Owen Edwards: Welsh golfer in plea to help Wales’ professional players

Edwards says Wales’ professionals of the future would benefit from guidance from those who have gone before.

Bradley Dredge, a former world top-50 player, told the Golf Cymru podcast last month that he offered his time to Wales Golf “a few years ago” but that they had not been in touch.

Edwards says that aside from one session with ex-Ryder Cup player Phil Price, his generation “weren’t give much preparation” for the pro game.

“Being an amateur golfer in the Wales Golf set-up and a professional golfer are like different disciplines,” he says.

“I’d absolutely be more than happy to go and speak to the guys thinking of turning pro and be like, ‘hey, this is my experience – this is what I didn’t do, which I wish I did’. They’re not using those resources.”

Edwards believes Wales’ current professionals would also benefit from more communication.

He suggests a Welsh “pro squad”, who could meet up during the winter months to share experiences or simply “a weekend where we have a game against each other”.

“There doesn’t seem to be any plan in place to just provide a support system,” Edwards said.

“This is a really lonely sort of pursuit. I just think that there are some untapped areas where we could help each other, where we could support each other a bit more.”

Edwards is aware that funding is an issue and that Wales Golf will not suddenly be able to spend big on a new project.

But he argues progress can be made without any great outlay.

“Maybe they just promote us a bit on social media, let people know what’s going on with our scores, because the reality is we’ve just become completely disconnected from Wales Golf now,” he added.

“Letting people know, and maybe providing some links to scoring and stuff, helps the players in small ways.”