by Amanda Little

Last updated 14:02, Thursday, 24 April 2008

AT the age of ten, Graeme Lisle won the chance to get some tips from Nick Faldo after entering a newspaper competition to meet the golf superstar – and his career path was set in stone.

Hi-tech: Graham Lisle teaches with the aid of a state-of-the-art studio

After meeting his hero at Woburn Golf Club in Buckinghamshire, nothing could blow him off course from his dream of becoming a professional golfer.

“Faldo was a big favourite of mine and to get the opportunity to spend the day hitting golf balls with him was just incredible,” recalled Lisle.

“It was one of the best days of my life and it kick-started my thoughts about being a golf pro. That’s all I ever wanted to be at school.

“There were 20 winners of the competition of all ages, but I was only ten and he spent a lot of time helping me.”

Twenty-five years later, Lisle is himself helping to inspire the next generation of budding players through his job as professional at Carlisle Golf Club.

Boosting the junior ranks by encouraging kids to get into the swing, teaching golfers of every standard from beginners to county stars, organising and running competitions, repairing clubs and running the pro shop are all in a day’s work for the 35-year-old Geordie who regularly puts in 10-hour days.

Yet his own golf clubs have not been allowed to gather dust.

He may have given up his dream of playing on the European Tour to focus on being professional at a club which boasts 960 members, but this year he intends to make more time to play himself after limiting himself to playing in only occasional tournaments.

It’s a big year for Carlisle Golf Club, where they are preparing to celebrate their centenary.

Incredibly, Lisle is only the fourth professional in the club’s 100-year history and the popular pro also looks set to be there for the long haul.

Former Ryder Cup player Sid Scott was the first-ever professional at the Aglionby course, before being replaced by his assistant John More, who stayed for 42 years from 1957 to 1999.

Martin Heggie held the post for four years, before Lisle arrived from Whickham, his home club, in 2003.

Not everyone is suited to being a club pro. You need patience and understanding to spend an hour on the practice green with a 24-handicapper struggling to get to grips with the complexities of the golf swing.

Many tournament golfers who are focused solely on playing would feel short-changed at having to trade their hopes of glory on the course for a less-frenzied pace of life and a selfless role helping high handicap weekend golfers with their back-swing.

The role suits Lisle perfectly, although if life had turned out differently he might have been playing on the European Tour, teeing off on sun-drenched fairways with the likes of Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els, playing for prize funds of more than £2 million.

The downside is spending 12 months living out of a suitcase, standing over a 10-foot putt knowing your livelihood depends on it and facing the uncertainty of keeping their Tour card for another year.

Lisle, who himself has lessons from Paul Lawrie’s ex-coach Adam Hunter, said: “I spent three years playing full-time and was progressing well. I had sponsorship and a sponsored car so I was making a good living, but the offer to be a club pro came along at a time when I was looking for stability and for a bit more structure to my career.

“I played on the North Region circuit and the Mastercard Tour (now the Euro Pro Tour), where I had a few top 10 finishes, and I loved it.

“My one regret was not going for my European Tour card. I kept putting it off and thinking I would do it 12 months down the line when my game had improved. If I hadn’t taken the job at Whickham, I would have gone down that line.

“It was make-or-break time. Time has shown that it’s difficult to combine playing and being a club pro, as the time I spend playing has taken a hit.

“But I love being a club pro because it’s so varied. You’ve got to totally integrate yourself into the club, be a good salesman, try to teach like David Leadbetter and be a good businessman too.

“I’m sure there are certain playing professionals who you could never imagine being a club pro and who wouldn’t want to be either.

“One of the great joys of teaching is that I get to help golfers of all standards. The variety of going from one extreme to another helps my coaching skills. I can teach someone who has never swung a club in one lesson and then a county player like Geoff Nixon or Grant Little who want to work on their technique.”

The Cumbrian climate, with its six months of bad weather before the winter sets in, is a nightmare for a teaching pro as few members want to venture onto the putting green in hail, rain and snow.

Carlisle now boasts a state-of-the-art teaching studio. Lisle provides the latest in teaching technology – video coaching, mirrors, a three-way camera, a library of clips showing the swing of the likes of Tiger Woods, a 42” plasma screen. There’s a fitting cart so you can have irons and woods tailor-made and a machine which recreates the arc of a swing. It’s heated and you can even have footage from the lesson emailed to your computer.

Lisle said: “For me, it’s the best practise facility in Cumbria. It’s a very competitive game and people want new ways of improving their game. People are coming back to us club pros for help.”

One of Lisle’s main roles is helping to encourage more youngsters to take up golf. There are serious concerns at grassroots level that not enough juniors are coming through.

He has a special reason for wanting Carlisle’s junior section to thrive as earlier this year his close friend Simon Short, the club’s junior co-ordinator, died.

They have over 100 junior members, but one of the main concerns is that there is only a handful of young girls, and at one point Isla Mackintosh was the only girl.

Lisle said: “The golf club is very junior friendly and I take a lot of satisfaction from junior development. It’s a healthy section and we have some youngsters who I would say will be county players of the future if they continue the way they’re going.

“The fall in ladies’ membership is a national trend, but I don’t think it is a male-dominated sport. The days of having a men’s room are long gone, but we do need to encourage more women to take it up. We have taster days so women can come along and see what it’s like.”

Having twice come close to reaching the Open Championship, Lisle will make another attempt this year when he shakes off the ring rust after deciding to play more.

He is also helping to organise the Cumbrian Classic, a 36-hole pro-am, which will be played at Penrith and Carlisle on May 22 and 23.

He’ll return to the North region circuit and will also team up with Carlisle member Keith Walker to play in the PGA National Pro-Am Championships at St Annes Old Links on May 21.

It will give him the chance to practice what he preaches.