Driving up standards

Golf coach Rick Shiels from Bolton is helping more than a million people develop their game

- Paul Mackenzie

More than million people around the world are improving their golf by watching Rick Shiels on YouTube – but his wife isn’t one of them.

The couple’s eldest daughter, six-year-old Ivy, is keen to follow in her dad’s footsteps to the first tee, but her mum Claire has little or no interest in the sport.

‘The only one of my videos my wife has watched was the one with Robbie Williams,’ Rick said. ‘Maybe I need to get him along more often.’

Ivy has a headstart on her dad – he didn’t pick up a club until he was 11. ‘I haven’t pushed it on Ivy, but she’s so used to there being clubs around the house and seeing me play and she says she wants to be professional golfer.