WHICHEVER WAY you cut it, the irony is as wonderful as the surroundings: a golf academy bearing the name of a man largely self-taught and who, by his own admission, hardly ever spends more than 15 minutes on the practice range. Welcome, then, to the Colin Montgomerie Links Golf Academy that adjoins the clubhouse at the Westin Turnberry Resort on the southwest coast of Scotland. Quite simply, one of the world’s most alluring golfing destinations; at its heart, quite possibly, the world’s finest links course. “I know, I know, very funny me heading up a teaching facility,”says the man himself as he prepares to conduct a (brief ) clinic on a gloriously sunny August afternoon.
“But what do you and everyone else here want to get out of a golf school? You want to get around a golf course
in as few shots as possible, and that’s what we at the Links Academy believe we can teach you to do.
We keep instruction simple, with a grounding in the basics that shape the way we all play; our objective is
not to impose a whole new way of playing but to nurture individual ability and concentrate on one or two
areas guaranteed to knock a few shots off your score.” With that the 7-iron is out and the familiar style of
the man who has dominated Europe’s success in recent Ryder Cups effortlessly wafts a couple of balls into
the blue sky. “You know, golf can be the most difficult game if youallow it to be,” he says as another one soars
on the breeze. “But not the way I think about it. We are all built differently, but if we stick to the basics of
making a good grip and alignment, I believe every golfer can use my simple ideas to play better golf.” For more information on the teaching programmes on offer at the Colin Montgomerie Links Academy, contact the Westin
Turnberry Resort on 01655 334136. In the meantime, we hope that Colin’s refreshing ideas help your game.
– Richard Simmons