involve a sprint across the Gosling Sports Centre car-park to find the nearest washrooms and result in a grumpy and stressed father (understandably!). The 2000 Cisco World Golf Matchplay Championship at Wentworth was significant because up until that point I was football mad and probably did not even know Golf existed, aside from some his&her Wilson Golf Clubs placed next to my bike in the garage! I was a young Liverpool fan, idolising Michael Owen and playing for the best youth football team in the area: Welwyn Pegasus (frightening, right!?). However, in an unfortunate football incident in the playground, I came out of a 50/50 with a fractured toe which ended my season and curtailed my journey to become the next Michael Owen.

Albeit the finer details are a little hazy, all I can now remember is sitting on my sofa at home in front of the TV with my leg in a cast and elevated on a plastic box watching Lee Westwood, in the aforementioned championship at Wentworth, and either he or his playing partner (who I seem to think was Sir Nick Faldo, as he was a local hero of the area and was probably why we had it on the TV..) hit an amazing recovery shot, on what I now know to be the 3rd hole on the West Course, which started low to escape the overhead branches and then quickly climb to an apex enabling the shot to reach the tricky third green; and all of this captured by a brilliant camera angle (provided by the BBC) which enabled a 9 year old me to appreciate the skill and mastery of hitting such an amazing Golf shot.

After 6 weeks of toe-fracturing recovery, I was back in white & royal blue playing for my local football team but when I fractured my toe again (maybe I had more in common with Michael Owen than I first thought, with all these injuries!) when I was about 13 years old, I was too agitated to just sit around the house and had some cut-down Golf Clubs made up for me (the same Golf Clubs that sat in the garage for all those years, albeit my Mother's set and not my Dad's..) to swing in the garden. After another 6 weeks of boring rehabilitation, I went back to the Gosling Driving Range and, under the tutelage of Brian Lewis (PGA/European Tour Player, Tom Lewis' Dad) and Mike Corlass, began mid-week junior coaching sessions before graduating to the pitch & putt course at Panshanger Golf Complex in Welwyn Garden City. From there, I joined my very first Golf Club, Mill Green Golf Club, and transitioned onto their junior programme, The Tiger Club, led by PGA Professional Ian Parker (now at Knebworth Golf Club). By the age of 16, I was playing off a handicap of 3 (for maybe a week, before going up 0.1!), attending a small number of Hertfordshire County Training Sessions alongside the likes of future winners such as Tom Lewis, Matt Wallace & Callum Shinkwin and forging friendships that will last a lifetime. And all of these experiences inspired by an afternoon watching Golf, and ultimately one-shot(!), on TV when I was 9 years old.

Unfortunately, between the ages of 17 and 23, there was an unforced hiatus for my love of Golf and I moved to London to realise ambitions of working in the Theatre industry. Perhaps my reasons for not playing Golf for all that time will be uncovered in a later article but, on 29th September 2014 - the day after Europe won the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles - I tucked myself into some Golf clothing that fitted me 6 years prior and recovered my Golf Clubs from my Mum's garage, that had now gathered the same dust and cobwebs that my parents' clubs had lived in, and got dropped off at Mill Green Golf Club one evening to hit a basket of range balls. By now my life was being documented on Instagram and that day I posted this photo with the caption "Ripping It"; whether I was or was not (I suspect not!) is now lost in history but I was once again inspired, this time by the Ryder Cup, to play Golf. I have not looked back since.

In 2021, I am motivated to inspire other people to play Golf and part of that strategy is to release monthly articles about the goings-on in the world of Golf, as well as share any lessons I have learned in that month which may support your quest in becoming a better you.

I'll see you out there! Elliot x

**Despite spending a lot of time at home and walking around my local parks, in 2020/21 (so far!) I have connected with many more colleagues across Golf and learning more about everyone's impact on the world of Golf. At the beginning of this year, I posted on LinkedIn calling out for anyone to introduce themselves for a chat/Zoom, with a long-term view of strengthening the bonds across our industry. The uptake was pleasantly successful and if anyone would still like to connect, do not hesitate to drop me a direct message!**

#Golf #Networking #RyderCup #EuropeanTour #JuniorGolf #CorporateGolf #GolfEvents