It's not all play and no work for Abu Dhabi City Golf Club head golf professional Steve Johns, as Abu Dhabi Week discovers
To some people it would seem that Steve Johns has the perfect job – he gets to spend his days playing the game he loves. But is it really as straightforward as that?
As a youngster, Steve was a county-standard golfer and got down to scratch at 15. However, after deciding to go to university and not really playing any golf for three years, his aspirations of becoming a tour pro dissipated.
“I was at university with Oliver Wilson (member of the 2008 European Ryder Cup team) before he went to Augusta on a golf scholarship. We had a couple of games when he came back and it was incredible how much he’d developed and I hadn’t,” Steve recalls.
“That was when I said to myself – right you’re not going to be a player anymore Steve.”
After three years as a YTS trainee at the Ruddington Grange Golf Club in Nottingham, England, Steve qualified in 2001 and spent a couple of years at the La Moye Golf Club in Jersey. He got the offer to work in Abu Dhabi in 2006 and has never looked back.
So, what does a day in the life of a golf professional entail? Abu Dhabi Week takes a look ...
7am: Living on site means that Steve doesn’t have far to travel in the mornings. After a quick breakfast, he’s down at the club’s Golf Academy by 7am for the first lessons of the day – three hours of coaching ladies’ groups.
“One of the great things about this job is the sheer variety of the clientele – all ages, nationalities and an equal mix of males and females,” he says. “For example, tonight I have a lesson with a 71-year-old and a four-year-old all within a couple of hours.”
Future pros? Steve Johns and his keen golfing students
11am: Although the morning’s coaching is out of the way, Steve doesn’t get a chance for much of a break.
“When I was a full-time golf professional this two to three hour break was my own to do with what I wanted. Now, as head golf professional I have a lot of admin to take care of: replying to emails, management meetings and concentrating on the golf operations side of the club. I probably do 20-30 percent less coaching now but I enjoy the variety. Now I wake up and every day has new challenges.”
4pm: The day’s admin out of the way, Steve is back to doing what he does best – this time it’s the turn of the club’s
budding youngsters.
“We do a lot of junior coaching and have about 300 kids in our Junior Academy,” says Steve, his eyes lighting up – this is obviously one of his favourite subjects.
“We have some great kids here and together with the Emirates Golf Foundation we are running Young Masters Golf schemes, which look at pushing golf to the next level for juniors and young Emiratis in particular.
“The main problem is time – the one thing you need to progress in this game is time. The juniors in particular come to us for one hour a week, learning anything in just one hour a week is really tough. It’s not just about getting them here either, it’s about keeping them here and pushing them to the next level.”
7pm: After the Junior Academy has finished, Steve normally has a couple of hours of private lessons booked. His evening’s students could be any standard – from beginner to advanced – and the sessions can involve anything from a chipping or short game lesson to a full round on the golf course.
“We’ve recently renovated the lights here and so we can keep playing till quite late. Night golf is something different that we offer and perfect for the time of year – with tee times up to 8.30pm you can be out on the golf course until 10.30pm.”
9pm: Finishing quite late in the evenings and starting early the next day, Steve doesn’t have a lot of time to explore other interests in the evenings. He tries to go to the gym as regularly as possible and on his days off he loves to try out the new courses in Abu Dhabi. “Although golf is my everyday job, I still really enjoy playing for playing’s sake,” he laughs.
He is also a big football fan: “Newcastle United are my team so I’m quite happy at the moment and looking forward to seeing them in the Premiership next season.” And although Steve admits he hasn’t yet been to watch any UAE football, he does reveal that the golf club has adopted Al Wahda as their local team.
Final thoughts: “I have absolutely no regrets about coming here at all. The quality of life and the working conditions, certainly for the job I do, are fantastic. I have no plans to leave any time soon either. The diversity of the coaching I do here is something I will never forget – it’s been an amazing experience so far.”
Jon Muller
