Getting your captain shipshape

In Focus/Team leadership: Paul Gallagher talks to Gillian Burrell and Dave Kearney about their innovative team leadership course

Manchester United are never sent onto the pitch without the expert guidance and leadership of Alex Ferguson. Similarly Bernhard Langer left no stone unturned before sending his troops out at the last Ryder Cup. When it comes to amateur team golf in this country two of Ireland's leading PGA teaching professionals believe a void exists regarding team leadership and have therefore set about addressing the issue.

Gillian Burrell and Dave Kearney have devised a team leadership course aimed at enhancing the skills of team captains and providing the necessary tools to ensure they obtain the maximum performance - and enjoyment - when the teams they're responsible for next go out and compete. The pair believe this applies to all levels of the amateur game; from senior elite panel level, through interprovincial and county golf, right down to captains of club teams participating in the Senior Cup or Jimmy Bruen.

Burrell breaks it down by suggesting every aspect of golf these days, even the amateur game, has some form of coaching or support network. But when it comes to the voluntary position of the team captain they traditionally have no formal coaching or guidance. And given the importance of their role to pull all the strings she believes that without direction this is doing a great disservice to teams all over the country.

"We the professionals who teach the game are trained, the kids or adults on the teams are trained but so often the team captain who volunteers so much time and energy to the cause is left without any formal training," says Burrell. "We spend all this time and money on training but the one person responsible for pulling it all together doesn't necessarily have the right skills to lead. To me this leaves too much to chance, to send a team off to compete without someone trained to steer the ship. While everyone around them generally has some form of coaching the team captains have been left out of the loop."

"Our initial targets are leaders of any golf teams in Ireland," explains Kearney. "Whether it be national teams, interprovincial level, county golf or Senior Cup and Barton Shield panels. Any team that is serious about performing, frankly. That's the name of the game."

Burrell and Kearney speak as voices of authority in their roles as coaches and educators in the game. Burrell, who works from her Stepaside base in Dublin, has worked extensively with Dr Karl Morris, noted golf psychologist who continues to work with the game's leading players, including Ireland's Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell. In her role as Leinster girls and ladies coach she also pioneered children's golf education programmes and has run workshops at both the Irish and European Opens.

Mayo native Kearney has worked with instructors from Europe, the US and Canada since turning professional in 1988. He formed the David Kearney Golf Academy in Galway 10 years later and is the swing tutor at PGA headquarters at the Belfry. He has been National Coach to the Irish Ladies Golfing Union (ILGU) since 2001.

"We begin with a private self-assessment programme to find out how good the individual is at planning, motivating, influencing and persuading other people and problem solving," notes Burrell. "They are the five key areas and by the end of the course the captains will reassess themselves before an action plan is put forward to suit the individual."

"These basic principles apply to all teams," adds Kearney. "This cuts across both the men's and women's game. This intention is to roll the course out and cut across other sports in the future but we begin with golf because that's what we know best."

"Some captains might be very strong on planning but not so good on motivating or vice versa," says Burrell. "So we set about providing the right template to work through and impart the understanding and requirements of being a good team leader. I've seen people trying to motivate a golf team like it were a football or rugby team, which might not be the right kind of motivation."

"Football or rugby is a totally different game," adds Kearney. "It's played at totally different tempo whereas you play golf in a different state than say a rugby match where you need to be fired up. In golf the opposite is almost certainly true. Yes, golfers need to be motivated but they don't need to be bouncing off walls before teeing off. That's a key issue."

"The other important factor is golf is very much an individual effort within a team game," says Burrell, pointing to the subtleties of different sporting codes. "The first thing you have to encourage is individual performance but you also have to collectively bring a team together for the one cause. That's why it's so important to recognise varying methods as individuals need motivating in different ways.

By indulging in the role of devil's advocate, the question is asked: What do you say to the person who claims to know it all and doesn't need any help or advice in team leadership?

"Best of luck to them," was Kearney's unequivocal response. "The person who closes themselves down from learning limits themselves greatly. There is always scope to learn, in any walk of life. In the end you're falsely elevating yourself by claiming you know everything instead of opening up to the opportunities."

This is a concept Tiger Woods certainly subscribes to. Even the best player in the world appreciates he will never fully master the game, that's why every time he steps onto the course he claims he is "always learning new things about the game".

Ada O'Sullivan, one of Ireland's most celebrated golfers in the women's game and British and Irish Curtis Cup team captain, recognises the "absolute need in pre-planning every aspect of a tournament or competition".

"Team golf necessitates the very core of team building and the suitable criteria required both mentally and physically for the players and officials alike can never be underestimated," she says.

"The Golf Team Leadership Course offers a platform from which team captains can compile information that will be instrumental in maximising a successful outcome at their respective tournaments."

Kearney draws on his own experience in a team environment playing Gaelic for Mayo: "I remember playing minor and under-21 football for Mayo and I believe if we had been more streamlined and organised we could have gone further. In the late 80s we got beaten in the Connacht final under a great manager in Billy Fitzpatrick. But he was an exception to the rule, charisma carried him through. There was no structure or support: had there been I'm sure we could have gone further."

Kearney uses soccer manager Martin O'Neill as an example of a great leader and how he gets the best out of his players: "Look what he achieved with Leicester City, and later Celtic. His skill as a leader and man-motivator was further illustrated after he left Leicester, the club has never been the same since."

Both teaching pros also suggest if a team leader has planned in the correct manner, and they feel good about themselves, this will add to their own enjoyment and fulfilment of the experience.

The first course will be held at the Irish Management Institute in Dublin on May 6th. The one-day programme runs from 9am-4.30pm with numbers limited to 24 people and costs €370 per person. Aside from course notes, lunch and coffee breaks Birrell and Kearney emphasise the ongoing support the pair will provide for captains.

"After the course we still provide ongoing support through the year. Should any unforeseen problems arise during the season, we can be contacted through email or phone on an ongoing basis," notes Kearney.

But what may be more beneficial and appealing to individual clubs is bringing the course to them and delivering on site. "There is no reason why we couldn't come to a club and run the course. That way all the team captains of oneclub could be brought together," explains Kearney.

"I believe this would also improve the bond within clubs, and as a lead on, captains could then arrange games together where they can discuss strategies and bounce ideas off each other. Really this is all about adding a bit more professionalism to the amateur game."

At a national level the pair have approached the GUI and the ILGU with a view to integrating such a course into the ongoing work the two governing bodies carry out to develop the game in Ireland. Tentative dates have also been put in the diary to run the course in Cork, Galway and Belfast later in the year.

Most clubs will have selected their team captains by this stage for the season ahead. But the cut and thrust of competition for inter-club GUI/ILGU competitions doesn't peak until the summer months. Taking a longer term view, clubs might use the winter months to prepare their team captains for the 2007 season. This concept could be the remedy for a club which while serious about competing, has failed to win a GUI/ILGU pennant for a number of years.

Golf Team Leadership Course

Course Leaders: Gillian Burrell (PGA professional, tutor and trainer) and Dave Kearney (PGA professional, tutor and trainer).

Venue: Irish Management Institute, Dublin.

Date: Saturday, May 6th.

Contact: Burrell Training (01 2953312).

Cost: €370 per person.

Number: limited to 24.

Duration: One day, 9am-4.30pm.