The Wolverhampton YouTube coaches behind Aaron Rai’s historic major triumph

Major champion Aaron Rai’s rise to the top has been powered by two golf gurus from Wolverhampton who are also among YouTube’s most popular golf coaches.

When they are not fine-tuning Rai’s game, Midlands pair Piers Ward and Andy Proudman, of Me And My Golf, are helping millions of everyday golfers fix their slices, sharpen their swings and lower their scores.

Their YouTube channel has 1.1 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of views since launching 16 years ago.

Rai, who is also from Wolverhampton and represented Shropshire & Herefordshire as a youngster, became the first Englishman in more than a century to win the US PGA Championship on Sunday.

There is a remarkable backstory to Rai’s success, including his humble upbringing. His coaches, Ward and Proudman, met at Oxley Park Golf Club - and that was where Rai’s journey with the duo began.

Speaking in his PGA Championship winner’s press conference, Rai said: “They’ve been phenomenal.

“I’ve known Andrew since I was four years old. He used to work at the pro shop on the driving range me and my dad used to go to. I was four, he was 18, so he was there before he turned professional.

“I met Piers when I was eight or nine years old. We grew up in the same city. They started to coach me very soon after that.

“When I call them my coaches, I almost feel disrespectful calling them just my coaches. They’ve been so much more to me than that from a young age, also as a teenager, and also on this journey as a professional golfer. They’ve been my mentors, my big brothers. They’ve almost been like family to me.

“They just go above and beyond for me in every single way. They’ve played a huge part in this trophy and a huge part in my development as a golfer.”

When they are not coaching Rai, the YouTube duo share fun and entertaining videos offering help, advice and guidance to everyday golfers.

Writing online, they said :“Well that escalated quickly! One of our proudest moments ever to watch Aaron win the US PGA Championship, it’s been an unbelievable journey over the last 20 years!

“So many things we want to say… Let’s start with he is just the nicest guy and that golf is lucky to have such an ambassador.

“We’ve always thought he had the talent to win a major championship but this is just so surreal and definitely hasn’t sunk in!

“Massive congratulations to the rest of the team, Jason Timmis on the bag! Wow!

“Amrik! (Rai’s father) We haven’t spoken to you yet, but that’ll be a special phone call.”