Chris Murtagh - PGA South Region Year 1 Trainee of the Year
Trainee golf pro gains top regional honour from the PGA
Blue Mountain’s PGA Trainee Golf Professional, Chris Murtagh, has been named “Best Year One PGA Trainee” for the South Region and received a cheque for £250 from TGI Golf, sponsors of the PGA Trainee Awards at the South Region AGM held on 2nd March 2011.
Twenty six year old Murtagh has worked at Blue Mountain GC on Wood Lane, Binfield for two years. He achieved the highest overall marks in his Professional Golf Association (PGA) year one exams exceeding the scores of 75 other trainees in the South Region.
The South Region of the PGA extends over a huge area and encompasses Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, the Channel Islands, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and Sussex.
Murtagh began playing golf at the age of eight, inspired by Nick Faldo’s win at the 1992 British Open at Muirfield. Having gained a degree in Sports Technology from Loughborough University, Chris has ambitions to become a top level golf coach. He has two further years of training before qualifying as a PGA Professional, and then intends to study for further coaching qualifications.
Commenting on the award Murtagh said: “It was a really great surprise to find out I was top of my year in the region. I am chuffed. It will spur me on to try just as hard over the remaining two years of the course.
“The Blue Mountain staff has been very supportive which really helps. I love the broad coaching experience I am gaining here – from coaching Discover Golf, our adult group programme, to large groups of children in our Crown Golf Junior Academy and on our schools programme.”
Rob Spurrier, Group Academy Manager at Crown Golf, owners of Blue Mountain GC, and mentor to Murtagh, added: “Chris is a great asset to the coaching team at Blue Mountain. He is a natural coach, and has done very well working in our Crown Golf Academy. Chris is to be commended on a first class first year as a trainee – we are delighted to have him onboard!”
