Steve Plays Golf
Who I Am
I’m Steve, a club golfer from Wiltshire, currently playing off a 6.7 handicap.
I’ve been playing golf for around 25 years, and in that time I’ve experienced most of the things that make the game so enjoyable, frustrating and occasionally ridiculous.
I’ve played club competitions, society golf, amateur tour events and Pro-Ams, organised competitions, worked with PGA professionals and spent more time than I care to remember trying to understand why a perfectly good golf swing can disappear without warning.
I’ve played off single figures for much of my golfing life, but I’ve never pretended to have golf completely worked out. I’m still practising, taking lessons, trying different equipment and looking for ways to become more consistent.
These days, I’m a member at Cumberwell Park Golf Club in Wiltshire, having joined in 2026 after previously playing at Westbury Golf Club.
And after coming close to giving up the game altogether, I’m now enjoying some of the best golf of my life.
My Approach
I believe golf should be enjoyable, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about playing well. I still enjoy competing, improving and seeing how good I can become. What has changed over the years is my understanding of how to get there.
I’m less interested these days in chasing the perfect golf swing or spectacular shots. I’m much more interested in understanding my own game, making better decisions and becoming more consistent with the ability I already have.
I don’t believe most golfers need the newest equipment, a constantly changing swing or endless hours on the driving range. For me, improvement increasingly comes from understanding my strengths and weaknesses, practising with purpose and learning to trust what I can do on the course.
My playing philosophy is becoming increasingly simple:
Pick conservative targets, then be aggressive in execution.
Of course, I don’t always manage to follow my own advice. I’m still capable of getting things spectacularly wrong, and golf has a habit of reminding me that I haven’t solved it.
But that’s part of trying to get better.
Why I Started Steve Plays Golf
After nearly giving up golf, I’ve rediscovered my enthusiasm for the game, largely thanks to Emma. At 57, I’m now enjoying some of the best golf of my life, and I’m curious to see how much further I can improve.
I’ve been filming and writing about golf for years, originally through Weekend Golfers. In 2026, I decided to give my personal golfing experiences their own home, leaving Weekend Golfers dedicated to the free PGA coaching library Richard Lawless and I created together.
Steve Plays Golf is where I’ll share my rounds, competitions, handicap progress, equipment, caddying experiences and the occasional adventure with Emma. Some articles and videos might be useful to other golfers, while others will simply document an enjoyable day on the course.
There doesn’t have to be a profound lesson at the end of every round. Sometimes golf is just golf.
As long as I’m still playing, learning and enjoying the game, there will be something worth sharing.
How Weekend Golfers Started
Weekend Golfers began in 2012 as a coaching project between PGA Professional Richard Lawless and me, while Richard was my coach at The Wiltshire Golf Club.
Richard provided the professional coaching and instruction, while I filmed the lessons, produced the videos, built the website and organised what gradually became a substantial library of golf coaching material.
Over the years, Weekend Golfers developed beyond the original coaching project as I began sharing more of my own golfing experiences, including competitions, equipment, courses and caddying.
In 2026, I decided to separate the two. Weekend Golfers would remain dedicated to Richard’s free PGA coaching, while Steve Plays Golf would become the home of my personal golfing journey.
I’m proud of what Richard and I created together. His coaching remains freely available through the Weekend Golfers Coaching Library, with no membership or subscription required.
Golfing History and Highlights
I’ve played a fair amount of competitive golf over the years, including events on the Fore Tour, Volvo Amateur Tour and Trilby Tour, along with club competitions, society events and Pro-Ams.
I never made it onto Sky Sports during my Trilby Tour appearances, although I did manage to avoid Rogues Corner, which was probably an achievement in itself.
I’ve particularly enjoyed playing in Pro-Ams, including events on the Jamega and EuroPro Tours, and have been fortunate enough to play alongside some very good professional golfers, including my friend Matt Mumford.
For a time, I also ran my own amateur golf tour, initially called UK AM Golf Tour and later Fore King Golf. Organising competitions gave me a different perspective on the game, although these days I’m happier concentrating on playing rather than running events.
My Golfing Milestones
This is a set of milestones I read in Golf Monthly, and for me, it’s still a work in progress
- Break 100 ✔
- Join a club or society ✔
- Get a handicap ✔
- Finish a round with the same ball ✔
- Make a par ✔
- Break 90 ✔
- Get a handicap cut ✔
- Make a birdie ✔
- Represent my club / society in a match ✔
- Hit a par 5 green in two ✔
- Win a club or society competition ✔
- Drive a par 4 green in one ✔
- Play a round without a double bogey ✔
- Hit every fairway in one round
- Break 80 ✔
- Play in a Pro-Am ✔
- Play nine holes in level par or better ✔
- Make back-to-back birdies ✔
- Make an eagle ✔
- Make a two on a par 4 ✔
- Get my handicap into single figures ✔
- Get my handicap to 4.4 or below — CONGU 5.1, WHS 6.3
- Win an Open competition ✔
- Win a club championship ✔ Westbury 2025
- Break 75 ✔
- Play 18 holes in level par or better ✔
- Break 70 ✔ — finally shot 68 in 2026
- Get my handicap to scratch
- Play a bogey-free round
- Hit all 18 greens in regulation
- Make an albatross
- Make a hole-in-one ✔✔✔✔✔ 5 so far
Golf With Emma
Not so long ago, I was seriously considering giving up golf. I’d become frustrated with my game, regularly playing 15 good holes only to ruin an otherwise decent round with three absolute disasters.
I’d also become increasingly disillusioned with competitive golf, I shouldn’t have to beat the course record just to be able to compete – thanks WHS, and somewhere along the way, I’d stopped enjoying the game as much as I once had.
Then my partner Emma started playing. I introduced her to golf, and she soon caught the bug herself. Her enthusiasm reminded me of everything I’d enjoyed about the game over the years, and we started spending more time playing together.
We’re at very different stages of our golfing journeys. I’m an experienced single-figure golfer still trying to improve, while Emma is developing her own game. I enjoy helping her where I can, although I’m certainly not a PGA professional and don’t pretend to have all the answers.
Emma isn’t particularly interested in being in the limelight, so Steve Plays Golf is primarily my golfing journey. She joins me in videos whenever she wants, but enjoying our golf together will always be more important than filming it.
Since rediscovering my enthusiasm for the game, I’ve finally managed to break par for the first time. I wouldn’t claim that’s entirely down to Emma, but she certainly helped me remember why I wanted to play golf in the first place.
Learning From Better Golfers
One of the advantages of being involved with golf for so long is having opportunities to spend time with people who understand the game at a much higher level than I do.
Richard Lawless was a major influence on my golf through the original Weekend Golfers coaching project, and I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet and learn from other PGA professionals and talented players over the years.
More recently, I’ve worked on my own game with PGA Professional Chris “Tyce” Tyson, who I got to know during my time at Westbury Golf Club. I also helped in the pro shop and with the club’s junior section while I was there.
That relationship eventually led to something I hadn’t particularly expected: caddying for Tyce when he plays professional tournaments.
Watching professional golf on television is one thing, but walking every hole alongside a professional gives you a completely different perspective. I’ve become particularly interested in the decisions good players make, how they select targets, manage risk and respond when things don’t go according to plan.
Not everything a professional golfer does is transferable to my own game. Tyce can play shots that I simply can’t reproduce consistently, but there are plenty of things worth learning from his approach to the game.
Those experiences form the basis of my Caddying articles, where I share the tournaments, courses, people I’ve met and things I’ve learned along the way.
Qualifications and Ongoing Learning
Although I’m not a PGA Professional, I’ve always been interested in understanding more about golf, coaching and the Rules of Golf.
Over the years, I’ve completed several golf-related qualifications and courses:
- England Golf – Board & Committee Foundation Governance (2026)
- England Golf – Understanding Talent in Young Players (2026)
- The R&A Level 1 Rules Exam (2016)
- Sports Coach UK – Safeguarding & Protecting Children (2010)
- England Golf – ASQ Level 1 Certificate in Golf Coaching (2008)
I’ve also learned some basic club fitting through my experiences with golf equipment.
At one stage, I considered working professionally in golf, particularly in operations or competition and event management. None of the opportunities I explored proved quite right, and these days I’m happier keeping golf as something I enjoy rather than turning it into a job.
I don’t think the qualifications themselves are particularly useful. Much more of what I’ve learned has come from playing, practising, caddying and spending time around people who know considerably more about the game than I do.