As one of the most recognisable faces on our TV screens, and a single figure handicapper to boot, you might think Sarah Stirk has been immersed in golf all her life.
But it was injury, and perhaps a touch of fate, which led her to the sport and ultimately a rewarding broadcasting career.
“I played tennis quite seriously when I was younger and then had a very bad injury,” said the Sky Sports Golf presenter. “I knew my competitive tennis days were over, and my uncle lived at Gleneagles and we used to go for family holidays.
“I just fell in love with golf, with Scotland and Gleneagles, and it was at a time when it filled a competitive void.
“I played a lot, through my 20s and when I was at work, and I call Gleneagles my spiritual home. I thought I’d be a professional tennis player. That was my dream. That was my goal. I never thought I would like golf.
“I didn’t ever have that desire to play. But my uncle played, I loved Gleneagles, and I found the coordination quite similar and fell in love with the sport very quickly.”
It’s a passion which has taken her a long way. She has covered some of the biggest tournaments on the planet and seen some of the best courses.
From Augusta National, to St Andrews, and so many high-class layouts in between, Stirk has seen the skill and dedication of greenkeeping teams and how they deliver under the most extreme pressure at elite championships. She is in awe of what they achieve.
Sarah Stirk: ‘It’s nice to be able to give credit to greenkeepers’
“We talk about this quite a lot,” she explained. “If you think about The Open, we’re on air from 6am until eight or nine at night. We’re there at four with the greenkeepers.
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“I always feel, for some of our big outside broadcasts, that they’ve even started the day before us. I’ve always had massive respect for what they do and, having covered tournaments on the ground, I see that work and the condition of the golf course.
“Obviously, it’s always a big talking point. We often talk about the condition of the course and the playability on air, but we have massive respect for what greenkeepers do.”
That close quarters observation, and knowing how club greenkeepers also strive to produce the best they can achieve, often with much fewer resources, has left her clear on the value they bring to the sport.
Stirk said: “Greenkeepers are hugely important. Golf doesn’t happen without them, and the time, the precision and the intensity at which they operate – especially when getting a tournament ready – is incredible.
“It’s that kind of job where everything has to seem to be perfect or they face criticism. It’s nice in my job in the media to be able to give credit. We see things like weather delays on tour and their ability to get the course back, and ready, and the players back out there in a short space of time is phenomenal.
“Sometimes we see it in America and you think, ‘how on earth is this going to be playable in a month?’, and then an hour later they are back out. It’s crazy.
“The dedication, the strategy and what it takes to get that team operating in the right frame of mind is amazing. The science behind greenkeeping now is incredible.”
About Sarah
Sarah began her broadcast career presenting and reporting for MUTV, before spending time at the BBC, Setanta and Sky News.
She moved to Sky Sports in 2012 and is one of the main hosts of Sky Sports Golf coverage, working across the DP World Tour, PGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour.
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A single-figure golfer, Sarah has also written for a host of titles including The Mirror, Financial Times and The Telegraph.
She was appointed as an independent director to the England Golf board in 2024.
- Sarah Stirk was speaking in Your Course, the twice-yearly publication from the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association. Your Course invites golfers to gain a deeper appreciation of what preparing and maintaining a golf course really involves. Head to www.bigga.org.uk to find out more.
Now have your say
How much of an impact do the greenkeepers make at your course? Here’s your chance to give them a shout out. Sing their praises in the comments below.
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