Golf blog: life as a PGA Pro

John Jackson blog

Welcome to my blog! The aim of this blog is to give you an insight into what life is like as an assistant golf professional. Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is John Jackson, I'm 24 years old and I work as Assistant PGA Professional at Henbury Golf Club in Bristol. I'm griginally from St. Helens in Merseyside and my journey began in March 2012, when I landed my first job as an assistant at Pitlochry Golf Club in Scotland.

I worked at Pitlochry for 18 months and it was a great introduction into life as a golf professional. I got to play some great courses and meet some lovely people. In October 2013, I started a new role at Henbury Golf Club working under head pro Nick Riley. Working as an Assistant Pro is a great job as you get to do something you love for a living. However, it isn't always sunshine and rainbows. It can be quite tough to establish yourself, especially as a pro at a new club.

As a new Assistant Professional at Henbury, I have found it hard to make an impact on the members and build up a client base. Most of this is probably down to the time of the year. Starting my new role in October meant I was starting at a time when most people were putting their clubs away for the winter, never mind thinking of taking golf lessons. Because Nick is so well regarded it has also made it tough. A lot of members want to see the main man, the head pro, the man with years of experience, not his young assistant. Probably the hardest thing, though, about moving to Bristol at this time of year is working winter hours and earning just enough money to get by. A lot of people think working as an assistant is a glamorous job, but actually most assistants are earning minimum wage. As the start of the season draws nearer, I am getting ready for a big year ahead and will be competing on the local PGA circuit.

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