Golf: Patrick is loving the day job at Kingsfield

The Edinburgh man has  recently been appointed as a Scottish Golf Development Centre Coach at Kingsfield  outside Linlithgow.

He was also out in South  Africa last month working with the Scottish men’s squad and is loving life as a coach, though he still has plan to play a bit himself on the Tartan Tour this year.

“My day-to-day teaching is at Kingsfield Golf Centre, which has excellent facilities, and the plan is to continue to develop my coaching,” said Patrick. “I specialise in the short game, which is the easiest way to improve your score, and on performance coaching, where I can utilise all my playing experience to help golfers improve on the golf course not just on the range.

“I am kept busy looking after various different Fife County squads plus I am now a Scottish Golf Development Centre Coach at Kingsfield as well.

“I have a lot of promising youngsters and hopefully I can help them realise their goals.

“My day-to-day teaching  varies tremendously. I look after quite a few pros and elite amateurs but I get as much pleasure from teaching the average golfer get their eureka moment regarding the short game.”

On his trip to South Africa, he added: “I was involved with Scottish squads for a long time as a player and it was great to be out helping the guys and also learning from them now as a coach.”

On and off the course, Patrick was a decorated PGA trainee, winning the Scottish Assistant of the Year every year of his training and lifting the Scottish Young Pros’ title three years in a row.

“The double hat-trick is something that no-one has ever done before. The awards are a positive recognition of the hard work you have put in and hopefully they can help provide a boost to my career,” said Patrick.

Last season he played in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth before joining forces with Gareth Wright and David Orr to claim a runaway win for Scotland in the PGA of Europe Team Championship in Portugal.

“It’s not often you can call yourself a European champion so that was great,” said Patrick, who is waiting to see what  playing opportunities will be forthcoming this season.

“I will still be playing on the Tartan Tour this year, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to devote the required amount of time the busier I am getting as a coach,” he added.

“I was slightly disappointed with my fourth place in the OOM last year, although I was the only multiple winner of OOM events.

“I loved the experience I had last year playing against the best in the world at the BMW PGA at Wentworth.

“Unfortunately, I missed out this year, but I still have the great opportunity of playing the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles in August.”