Stand by for the Steve Paulding shake-up of Scottish golf
FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
The man who put Great Britain on track for cycling glory at the Sydney Olympics is aiming to have a Scot in the top 15 in the world rankings by the time golf makes its return to sport's biggest stage at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janiero. He concedes that's a "mammoth" task, though, after failing to see anyone showing the same drive and determination that took Chris Hoy to the top of his sport.
Steve Paulding is the Scottish Golf performance director who, after ten months getting to know his new sport, is about to shake things up, starting with an independent review of the coaching programme. Ian Rae, the national coach, has headed up that in the men's game for more than a decade, with Kevin Craggs now his equivalent on the ladies' side. National junior coach Spencer Henderson is the third man at the top of the pyramid at the moment but he's heading off soon to become the Turkish national coach.
Working under them are a team of eight Scottish Academy coaches and, led by Paulding with the full backing of the SGU and SLGA, the whole system is to come under close scrutiny in a review that will be undertaken by the PGA.
"You don't sack coaches when you've just become World and European champions [Scotland's men hold both those titles at present] but I want to benchmark where we are," said Paulding, a Welshman who was an elite level cyclist himself, competing in the Commonwealth Games and World Championships before, as the head coach, he watched ten members of his GB team win medals at the 2000 Olympics.
 "Are we using the best techniques? Are we using the best methodologies? Do we have the best coaches in the places they are? How can we raise those standards? I am reviewing the whole of the coaching structure and think there are things going forward that we can do better. I'm challenging everyone to step up to the mark and am able to do that independently because I don't bring my own opinions and views to it."
That's because Paulding, who, in addition to the likes of Hoy, Jason Queally and Craig MacLean, also worked with top sprinters Christian Malcolm and Mark Lewis-Francis during a spell in high performance athletics coaching at Brunel University, isn't a golf man, something he freely admits. He also believes it's a good thing.
"I haven't been involved with golf so I have no baggage. I come here with a clean slate - no-one either likes me or hates me because I have done something in the past," he mused. "That gives me a unique opportunity to knock on doors and I've used that over the ten months to create the ideas I now want to take forward in golf."
What that entails for the structure and make up of the coaching programme will be determined by the PGA's review, the results of which should be known by the middle of September, but one area Paulding has definitely targeted for change is winter training. "I don't think we are best using our off-season periods," he said before outlining how he'd like to see squads spend longer blocks of time overseas, South Africa or the Middle East ideally, instead of heading here, there and everywhere to either practise or play in tournaments in preparation for the domestic season.
While determined to help Scotland continue to do well in team events, Paulding, who would like to see a model being used whereby the head coach is working with personal coaches rather than having a hands-on role with players, is keen to see individual performances in particular improve and says that won't happen unless changes are made.
"Some people think it is all about the technical aspect of a swing but that isn't it. The issue here is do our players have the mental drive and determination to dedicate themselves to golf? At 14 and 15, Chris Hoy was a very confident youngster with a driving ambition and he was willing to tell people of it. I'd like to see a lot more Scottish golfers standing up, puffing their chest out, looking high and saying what they are going to do and saying who's going to help me come and do it - I don't see a lot of that happening.
"If anyone had told me Chris would be a triple gold medallist at an Olympic Games I'd have laughed in their face and put money against it because at that time he didn't show those attributes. But he believed in himself and trained full-on for 12 years like a maniac to achieve his goals. Each time he pushed harder and harder. I don't see a lot of our golfers with that drive. I don't see them leaving no stone unturned.
"We can't continue to do what we have done. We are world class in the first part of the game [driving and iron play] but short game and putting is an area we need to improve on. I also think there is a huge need to increase our focus on the psychological aspects of game. We have to be really innovative. It is a great advantage to have golf in our culture, as is the fact we have fantastic courses. But we have to know what our limitations are and we have to identify them quickly and start to put in interventions to change it."
Paulding, who is excited that £1 million is being devoted to players once they make the transition to the paid ranks, insists his main focus has to be the amateur game but, at the same time, he wants to look at the world rankings in the future and see them making much prettier reading for Scottish golf than they do at present. "By 2016 I would like to see a Scottish player in the top 15 (professionals) in the world [Martin Laird is the highest at the moment at No 114]," he said. "From where we are at the moment that is a mammoth task but I will aim for that because it will keep us pushing harder over the next six years."
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FINAL qualifying for the Open Championship takes place at four courses in Fife today. Sadly, the 36-hole event isn't what it used to be, with the chances of a club professional or an amateur making it into the world's oldest major very slim indeed.
A total of 288 players will tee it up at Fairmont St Andrews, Ladybank, Kingsbarns and Scotscraig but only 12 of them will earn spots in the Old Course field alongside the world's top players. Yet it used to be the case that as many as 12 places were up for grabs at each qualifying venue.
It changed following the R and A's decision to introduce International Final Qualifiers around the world and, while these events may have been a good thing for players in the Far East, South Africa, Australia and America, they've certainly not done any favours for the rank and file British golfer.
They still face stiff competition at this stage, with former US Open champion Michael Campbell, ex-Ryder Cup players Phillip Price, Barry Lane, Joakim Haeggman and Jarmo Sandelin as well as 2002 Scottish Open winner Edoardo Romero among those teeing it up in Fife today.
Just to be in with a chance of earning one of those spots a player will have to produce the two best rounds of their life back-to-back and, while it certainly shouldn't be easy to get into an event like the Open Championship, some of the romance has definitely been sucked out of the qualifying process in recent years.
It's also sad that Lundin and Leven Links have both been dropped for the final qualfying this time around. These neighbouring clubs saw some of the world's top players grace their fairways in the past yet have now been left out in the cold. What a pity as Lundin looked and played like a perfect Open qualifier when it hosted the East of Scotland Open at the weekend.

Editor's note: Lundin Golf Club is hosting the R&A Junior Open on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Open championship week.