Golf: John Chillas gives up Tour life for coaching

JOHN Chillas, a two-time Scottish Professional champion and three-time winner on the European Senior Tour, is stopping his globe-trotting at the age of 60 to concentrate on a new coaching initiative close to his home in Stirling.

While he has throughly enjoyed a career that has seen him play with more than a dozen major champions, Chillas has now decided the time is right to return to his coaching roots, having worked with Catriona Matthew for a long spell before, during and after her scholarship at Stirling University.

His new base is Cloybank, an innovative sporting and educational facility in Banknock, just off the M80 near Bonnybridge, where Chillas has come up with “Golf Your Way” – a method which he believes can help golfers of all ages and ability get the best out of the swing they were born with.

In the case of Chillas himself, that proved good enough to bring him success throughout his career, although the Aberdonian admits the amateur game these days, with squads heading for places such as Abu Dhabi and South Africa for winter training, is a lot different to the one he can remember as one of Scotland’s bright young prospects.

“I played for Scotland in the Boys’ Home Internationals in 1968, when Russell Weir was in the same team,” he recalled. “At that time you, all you got was a tie – it’s so different to what the kids get nowadays.”

The face of the European Tour has also changed dramatically since Chillas had a short and unsuccessful spell on it in the early 1970s before embarking on a career as a PGA pro, having stints at Ballater, Glenbervie and, finally, Stirling.

“I was 21 or 22, which was too young then,” he added, ackowledging that it has been astonishing to see the likes of Matteo Manaserro win twice on the circuit before he’d turned 18. “It was in the days of Monday qualifiers and, though I did okay in them, I was not a successful cut-maker and, over the two years I played on the circuit, it cost me £1,000, which was a lot of money then at my age.”

Chillas played in five PGA Cups before joining the European Senior Tour a decade ago, winning the Travis Perkins Senior Masters at Woburn in 2003, the Seniors Tour Championship in Portugal the following year then the Scandinavian Senior Open in 2007.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play golf at a reasonably high level throughout my career,” he said. “I’ve also been fortunate to play with 15 or 16 major champions, including Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Bob Charles, Gary Player and Tony Jacklin. I even played with Henry Cotton. In saying that, the best golfer I’ve ever played with was (American) Tom Purtzer. I’ve never seen a golf ball struck like that in my life.”

Helped by the work she did early in her career with Chillas, who was the Stirling University golf team coach at one time, Matthew has struck the ball pretty well over the past decade or so in establishing herself as one of the top players in women’s golf.

Chillas has also been impressed with the progress of Richie Ramsay, another ex-Stirling scholar, but he believes the US college circuit is a more competitive environment for aspiring Tour players. Chillas said: “The thing I like about the US college system is that, every week in life, they have a tournament and there are 10 playing for six spots on a team as well.

“They are honed to this and, by the time they’ve had four years of being very competitive, it seems to set them up in a better way. There doesn’t seem to be such a fight for places over here.”

While he could still be tempted to make the odd sortie on the Senior circuit, Chillas is relishing the opportunity to get back to coaching at Cloybank, where owner John Penman has spent around £650,000 to create a venue that, in addition to golf practice facilities, is offering opportunities in fishing, shooting and archery to deprived youngsters in the Falkirk and Forth Valley areas. “I’ve never been a method coach, hence ‘Golf Your Way’,” said Chillas. “The swing you’ve got once you’re 17 becomes extremely difficult to change – you’ve got to work at it. I believe initially you have to improve with the basics, which is partly method, but you’ve got to let them develop themselves, instead of trying to create the same swing for everyone.”

Penman, who has ambitious plans to expand the facility, is delighted to have Chillas on board. “When John approached us, it came out of the blue but I was really taken by ‘Golf Your Way’,” he said. “What we have here is the first of its kind in the world. I know that’s a bold statement, but we have so much variety and diversity.”