Advertisement
To date, our discussions have been with male PGA members, and so we felt that it would be appropriate, at this point, especially as October is women’s month, to lower the testosterone levels by introducing our first female into the discussion — Tijana Kraljevic (TK).
In all probability, Tijana really needs no introduction, given her role as the host pro with the VLT (Virtual Lesson Tee), but many of our viewers might not know ‘where’ Tijana comes from, or what motivated her to choose pro golf as a career.
I first met Tijana at one of the pro-ams I was running, before the COVID-19 pandemic. I was using a pro-am field with an equal number of representatives from the Seniors Tour and Development Tour, combined with members from the PGA and WPGA.
Tijana had accepted an invitation, as one of the WPGA’s players, and right from the outset she was a pleasure to work with, as she was always punctual, professional, impeccably turned out, and mindful that her primary role — as both a player and as a host to her four amateurs (we were playing in 5-balls using the Cockayne Scramble format) — would be to make sure that her team had a great time on the golf course.
Notwithstanding the fact that she led her team to winning the first of my pro-ams that she played in (the Tshwane Mayoral Charity Challenge at Blair Atholl 2017), what was particularly revealing about her as a pro was that the amateurs, playing with Tijana, went out of their way to compliment me on my choice of pros for the event, and how much they had enjoyed the event, because of Tijana’s focus on them throughout the 18 holes.
Whether you are a chef, business person, or into sport, the glass ceiling for women seems to always make itself felt, so I asked Tijana what the core motivator was in her choosing sport, and golf, particularly, as a career, especially as the game is notoriously patriarchal.
TK: First I would like to say that although it is very nice to hear how much my team, at that particular event, enjoyed spending 18 holes with me, the playing/scoring format that you have created, and have used in all of your pro-ams that I have played in, creates the perfect platform for the pro in each team to spend time and focus their attention on their amateurs, while remaining an essential and competitive part of the team’s golf. Personally, I would guess as my father played golf — and my brother too, and he is also a pro golfer — that my home environment played a key role in me taking up golf.
Advertisement
BG: Did you see yourself as a tour player ‘first’, and then did the move into coaching become the activation of what was a second choice?
TK: Yes; at the outset, my primary focus was on being a tour player, and coaching was not on any of my horizons. However, I realised that making a living playing the tour full time in South Africa was almost impossible, and that as a tour player you needed another income source, so I decided to coach. As soon as this door opened, I discovered how much more I enjoyed helping people with their games and to reach their full potential, as opposed to just focusing on my own swing.
BG: I have always seen golf coaching as being almost vocational in its nature, and that if you are a clock-watcher, willing either a particular lesson, or day, to end, then you will be doomed to a dreary existence, and might be best advised to find another career, because you will be missing the real joy that can come from coaching.
TK: Absolutely. I just love seeing people improving, achieving the goals we have set for them, hitting that first great shot, either as a complete beginner or with a better player after a swing modification, holing a first chip shot, etc. For me this process and these moments are the real ‘buzz’ in coaching, and it is so stimulating and satisfying.
BG: Your route as a coach has been quite eclectic. Can you give us a summary of the ‘journey ’, and do you feel that your mixed experience, both in geographic terms and in reference to whom you worked with, has helped to make you more effective, and/or more complete as a coach?
TK: The first thing was that I was self-taught to the point of becoming a scratch golfer, and getting to a level where I felt that I could compete on tour. However, I then went to at least 12 coaches, in various countries, over my tour playing years, with the twin goals of developing a better technical understanding of how my own swing worked, and making my swing more reliable and consistent, in order to help iron out the ‘kinks’ that can come with most self-taught swings!
BG: Why did you decide to complete a PGA of South Africa qualification, and what do you see as the advantage of PGA membership?
TK: I felt that too many doors and opportunities would remain ‘closed’ to me as a coach if I did not have any formal qualifications. Looking at the options, it seemed to me that the PGA (of South Africa) qualification would be the most ‘rounded’ and most widely accepted programme, and so I signed up, and have completed my courses, and I am now a full member of the PGA of South Africa, and very proud of it! The other aspect is I felt that, to protect both the golf coaches and the paying public, this type of body helps to ‘police’ the coaching environment. In doing this, I feel that the PGA helps make sure that all of its members are of the necessary standard to take people’s money for lessons, and that its members have the necessary understanding of the golf swing to give value for money. The other thing is that many ex-tour players tend to think that, because they are (or were) good players,this will automatically make them good coaches, which is not the case at all.
BG: How important is it to keep growing as a coach, and what have been the most effective pathways for you in this sense?
TK: This is such an important aspect of coaching (and any occupation in fact), because the day you think that you know everything will probably become the day when you realise that you actually don’t know anything at all! I have and have had mentors over the years, and these are people that I look up to in a coaching sense, and I probably spend at least two hours each week on YouTube. This time will see me following my preferred coaches to see how they get a message across to a pupil, or deal with a particular swing problem.
