READING TIME: 5 min
Brando Tommasi at 39 years old is the Director of Instruction at the Jim McLean Golf School at Miami Beach Golf Club (Florida, USA), “The world's #1 Golf School”, as we read on the school's website.
He lives in Miami and last year Golf Digest magazine , the editorial reference for all fans of this sport, elected him among the best instructors under 40 in the United States and recently he received an award that recognizes him as the best teacher in the State of Florida. His students are professional players of international caliber, aspiring ones, amateurs and other teachers, among the best in the States. Just scroll through his Instagram grid to understand how much golf merges with his life: a job that is in fact an authentic passion.
We meet him at Castello Tolcinasco, Golf & Resort Spa, where he took his first steps as a teacher, and let him tell us about himself.
I always say that among my greatest fortunes were being born in the United States and having as a golf teacher Daniele Bagliano, current coach of the Italian National Professional Team.
For my father's work I have lived in the United States, England and Italy. Being an Italian with a US passport has been a major plus for my career.
Even the least experienced know that golf is a discipline that requires a lot of training, absolute dedication and meticulous attention to technique.
I started playing in Rome, at the Olgiata Golf Club, while I was in high school, and in just three years I became a professional: a very difficult job . From the outside you see the facade made of honors and well-mown green lawns, but the truth is that you need to develop a sort of devotion for golf . I trained 6 days a week and still I couldn't close the gap with those who had started long before me. If it happened that for some reason I couldn't train for more than a day I lost my rhythm.
I became passionate about the technique and chose to take the path of teaching . They recruited me here, in Tolcinasco, at the Blue Team Golf Academy, and I began to train young amateurs who would soon make the transition to the world of professionalism. In the winter I had the opportunity to go to Florida to continue practicing and refine the technique. In 2015 Jim McLean , the founder of the school where I work today and among the top 5 golf instructors in the world, to whom I am deeply connected through a relationship of esteem and friendship, asked me to begin a teaching path at the Jim McLean Golf School: I didn't think twice and with the double passport I didn't have any bureaucratic obstacles.
You are also a certified mental coach.
I also deal with the psychological aspect of the players . During my years as a professional I was supported by Dr. Stefano Albano to whom I owe a lot. Once I became a teacher, I wanted to delve deeper into this side of the preparation that is as fundamental as technical and athletic training. To achieve considerable results it is essential to have the right mindset: it is the head that commands the body, maintaining concentration, preparing the body for a competition.
Do you miss Italy?
Living in Miami means living every day in a very international and extremely stimulating environment. I am happy to have ended up in this part of the world. I do not deny, however, that I have often missed the truthfulness of human relationships, that depth that I have only found in the bonds of friendship that I have made in Italy. Americans are very open and smiling at first, perhaps more than Italians, who in the collective imagination are so hospitable and friendly. However, you can encounter great difficulty in developing authentic and lasting relationships. It happens, more than in Italy, to feel like a number, a grade given to your sports and work performances. Perhaps the characteristics that differentiate me are the ability to feel empathy and to establish a real relationship with people, typical traits of the Italian nature . For me, teaching is transferring my preparation, my knowledge to the student and spending quality time on the green of the golf course.
How did you find out about Lirecento?
Alessio, the stylist of lirecento, has been a friend since school. I am passionate about men's tailored fashion and he has made many suits for me in the past. One day he told me about the brand, about the solid foundations steeped in the made in Italy philosophy that underpin it, about the care taken in choosing the materials and the attention to detail and... I became passionate about it . I wanted to try the trousers and since then I have been wearing them both on and off the course. Obviously it is not a brand created for golfers, but the choice of fabrics, comfortable but resistant, and the cut of the pockets are ideal for those who practice this sport. Even though they are ready-to-wear garments, I found them both excellent for my daily way of dressing, casual but very refined , and functional, technical and with an aesthetic result that does not go unnoticed. The wide choice of colours and the honest price are in my opinion the real jewels in the crown.
Many, reading this interview, will ask themselves: “but what is the secret to a successful career in golf?”. We ask Brando to reveal his.
I must say that I never thought that one day I would be a golf teacher in the United States. I started this sport with the seriousness that has characterized all my previous sporting careers and at a certain point I had to choose: do I want to continue with a course of studies in economics that will then lead me to work in the world of finance or dedicate myself to this sport? I threw my heart over the obstacle and I switched to teaching . The best choice I could have made.
Having Daniele Bagliano, my mentor, as an advisor was fundamental. Finding the right coach is essential: a good coach is one who knows how to read you, who sees far and who, it can happen, tells you what you would never want to hear.
Furthermore, without mincing words, especially in Italy where there are no scholarships for sports, you cannot think of succeeding without financial resources. I must therefore thank my parents who believed in me and who sponsored my sports career.
But these premises would still not have been enough if I had not seasoned them with a great spirit of sacrifice and an unquantifiable dose of perseverance , nurturing the hope of not stumbling upon accidents along the way such as physical injuries.
The chances of being successful are, in short, very low: out of 66,000,000 players in the world, a few hundred reach the world top. However, I remain of the opinion that where there's a will, there's a way . My advice is therefore to start with all these cards in order, set yourself realistic goals in the short-medium-long term and... have a good dose of luck on your side!
IB
