Shanghai: Silport is pleased to announce that Michael Dickie has joined the club in the capacity as head professional.

The 26-year-old Scotland native will be responsible for the operation of Silport’s CityClub driving range and in the development of members’ services and tournaments. He will also oversee Silport’s junior program, the development of the club’s ZH professionals and staff training, and in instruction for both individuals and groups.

Dickie, a PGA-certified pro, comes to the club after working for five years at the prestigious Birhill Golf Club on the outskirts of London. During his tenure at the club, he trained under European Tour coach Lee Johnson whose other students included current top professionals Paul Casey, the reigning Volvo China Open champion, Brett Ogle, Andrew Coltart and Gary Orr.

He has been in Shanghai for 15 months and was responsible for organizing last year’s highly successful Western Nations Masters tournament that featured 76 players from 16 countries.

The Lockerbie native said he was excited to join a top-class club such as Silport and he looked forward to developing its CityClub golf academy as well as in assisting the members.

“The junior program is of great importance and we aim to create an environment that will nurture the next Tiger Woods or Michelle Wie,” Dickie said. “With the facilities that we have at Silport, with the golf club and the driving range and the technology with the video analysis and simulator, we really want to focus on a complete program that can help golfers in each area of their game rather than just solely looking at people’s skill on the driving range.”

Dickie said he looked forward to meeting each member and that he was here to help with any areas of their game in need of improvement.

“For most people, putting, chipping and the short game, or the ‘scoring zone’ as I like to call it, is an area where players can improve. The right type of practice is important. If you are practicing bad habits, you are just going to regress rather than progress,” he said.

“What we are looking to do is try to educate people on how to practice more efficiently so they can get more enjoyment out of their game. If people can spend two hours a week practicing the right things, that will be more effective than practicing two hours a day of the wrong things. It is not necessarily the quantity but the quality.”