Brady Stead is a Professional Golfer from Canada who also holds a British Citizenship. While living in the UK, he has competed on the European Challenge Tour, the PGA Europro Tour, and advanced to Final Qualifying for The Open Championship. Although unable to break through to the big stage, Stead has learned many aspects from the European game that he will carry moving forward in his career.
So, what’s different? How is the European game different than competing in North America?
The game itself is the same; get the ball into the hole the least amount of times. However, the conditions are typically different here compared to back home. I’ve loved the challenge of adapting to these differences, but here are some of the things that I have noticed:
Last summer was one of the hottest recorded ever in the UK. Nearly every fairway was as firm as a table top, yet, most courses were able to keep the greens soft and healthy. Quite often back home in Canada, this is the opposite. Fairways tend to be softer than the greens. This can force you to have different strategies when choosing your tee shots vs. choosing your approach shots.
WIND! Since coming to play golf in the UK, I honestly can’t remember a day where there wasn’t at least a touch of wind. With wind comes certain shots that you must hit. The ‘knock down’ is the crucial one, a shot that has a low, piercing trajectory which gets impacted by the wind less than a standard, higher trajectory shot. In North America, typically, you have to hit it high and land it soft. These approaches, literally, are very different from one and other.
I believe that having an ‘artistic’ mindset is important to play in Europe, especially on links golf courses. There will be times when you have to be creative in order to hit a shot close to the pin. You’ll have to use the ground to your advantage, where this is less necessary in North America.
What are your favourite 3 golf courses in the UK and why?
I played Prince’s Golf Club at Final Stage of Qualifying for The Open. This Kent links course was as pure golf test that I have ever seen, with a big emphasis of hitting fairways with rough so thick that a mis-cue would nearly guarantee a three off the tee.
Minchinhampton Golf Club is a fabulous parkland-style golf club set in the Cotswolds. The course was a very fair but challenging layout for The Open’s Regional Qualifying.
Clevedon Golf Club is a hidden gem in Somerset, UK. I played my first PGA Europro Event here, where I unexpectedly received a phone call the night before the first round with an invitation to play. Seeing the beauty of the course for the first time must have relaxed me as I made my first cut on the tour.
What have you learned about the professional game since coming to Europe?
It can be a cut-throat one, that’s for-sure. But the upside of having the chance to win nearly always outweighs the negatives.
I felt this at Final Qualifying for the Open Championship at Prince’s. I had the hottest start of the event, sitting -4 through my first 4 holes and led the tournament for a couple of hours in the morning. Standing on the 5th tee, I couldn’t help but feel, well, now I have the chance. Let’s play well the rest of the day and see what happens. The reality: Finish in the top 3 and fulfill your lifelong goals, or finish outside the top 3 and go home empty handed. This internal battle is what playing professional golf is all about. It’s a roller coaster. I wouldn’t change the nerves and the adrenaline for nothing.
Although I was disappointed not to qualify, I tasted The Open Championship on my tongue with my play early in the day. This is the closest that I have ever been to achieving my childhood dreams as a Professional Golfer, and hopefully it will not be my last.
What are the biggest challenges that golf faces?
I believe the game is in a strong place. The competition is as good as it has ever been. However, I do believe we need to shift a focus back into the grass-roots of why we all starting playing.
These days I am seeing less and less of a focus on Junior Golf. When I was a kid growing up back at the Vernon Golf and Country Club in British Columbia, Canada, the junior program was fantastic. I always had friends to play with and competitions to enter. Me and my buddies used to play for a cookie from the half-way hut. It was fun! And it was also cheap after school day-care for my parents.
I cringe when I hear a staff member of a golf course say “Well, we only have 10 juniors at the club so having a junior program doesn’t make much sense”. Or when club manufactures charge an arm and a leg for a junior set. Or when golf courses close their doors for good. These points certainly do not grow the game.
We must focus on putting golf clubs in the hands of children if we want our game to continue strong. And we must make it easier for our youth to try our game that we all love so much.
