About

To be honest we didn't find Golf-at-Home, Golf-at-Home found us!
Let me explain.

In qualifying to become a golf instructor, neither of us ended up on the course dates we were originally booked. I was booked to attend the April course and Vaughan was booked for the August course in 2002. However, I broke my wrist 2 weeks before my course and then Vaughan was taken ill just before his course.

But for some reason, we were meant to meet. And that was in the November of 2002.

Yet, even though we were on the same course, I genuinely don't remember Vaughan on any of the training sessions until I was partnered with him in our playability round at the end of the weeks training.

Both of us played awful golf that day, but it was there when we discovered that even though we had met for the first time in Stirling, Scotland, we actually lived just 35 mins away from each other on the Berkshire and Bucks border. So we agreed to meet up and play golf together.

And it was that first game of golf at a local 9 hole course that we started to talk about looking for a job as golf instructors.

The challenge we had is that there are more golf instructors in the world than there are golf courses, so finding a vacancy was going to be hard, and Vaughan had already been looking.

However, when waiting to tee off on the 6th tee, Vaughan just turned and said to me "what we need is to be able to teach in peoples homes". And that was enough for me turn that thought into reality.

So I started searching the internet looking for equipment that we could quickly and easily set up in someone's back garden. But in order for it to work we had to be able to fit all the teaching equipment in the back of Vaughans Ford Fiesta.

I mentioned our idea to some work colleagues and they set about looking for a solution. In my head we needed a net that could easily and quickly put together. A few months later in 2003 a work colleague found me a South Korean company who were making 'pop-up' golf training nets. So, I bought 50!

Picking them up from the airport was interesting to say the least, so I'll leave that story for later and write a short post about that interesting event!

Our No.1 aim was to really ensure safety and damage whilst teaching in peoples gardens, with using real golf balls, having enough space, and looking out for excited dogs. We had to mitigate damage and ensure safety.

In addition, as a female entering someones home, I too had to be vigilant of my surroundings and personal safety. So always told Vaughan where I was teaching, and called him before and after the lessons.

So, we had the nets, but using real golf balls can cause damage if they miss the net! That brings me back to the first time I hit a golf ball aged 9...again, I;ll pop that story in a post!

A few months later we were exhibiting at a Golf Exhibition when in front of us was a golf accessories stall, and that's when we came across the 'Almost Golf' Balls. A hard plastic ball with dimples that would spin like a ball but travel no further than 100 yards, and wouldn't cause any damage. Brilliant!

I'd also managed to find an artificial turf company and got astro turf mats made to measure both for hitting into the net and for putting. The only thing we couldn't offer was sand play.

But, I kept looking. And finally, in 2008 a company in America were creating 'sand play divots' made from archery netting...genius!

So I order 50 of them. And finally, we could offer a full tuition service from the comfort of your own home.

And that is the history of how Golf-at-Home offers a full golf tuition service.

~ Karen