Patience, perseverance, resilience? Golf tends to demand such varied attributes and PGA Professional Stella McClure will certainly vouch for that now that her own custom-fitted studio is up and running.
From to-ing and fro-ing with lawyers, to parrying and jousting with builders and enduring setbacks with illness, it’s been a long haul.
But McClure, a former PGA Trainee of the Year who didn’t begin her journey with the association until she turned 50, has finally achieved her goal.
Amid the myriad ups, downs, trials and tribulations, the memory of her late husband, Ian, gave her the drive and determination to continue, particularly when she was at her lowest ebb. This has been a true labour of love.
“It never dawned on me how much the project meant to me from the perspective of my late husband until it was finished,” said McClure, whose husband was a passionate golfer and member of the Royal & Ancient until his untimely passing back in 2012.
“In the back of my mind, I think he was always in there saying, ‘c’mon you can do this, you can get this over the line’. My husband was a real driver of it. If I was doing it purely for me, I may have given up.”
McClure’s intimate and wonderfully appointed studio at the bottom of her garden stands as a monument to the memory of her husband and to her own spirit too.
“It’s been a very emotional journey,” she said of the various logistical hassles, negotiations and issues that dogged the development.
The purchase of a small, three metre patch of land from a neighbouring farmer, for instance, took over eight months to complete as the process got bogged down in legalities.
Dealings and quotations from various building firms, meanwhile, became something of a minefield. “I’m not sure I was equipped at the start to deal with all this but now I am very much aware of a professional building firm and those who, shall we say, are not so professional about they way they go about their business,” she added of a project which required a hefty, five-figure financial investment. “I needed wising up on that front.
It is the latest chapter in a varied career which was predominantly spent in the medical profession.
“I was talking with a friend one day and she said, ‘if you had your time again, what would you do?’,” reflected McClure, who was a senior lecturer in her area of expertise when The PGA opportunity arose.
“I stopped and thought about how much I loved sport and teaching and I thought I’d love to do something like golf coaching.
"But I didn’t think there was a hope in hell really. I was coming 50. I didn’t realise The PGA had a distance learning programme. Before I knew it, I’d landed a job with Owen Leslie at Piperdam in Dundee. He was brave enough to take me on as an assistant. I got on the programme and never looked back.”
"And others simply just want to chat and have fun. Every golfer is different. There’s no one size fits all for golf.
“I also have clients who come to me because of my medical background. They maybe have injuries, some physical challenges or just general wear and tear with age. They may be worried about what they can do with a club, but I can help them find a way to do it, without hurting a shoulder or whatever it is that bothers them.
"I enjoy using my medical knowledge to help people who are struggling and keep them playing the game they love.”
With her studio in full swing, McClure is now savouring the fruits of her own labour of love.
