Coles made PGA Life Member

Neil Coles, one of England’s finest ever golfers, has been made a Life Member of The PGA. The eight-time Ryder Cup player, and former European Tour chairman, joins a select group to have received the honour.

Surrey-based Coles started his career as a young PGA assistant to Ken Adwick at Letchworth. He later followed Adwick to Burhill before moving on to Coombe Hill with Dick Burton and Ken Bousfield. It was a talented line up with Tony Grant and Hugh Boyle also there. Coles recalls, “At one stage there were five from Coombe Hill in the Open Championship.”

He was one of a few players to win across six decades including 25 victories with five top ten finishes in the Open. His rise to the top of world golf, which twice saw him ranked seven, was all the more remarkable given he was playing off a 14 handicap at 16.

Commenting on his Life Member status Coles stated, “It’s a great honour when you think I joined the PGA way back in 1951. I was always a PGA member unlike a lot of the players today so I have a loyalty to the PGA, that’s where I started from, the tour came later, and it’s always nice to be recognised in this way.”

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.