Christian Askins
B.A. (Hons.) PGA Professional – Golf Services Manager
Christian joins Machynys Peninsula Golf and Country Club as a recently qualified PGA professional with a degree in Applied Golf Management Studies from the University of Birmingham and the PGA located at The Belfry. Christian has been at Machynys since 2007 and had an active role in two of the LET events and the R&A British Boys Championships held at Machynys. During his time at university, Christian also appeared as a regular player within the golf teams, where fixtures were competed across the length and breadth of England.
From an academic perspective, whilst at university Christian attended seminars held by national leaders within their respective fields. These included modules in sports science and golf swing biomechanics, event management, equipment technology, sports coach education, business management and advanced golf psychology. In addition to this, Christian also compiled a dissertation focusing the expectations held by beginners towards golf coaching.
Whilst at university, Christian was also part of a team that organized and staged a Guinness World Record Attempt to complete the fastest ever round of golf by a group of people. This comprised of 30 golfers all taking different position on a 6,532 yard,18 hole course, all having one common goal of getting the same golf ball around the course in as little time as possible. Unfortunately, the fastest time that the group could post was just outside of the 16 minute record time.
Best Golf Tip - Look to achieve, not to avoid failure
How many times have you stood on the first tee thinking to yourself “I better not hit it in that water on the right, that’ll make me look stupid” or “there’s out of bounds left, that’ll ruin my scorecard”. It may sound very obvious reading this, but you will be surprised how many people do think like this without realizing it on the golf course. Thinking like this will be detrimental to your game and more importantly to your scores!
To overcome this, before every shot pick out the smallest target possible where you DO want to hit the ball. This may be a flagstick, a mound or a tree in the distance. From there, line yourself up to that target and make a free flowing swing. This will help you narrow your focus, resulting in better shots and more importantly better scores.