It was as if the 19-year-old Eddie
Pepperell had been handed a truth drug
prior to giving his views on what the
English Golf Union was doing for its players. In a question and answer session at
the EGU’s annual Coaching Conference at
Woodhall Spa, Peter Mattsson, the Union’s
director of coaching, pressed the teenager
to say precisely what he thought, and the
lad obliged.
When asked which – the World Amateur Golf Ranking and the Council of National Golf Unions – handicapping system
should be used for whittling down the
fields for amateur events, he made it clear
he did not think much of either. “I don’t
know which is worse,” he volunteered, before deciding that the WAGR were probably
the lesser of two evils.
On the matter of why he had given up
playing for Berk, Bucks and Oxon, Pepperell said that it was because he could no
longer get himself “up” for matches, and
that he was concerned that he might let
everyone down, including himself. When
quizzed further, he explained that he did
not want to spend the weekends in the
company of his county colleagues. Presumably because their attitude does not
marry with his own level of intensity.
His view on coaching? Seemingly
oblivious to the coaches sitting in front of
him, this winner of the 2010 Welsh Open
Amateur said he uses a coach and he
moves on: “I’ve been through four or five.
Every coach has been good for me and
given me something, but it’s a matter of
natural progression.”
Whatever else it did, the 19-year-old
Pepperell’s preference for the truth, added
a certain weight to his more kindly com-
ments.
Thanks to his new regimen, he believes he could
be ready to play as a professional
in May – and never mind that this
would mean missing out on the
Walker Cup. Officialdom will surely
try to change his mind, reminding him
how such as Padraig Harrington and Paul
Casey played in the match five times
between them.
At the same time, they are unlikely
to be impressed by his argument that a
player’s game can go downhill amid the
stressful build-up to the match.
No one would pretend that Woodhall
Spa is in the right spot for a national
sports centre in that it is miles away from
anywhere. Yet, few would argue that there
could be anywhere better for players
like Pepperell to take a long hard look at
themselves and get down to some serious
practice.
The two Woodhall Spa courses are
among the best in the country, while the
practice facilities, with particular reference to the short-game area, are second
to none. The same applies to the variety
and level of expertise on which the EGU
are able to draw.
The Coaching Conference was a case
in point.
The professionals were treated to a
lecture from Dave Alred, Johnny Wilkin-
son’s kicking coach in the realm of rugby
and the man behind Luke Donald’s recent
advance. One message Alred wanted to
get across was that the more the coaches
expand their own knowledge, the further
they can take their pupils. This was some-
thing many of those in the room seemed
already to have taken on board.
