Ferguson is enjoying his life of (football) pitch and putt as he looks to bring through the next generation of Scottish golfers

The concepts of promotion and performance are constant companions for Brown Ferguson throughout his every waking hour. You suspect they may even remain with him in his dreams. A familiar face to lower league fans from his time as a midfielder with clubs including Alloa, Hamilton and Partick Thistle, the 43-year is now assistant boss at Stenhousemuir, another of his former sides from his playing days, who he also previously managed.

The Warriors’ spirit has rarely been stronger. Having won League Two last year, the first title in their history, Gary Naysmith’s side currently sit on top of League One. Helping with the progression of an ambitious part-time side seems like a natural extension of Ferguson’s day job. The sport is different. The fulfilment of potential remains his guiding principle. ‘My role is high performance manager for sportscotland Institute of Sport for golf,’ he explained of a post he combines with that of Assistant Regional Performance Manager.

‘I work closely with Clare Queen (former Ladies European Tour player and Head of Performance and Pathways at Scottish Golf) in and around the performance pathway. Robert MacIntyre of Scotland celebrates on the 18th as he wins the 2024 Scottish Open. MacIntyre was part of Scottish Golf's performance programme and has flourished since. ‘We try to align and say, okay, from an Institute perspective, where can we come in and support your pathway or your vision for that pathway with service, support and investment?.

‘We currently support 34 named athletes starting with boys, girls, men’s, women’s and then moving into professional ranks. ‘That transition from amateur into professional is obviously seen as a key moment to try and support athletes going forward.’. The aim essentially is to ensure that the home of golf hothouses its best talents to make sure as many as possible emerge onto the world stage. Those still in the foothills of the old ball and stick game are not short on sources of inspiration these days,.

‘Probably the big one just now is Bob McIntyre, who was part of that performance program that Scottish Golf had a number of years ago where the Institute supported him as well,’ Ferguson added. ‘He’s probably, the most high-profile athlete who’s come through that pathway. ‘We always want to learn from these types of things. What has been done well with Bob from a sportscotland perspective?.

‘What has golf done well around about that time? How can we replicate that across other athletes?. ‘But I think one of the key things from speaking with Clare as well is how can we get consistency across Scotland in respect to the support on offer at a local level for athletes?. ‘And as they start progressing through, what we can do to enhance their support provision around them to make them the best athletes and best golfers that they can possibly be?’.

The practical support on hand from the Institute goes way beyond merely swing coaching. ‘The main provision would be things like medical, physical, psychological, performance and lifestyle support plus nutrition and physical preparation,’ Ferguson explained. Brown Ferguson combines his role as assistant at Stenhousemuir with his work in golf. ‘They will also then be working with Scottish Golf and the national coaches and their own coach to work on their game.

‘We’ve also got some nominated athletes within the support programme that are actually training abroad. So, sometimes interactions can be limited because they are out on tour or they might be over at a scholarship in America. So, we’ll have a touch base point with them. ‘There’s a lot of people wrapped round about an athlete. ‘What we want to ideally do is try and enhance and create the environments for players to play and give them that opportunity alongside their actual golf programme.’.

The success of the likes of McIntyre, Connor Syme, Grant Forrest, Gemma Dryburgh and Louise Duncan is easily measured in cuts made, driving accuracy and top-10 finishes. For others to stand a chance of following in their footsteps, it’s imperative that their progress is also meticulously logged. ‘Our investment cycles are four years, so every four years we’ll sit down with sports and look at what the long-term outputs are, what the targets are for that sport,’ Ferguson explained.

‘And then within that we’ll look at annual targets that they’re looking to try and meet. ‘So, there’s measurements that we have in place around the investment and the support service. ‘It’s not always met because that’s sport in itself - we don’t always achieve everything that we want to achieve. ‘But it gives us that focus around where we’re investing in our sport and also what the focus is for that period of time.’.