A GOLF coach at a club in north Shropshire is not letting the coronavirus pandemic get in the way of teaching club members vital golfing skills.

Richard Edwards, professional at Oswestry Golf Club, hosted the club’s first virtual golf lesson on Monday, teaching more than 25 members via online video-conferencing programme, Zoom.

The first session, which was fully booked within 24 hours, focused on putting and going forward Richard will be offering more lessons focusing on skills which can be practised at home.

He explained: “We’ve scheduled in two sessions for next week already – we covered putting in the first one, so I’m going to be looking at chipping next time.

“It’s just trying to cover things you can mainly do at home – we could do a course management one and pitching going forward after that.

“We’ve had people say they can’t make it, so I’m looking at offering sessions after work hours now too – we have one scheduled for Thursday next week at 7pm.

“It should then be available for everyone, whether they are in work or not.

“For me, it went much better than I had expected which is great.”

With golf in lockdown and players being taunted by a very warm April, members have been pleased with Richard’s initiative and have enjoyed being able to keep on top of their game from home.

Club chairman Phil Wolstenholme was very pleased with the idea and the success it has already had.

He said: “What a great idea. It was wonderful to see 25 other members all logged on and chatting to each other prior to the lesson.

“The tips handed out by Richard were easy to digest and something we can all practice at home.”

Dave Richards, media officer for Oswestry Golf Club, added: “A great bit of initiative from Richard and a great show of support from the members of Oswestry Golf Club.

“It was also great to hear them all chatting away with each other prior to the coaching.

“All in all a great example of how a club can come together and the vitally important role the club pro can play in this.”

For further details about Oswestry Golf Club visit oswestrygolfclub.co.uk and to see more of Richard’s upcoming events follow him on Instagram or Facebook at @richardedwardsgolf

Alternatively, you can contact Richard via email at richardedwardsgolf@gmail.com