Timo Rauhala helped Mikko Ilonen to the top of golf in the early 2000s. He would like the current top athletes in Finland to devote themselves more to top sports.
Timo Uusitalo,
Jouko Vuolle
Matilda Castren and Tiia Koivisto were left behind at the last golf major tournament of the season, the women’s British Open, played south of London, over the weekend. The Finnish women have not improved this year on the greens as in previous years.
– Of course, there is cause for concern when there were such good signs just a couple of years ago. Matilda rose to the world of the most talked about golfers, and last season Tiia won the European tour competition in France. And it was still there Sanna Nuutinenwho was fifth overall in the European Tour in 2020, has been a golf coach for 30 years Timo Rauhala says.
Finnish women’s top golf has seen a clear decline.
– I am the coach. The reasons are always found in the fact that training and coaching, i.e. managing the whole, is something that is now exhausting. It’s not that complicated.
Rauhala hints that the matter boils down to whether essential things are done or not.
– The operation always has to be stopped again and again. Interim analyzes are needed and through that it should be noticed that irrelevant things have been done.
Body, mind and sports skills
In the opinion of the 60-year-old golf influencer, irrelevant things should not be the core of the sport and top sports, at least not at the center of what is done.
– Although this is a bit of a cliché, the balance of body, mind and sport skills must be just right. If we lean, even a little, on technical things or statistics, then they become bigger than managing the whole. In this case, we get lost on the wrong paths, warns Rauhala.
Among top golfers, Timo Rauhala has coached, among other things Mikko Ilosta and Minea Blomqvist-Kakkoa. With this wound, he instructs the young national team players.
As an analytical coach, Rauhala emphasizes comprehensive training. In his way of thinking, golfers and coaches must recognize the demands of the sport, top sport and success at an early stage.
“Finnish men and women are top-notch”
Finnish golfers Kalle Samoojan, Tapio Pulkkanen, Mikko Korhonen and Sami Välimäki apart from a few fine spikes, the season has been marked by volatility and the low mood of the major tournaments and the unnecessary double bogeys of the last few days.
– I know the men better and from time to time I will train them. There are top guys in both men and women in Finland, but in terms of coaching, you should be able to do things much better, Rauhala points out.
– As a coach, I feel a little weak that I no longer get to train players under the conditions of top sports. The little one is asking too much for golfing things.
Rauhala feels that when he once coached Mikko Ilosta, then things were done 100% under the conditions of top sports.
– This is purely a matter of the rhythm of the day and training and what it consists of, how the weeks progress and how the content is put together. That is, how to tune in and recover.
Golf is not a separate island in sports
Rauhala reminds that it is also important to take care that the golfer develops mentally all the time.
– It is also necessary to recognize if there are mental and physical slumps. Along with this, we aim to develop golf all the time. Doing it is the same as in other top sports. Golf cannot be seen as a separate island.
What is the importance of good physical training and physical qualities in golf?
– All these Finnish players know it and they all practice it. But you can always do things better. In golf, it is enough to do one workout in the morning and another in the evening. There is no need to do more. However, you have to be really hardworking.
Rauhala believes that, as golfers, the Finns are capable of challenging Rory McIlroy and other top players in the world, but it requires that everything is done perfectly under the conditions of professional sports.
– I keep coming back to the fact that you have to train better, do things better and find better rhythms to do things and better overall content. That’s where it starts.