Where do your skills lie as a coach?
I feel I’m at my best coaching club players. I like to keep things simple and easy to understand. I never wanted to coach tour players and I had no ambition to do so. There are some coaches who focus on that elite level – to me they’re like Harley Street specialists whose knowledge allows them to fine-tune the best in the game.
I started as an assistant at The Downshire GC in Berkshire aged 16. At 19 I won my tour card and planned to ease Seve and Co aside but quickly realised I didn’t have the talent to do so. Being ambitious, I turned my attention to becoming a top-class club pro. I worked for a great professional called Roger Mace whose speciality was merchandising and he ran a very successful shop. He was a merchandising lecturer for The PGA so I was brilliantly taught in that respect. I had been lucky enough to work under a guy who taught me how to repair clubs to a high standard, I played well enough to be competitive as a club pro but needed to strengthen my coaching which I considered a weakness.
Where do your skills lie as a coach?
I feel I’m at my best coaching club players. I like to keep things simple and easy to understand. I never wanted to coach tour players and I had no ambition to do so. There are some coaches who focus on that elite level – to me they’re like Harley Street specialists whose knowledge allows them to fine-tune the best in the game.
I started as an assistant at The Downshire GC in Berkshire aged 16. At 19 I won my tour card and planned to ease Seve and Co aside but quickly realised I didn’t have the talent to do so. Being ambitious, I turned my attention to becoming a top-class club pro. I worked for a great professional called Roger Mace whose speciality was merchandising and he ran a very successful shop. He was a merchandising lecturer for The PGA so I was brilliantly taught in that respect. I had been lucky enough to work under a guy who taught me how to repair clubs to a high standard, I played well enough to be competitive as a club pro but needed to strengthen my coaching which I considered a weakness.
Where do your skills lie as a coach?
I feel I’m at my best coaching club players. I like to keep things simple and easy to understand. I never wanted to coach tour players and I had no ambition to do so. There are some coaches who focus on that elite level – to me they’re like Harley Street specialists whose knowledge allows them to fine-tune the best in the game.
I started as an assistant at The Downshire GC in Berkshire aged 16. At 19 I won my tour card and planned to ease Seve and Co aside but quickly realised I didn’t have the talent to do so. Being ambitious, I turned my attention to becoming a top-class club pro. I worked for a great professional called Roger Mace whose speciality was merchandising and he ran a very successful shop. He was a merchandising lecturer for The PGA so I was brilliantly taught in that respect. I had been lucky enough to work under a guy who taught me how to repair clubs to a high standard, I played well enough to be competitive as a club pro but needed to strengthen my coaching which I considered a weakness.
Whose brains would you pick while you were learning your trade?
I wrote to a lot of the best coaches in the world and asked them whether I could come and watch them work. I’d read books and watched videos but I needed to actually go and see how the best coaches actually did it. To a man, they allowed me to do it. A couple of them charged me, most of them didn’t.
I went to America and watched David Leadbetter, Chuck Cook, Hank Haney and in the UK the likes of John Jacobs, John Sterling and Ian Connelly. I just sat and watched them teach and formulated my own style of teaching. I now felt ready and got my first club pro job at Hartley Wintney in 1983. I quickly got a reputation as a good teacher, which I didn’t really expect. I then got into the county and national set-ups.
Whose brains would you pick while you were learning your trade?
I wrote to a lot of the best coaches in the world and asked them whether I could come and watch them work. I’d read books and watched videos but I needed to actually go and see how the best coaches actually did it. To a man, they allowed me to do it. A couple of them charged me, most of them didn’t.
I went to America and watched David Leadbetter, Chuck Cook, Hank Haney and in the UK the likes of John Jacobs, John Sterling and Ian Connelly. I just sat and watched them teach and formulated my own style of teaching. I now felt ready and got my first club pro job at Hartley Wintney in 1983. I quickly got a reputation as a good teacher, which I didn’t really expect. I then got into the county and national set-ups.
Whose brains would you pick while you were learning your trade?
I wrote to a lot of the best coaches in the world and asked them whether I could come and watch them work. I’d read books and watched videos but I needed to actually go and see how the best coaches actually did it. To a man, they allowed me to do it. A couple of them charged me, most of them didn’t.
I went to America and watched David Leadbetter, Chuck Cook, Hank Haney and in the UK the likes of John Jacobs, John Sterling and Ian Connelly. I just sat and watched them teach and formulated my own style of teaching. I now felt ready and got my first club pro job at Hartley Wintney in 1983. I quickly got a reputation as a good teacher, which I didn’t really expect. I then got into the county and national set-ups.
What made you stand out?
I think my ability to communicate is probably my best asset. People seem to understand the way I put things and I worked hard at trying to find lots of different ways to put the message across. Everyone learns differently – some by listening and having things explained, others from feelings and images. So that is where I put a lot of my energy and that appears to have been key. I got into TV because they wanted a coaching mind as part of the Sky team.
Who would you have a lesson with?
Butch Harmon – all day long. He is a great friend, but he is a wonderful coach. He has this incredible knowledge but he just keeps it very simple. I listen to people talking about his coaching, and they say it is too simplistic – how can you be too simplistic? I have watched the evolution of people’s swings under him and it is just a gentle improvement. It ends up looking, quite often, reasonably different but it is a gentle process and done in the right way to keep them playable while he works with them. He would be the guy that suits me personally.
If you are a player who likes intricate detail, then Pete Cowen is hard to beat. Pete has an incredible knowledge and he’s taught me a lot about the swing.
CLICK HERE to read the full interview with Tim Barter in the December issue of PGA Monthly.
What made you stand out?
I think my ability to communicate is probably my best asset. People seem to understand the way I put things and I worked hard at trying to find lots of different ways to put the message across. Everyone learns differently – some by listening and having things explained, others from feelings and images. So that is where I put a lot of my energy and that appears to have been key. I got into TV because they wanted a coaching mind as part of the Sky team.
Who would you have a lesson with?
Butch Harmon – all day long. He is a great friend, but he is a wonderful coach. He has this incredible knowledge but he just keeps it very simple. I listen to people talking about his coaching, and they say it is too simplistic – how can you be too simplistic? I have watched the evolution of people’s swings under him and it is just a gentle improvement. It ends up looking, quite often, reasonably different but it is a gentle process and done in the right way to keep them playable while he works with them. He would be the guy that suits me personally.
If you are a player who likes intricate detail, then Pete Cowen is hard to beat. Pete has an incredible knowledge and he’s taught me a lot about the swing.
CLICK HERE to read the full interview with Tim Barter in the December issue of PGA Monthly.
What made you stand out?
I think my ability to communicate is probably my best asset. People seem to understand the way I put things and I worked hard at trying to find lots of different ways to put the message across. Everyone learns differently – some by listening and having things explained, others from feelings and images. So that is where I put a lot of my energy and that appears to have been key. I got into TV because they wanted a coaching mind as part of the Sky team.
Who would you have a lesson with?
Butch Harmon – all day long. He is a great friend, but he is a wonderful coach. He has this incredible knowledge but he just keeps it very simple. I listen to people talking about his coaching, and they say it is too simplistic – how can you be too simplistic? I have watched the evolution of people’s swings under him and it is just a gentle improvement. It ends up looking, quite often, reasonably different but it is a gentle process and done in the right way to keep them playable while he works with them. He would be the guy that suits me personally.
If you are a player who likes intricate detail, then Pete Cowen is hard to beat. Pete has an incredible knowledge and he’s taught me a lot about the swing.
