Meet our Golf PGA Pros!
Ahead of the Golf season we think it’s about time to introduce our PGA Golf Pros!
Meet Keith Williams
How did you get into this career and how long have you been in the industry?
My father introduced me to the game when I was 7, and have loved it ever since. As I got older I went onto represent Wales and Great Britain and Ireland as an amateur. The natural progression was then to become a PGA professional in 1987…32 years later I’m here at the Vale Resort
What do you love most about your job?
I love about my job are meeting people and passing on some of the experiences I have picked up over the past 32 years. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work with a lot wonderful people in some lovely places
What would be your 3 top tips for an aspiring golfer?
What do you do in your free time?
Really enjoy spending my free time with my wife, two daughters, our dog and my friends. Eating, drinking and shouting at the Wales rugby team winning the Six Nations.
Where do you see yourself in 5 Years & what do you hope to achieve in your time as a Golf Pro at the Vale Resort?
Hopefully I’ll still be here at the Vale Resort - it is a huge part of my life and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. If I can achieve improvement in all I am involved in I will be more than happy.
What’s the most common problem you encounter as a coach?
Golfers generally misunderstand what they require to develop their golf. My role as a golf coach is to provide simple and clear understanding of what they need to work on to improve.
What handicap did you become Pro of?
Plus one
Meet Richard King
How did you get into this career and how long have you been in the industry?
I’ve played golf from around the age of 10 and decided fairly early on that I wanted to be a golf pro. I’ve been in the industry since I started at Celtic Manor in 2002 and now I'm here at the Vale Resort.
What do you love most about your job?
I am able to do what I’m passionate about. I get great satisfaction from helping people improve and introducing more people to the great game.
What are you most looking forward to this Golf Season?
Helping more people improve their golf and getting more juniors into the game. I run the junior golf camps during half term and love to see new faces to the game.
What would be your 3 top tips for an aspiring golfer?
What do you do in your free time?
I’ve got two young girls so my free time is pretty much taken up looking after their needs as any parent will tell you! When I do have any spare time, I’m a season ticket holder at Cardiff City so go to watch them as much as I can and enjoy watching most sports on TV.
Where do you see yourself in 5 Years & what do you hope to achieve in your time as a Golf Pro at the Vale Resort?
Well hopefully still here as one of the teaching pros at the Vale Resort! Really hoping to increase the junior members at the Vale and the number of juniors playing and enjoying golf over the next 5 years and watching them progress.
Also looking forward to being part of a great team of coaches that can help get more people playing the game and help people from all walks of life improve their golf.
What does your typical day look like?
If I’m working in the shop, then I’ll be opening up around 6.45am during the summer months and finishing my shift at 3pm. During that time I’ll be helping to serve our members and guests, ensuring that all their needs are being met from a golfing point of view and that we’re offering as high a level of service as possible. After finishing my shift in the shop, I then coach until around 7pm.
On a non-shop day, then I’ll tend to coach between 10am-7pm, where I’ll spend most of my time on the driving range, short game area, putting green and/or golf course.
What’s the most common problem you encounter as a coach?
I think it would be people expecting instant success when they’re making a swing change because these generally take time to come to fruition. It even takes the best players in the world, who spend hours practising every day, time for swing changes to work during competition and so the average golfer certainly needs to be patient when making a change and keep working diligently with their PGA pro to ensure a long term payoff.
What handicap did you become Pro of?
I was off 4 when I turned pro.
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