Beginner’s Diary week 4: The swing doctor will see you now

Ronan Collins, PGA Professional at Fota Island, is trying to make a golfer out of Larry Ryan in six lessons at Fota’s state-of-the-art Golf Academy. But what else does he deal with every week?

Who takes golf lessons? What tests of ingenuity and patience and diplomacy does a pro encounter? Ronan talks me through an average week.

There’s the beginner, like myself. Everyone plonking a heap of pieces in front of the teacher and expecting him to put the puzzle together.