“It most definitely is a balancing act”

Director of Penrith Golf Hub – and PGA professional – Andrew Pickering, recipient of TGI Partner Of The Year, North Region Award for 2025, discusses how he manages a busy schedule, new technology and creating opportunities for beginners, women and junior golfers.

The landscape of the golf industry is always evolving, how has your business adapted to change in recent years?

The golf industry is becoming increasingly influenced by technology, whether that’s new product upgrades, coaching software and driving range launch monitor access or social media.

Manufacturer presence on tour and online has never been more important and has had a large impact on all aspects of the golf industry.

When did you join the TGI Golf Partnership and what made you decide it was the right fit for your business?

I joined in 2011 after seeing the benefits and offers I could gain through the partnership alongside the support from the TGI team and the community opportunities that are available.

How has becoming a TGI partner been of benefit to you as an independent retailer and PGA professional?

The TGI Golf Partnership offers a range of benefits, one being better terms with their partner suppliers for orders and prebooks along with access to marketing material, point of sale and guidance on merchandising and business strategy. The connections I have made through TGI and their partner suppliers have been invaluable in our progression as a business.

The day of a club professional can see you wear many hats, how do you manage your day?

It most definitely is a balancing act but I have a great team of staff and two business partners that divide and conquer different aspects of the business along with our diary which plans all meetings, lessons and custom fittings for the whole business.

There is a constant flow of new golf products – how do you manage your stock to serve the needs of your members and visitors?

The golf industry is heavily diluted now which is great as there are so many options but yes this is also difficult to manage as you will never please everyone. We run data analysis year on year to see which of our offerings have sold through best and try to grow each area and introduce new trends particularly in the apparel offerings.

What are you doing to support junior golf and introduce kids to the sport?

We take pride in our junior section as we offer affordable roll up group sessions every Saturday and Sunday morning for £5 for an hour with one of our PGA professionals. We also offer free taster sessions to all our local schools, funded by Penrith Golf Hub and local businesses which aims to encourage more juniors to take up golf. We visit the school for a two-hour session with our golfway equipment and provide a taster session with one of our PGA professionals.

Alongside these initiatives above we have also created our own junior pathway with different levels and skills tests to achieve with hoodies to earn at each stage; this is popular with our individual junior lessons.

Are you actively trying to attract more women to golf?

PGA professional Ellie Broome is an integral part of our team as our only female professional. Ellie runs ladies short game clinics, roll up sessions and on course group sessions. We have a great community of local women that visit us and use the facilities.

Do you have any programmes in place such as academy membership to make it easier to introduce beginners to the game?

We offer academy membership on the driving range which allows members up to 100 balls per day, we also have an affordable golf course membership for our nine-hole course at just £99 for a year which is aimed to introduce new players and juniors to the game before moving on to a traditional 18-hole golf club.

A lot of PGA pros are having to be a step ahead of their competitors in their offerings and technology – what additional added value services do you provide?

When we purchased Penrith Golf Hub we took a chance and installed a full 14-bay Toptracer driving range as we believed this would be the future of practicing and introducing the game to non-golfers as it is an interactive and fun experience for all abilities. We soon realised this was correct as we had queues of customers in line and three of our closest competitors began to install Toptracer technology.

What year did you turn professional and what have been your career highlights, both playing and employment?

I turned professional in 1998 and completed the four-year course at The Belfry before taking a head professional position at Grange-over-Sands until 2004 and then Penrith Driving Range until 2008. I then had the opportunity to move to Carus Green and set up CG Golf when the chance to buy Penrith Golf Hub arose in 2019. It was too good to miss. I now have two great business partners and an amazing team around us that has catapulted us to one of the leading facilities in the north west. This new chapter at Penrith has definitely been a career highlight!