'Coaching in group lessons is secondary. Having fun is the most important thing’

24/07/2025

When it comes to enthusiasm and passion for group coaching, you don’t need to look further than Emma Brown at the Kendleshire

Working with her colleague and fellow PGA Professional Tom Gillespie to deliver group tuition for juniors and women’s golfers, it is the latter that Brown focuses on.

The benefits to the mental health of the attendees, how to instil fun in each lesson and the significance of giving women an outlet through golf are just some of things Brown outlined about the importance of her group coaching.

How much to charge

Our sessions are £15 a session. We have done it in block lessons some years, we have paid individually in some. I’ll probably go back to block payments next year, but we just like once-a-month payments because that makes it cheaper.

How to market your group coaching

COVID was kind of when it all started. There was just a big gap in our women’s section. We only had about 20 women when I started, and I really liked the group coaching environment. I came from a driving range, and we used to do that quite a lot.

I did a lot of social media and a lot online. I started to talk to people and then it suddenly started to snowball, which was great. One of my really good friends, Hannah Crump in Birmingham, she does similar to what I do, so we are joining forces a little bit and doing some coaching together next year. This is so we can have a bigger audience and teach loads more women.

How to use feedback productively

The good thing is that we have got such a good group of really nice women now. Normally, at the first session of the year, you ask if there are any questions, and there are always none. But by the end, they start asking questions and they start asking questions as a group.

One week, we had a full swing session. We started to talk about something and then it got on to a completely different track and we started to talk about drivers. It’s good as long as it doesn’t become too much information for them. They are still learning, and everyone is trying to tell them stuff when they go and practise.

Everyone is giving them information and it’s about trying to rein in the information a little bit so they aren’t overwhelmed with stuff.

We really obsess with making kids have fun – so why wouldn’t we do the same with adults?

- Emma Brown

Emphasise fun

That is my most important thing. The coaching is secondary for me because, as adults, it gets sad and depressing! Everything is adulting, so why can’t it be fun?

We really obsess with making kids have fun, but why wouldn’t we do the same with adults?

Golf is hard enough as it is. Some chipping games, team games. We take them out on the course and play Texas scramble. For me, in terms of words, if someone has walked off and said ‘enjoyment’ or ‘fun’ and is smiling, then I feel my job is done. Golf is the secondary thing and if they are having a good time and chilled out, their golf swing is going to be better and more relaxed.

Make sure people are coming back for more

A lot of women have stuff to do with their kids. We try and avoid weekends because everyone is dropping kids to football, tennis and swimming. We are on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings after work.

We have done 6.30 or 7.30 pm, and then I have put out polls on WhatsApp about Saturday or Sunday mornings, just to see how many are free. I would probably chuck that in the diary once a month, and give people the option of Saturday or Sunday at the same time. 10am on a Saturday or Sunday morning seems to work. Anything in the afternoon seems to be busy with kids.

I give people the dates for the whole summer, so they know what they’re doing and they can look on this app called Spond that I’ve started to use. There might be better ways of doing it, but everyone is really busy.

Recognising the mental health benefits

I’ve taught people who have had full-on breakdowns. The more PGA Professionals I speak to, the more I think our roles are changing. We are like hairdressers sometimes! If you meet people and get to know people, they start to relax. We get told everything, good or bad, and we feel like another ear to talk to.

Some of the people I have taught who send me messages is just quite tearjerking. I’m quite an emotional person! But it does pull your heart strings. I love my job, I absolutely love it.

It all comes back to the fun element. If you’re always intense, and I feel like I’m not a typical golf professional, I probably have a laugh a bit too much. That is me. I don’t really come as the A-star professional. I want people to have a good time and feel relaxed and have a laugh.

I think when you have that attitude, you start to get that across to people and then if they’re not that kind of person, they either warm up to it or they don’t come back. I can safely say I’ve not had that many people not come back over the years which is good.

Providing women with their own hobby

Being a woman, you hear and understand more of what is going on with other women. A lot of the feedback we’ve had is they don’t get to do stuff for themselves. They get to go out with the kids, that’s lovely. They go out for a meal, the kids are there, and a lot of these women generally haven’t got other hobbies that they feel are their own.

Having their own time just for them has made a massive difference. It builds confidence, it gets them to realise that they have to start thinking about themselves a bit more as well. It’s just really nice to see someone’s confidence grow because they’re starting to do stuff for themselves.

It’s always the men that go and play golf on Saturday. The wife is always with the kids on Saturday, and the boys are going on a golf tour, and it really does my head in!

We’re talking about a golf event and trying to go abroad next year, and planting the seed now so they can tell their other halves that they are coming!”