Bate’s summer of success

The victories of Jason Levermore (Little Channels) and Andrew Pestell (Chelmsford) in the opening two Order of Merit tournaments of 2018 highlighted the strength of Essex’s PGA professionals.

But they also flagged up the expertise of Paul Bate, the PGA teaching professional who coaches both winners.

Bate has known Levermore for many years and the pair have teamed up to great effect since officially joining forces in 2011.

Levermore’s win in the London Open was the latest in a long line of successes that the pair have enjoyed in partnership.

The Bate-Pestell combination formed more recently in 2015 and the latter’s East Anglian Open triumph was their first together

Now Bate, who coaches at Brett Vale in Suffolk and also from his home swing studio, is hoping both of his players can push for a spot at next year’s BMW PGA Championship via the PGA Play-Offs.

Bate, 39, said: “I’d love to see Jason back at Wentworth – he has got a good history there.

“I’d also love to see Pesty there. The course suits him and he has got the self-belief. He could do well there.”

Both players are fulsome in their praise of Bate’s contribution to their respective golf games.

Levermore, a multiple Order of Merit winner and PGA Cup player, puts a lot of his success down to Bates’ input over the seasons.

He said: “When we started my swing was very loose and I hit it both ways. Paul made some fundamental changes early on and straight away we lost the bad shot to the left.

“I feel I wouldn’t have won or competed anywhere near as much had Paul not made those changes to my swing.

“He knows my swing inside out and we’ve made some great changes to it over the years. It slowly became more compact.

“He also caddied for me in the PGA Cup and we were unbeaten for all five games – another thing I don’t think I would have achieved had Paul not been with me.

Similarly, Pestell points to his alliance with Bate as a key factor behind his return to top form in 2018.

Pestell said: “Paul’s massively helped. I didn’t play for a couple of years before I saw Paul and lost my way a bit.

“I think the biggest thing was that he helped me understand how I swing the club and what happens when it goes wrong.

“We did a lot of work over the winter on trying to take the left side out of the swing on the way through. Paul gave me some simple drills.

“We’ve also done a bit recently on pivoting better – through the ball – which helps me get the club back in front of me. 

“Hopefully I’ll win more and be thereabouts when I don’t – a bit like Levermore!”

Bate was thrilled with both of his players’ big wins. But like all good PGA professionals he derives great satisfaction from the achievements of each player that he coaches, irrespective of their ability.

This summer at his club one of his long-term pupils finally made the cut in the club championship after 20 years. The man is aged 76.

‘I got a buzz out of that, I really did,’ said Bate. ‘I find it so rewarding helping people improve at the game and seeing their enjoyment increase.”