Kevin Craggs leaves SLGA post

EXCLUSIVE

Kevin Craggs has announced that he is standing down from his position as Scottish ladies’ national coach, bunkered.co.uk can exclusively reveal.

The highly respected Craggs informed the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association (SLGA) of his decision to vacate the position yesterday after eight years in the job. He leaves at the end of August.

During his tenure, the PGA Advanced Fellow Professional has radically restructured the performance programme, yielding a number of impressive results. These include two British Ladies’ Amateur Strokeplay Championship wins, Curtis Cup call-ups for no fewer than eight Scots players, a bronze medal at the European Team Championship in 2009, and, in 2010, a first Scottish win in the Ladies’ Home Internationals in 19 years.

However, Craggs, who has previously worked with the likes of Colin Montgomerie and Sandy Lyle, has decided the time is now right to leave his position and focus on developing his own ‘KC’ golf coaching brand.

“Being given the opportunity to work with the SLGA and its players over the last eight years has undoubtedly contributed to me becoming a much better teaching, coach and mentor,” explained Craggs.

“I have had some fantastic experiences in helping to develop the ladies’ game from the grassroots up and have been fortunate enough to travel the world within the role. I’m taking some great memories with me.

“I just feel that, because of the lack of depth in the ladies’ game in Scotland just now, this is the perfect time for me to explore different avenues and focus on the ‘KC’ brand.

“Right now, it is time for me to explore other opportunities.” – Kevin Craggs

“Unfortunately, ladies’ and girls’ golf is lacking numbers at the moment and, with the trend amongst most of our top players to move to the USA, there is a lack of elite golfers based here in Scotland to work with.

“I’d like to thank the SLGA for giving me this wonderful opportunity and I would like to emphasise that this decision has been totally amicable. I will be glad to assist the organisation in the future in any way that I can but, right now, it is time for me to explore other opportunities.”

As well as his work with the SLGA, Craggs has also found success with several tour players, most notably Catriona Matthew. The former Ricoh Women’s British Open champion has worked with Craggs for a number of years and continues to produce impressive results, most recently a tie for tenth at last week’s US Women’s Open.

“Kevin has been a very positive influence on my golf both mentally and physically,” Matthew is on record as saying. “He has a great positive attitude and we have done a lot of good work together on my swing to the point that I feel that I am playing the best golf of my life.”

Another of Craggs’ pupils, Kylie Walker, recently notched her first victory on the Ladies European Tour, whilst he is also currently working with 2011 Solheim Cup winner Melissa Reid.

Regular readers of bunkered and Golf Monthly, meanwhile, will recognise Craggs from the tuition pages of their magazines. He has been a regular and popular contributor to both titles for a number of years.

Kevin Craggs’ announcement – your thoughts

What do you make of Kevin Craggs’ decision to stand down as SLGA national coach? Leave your thoughts in our ‘Comments’ section below.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor