Rafael Hodler lives in Oberhofen am Thunersee, coaches from nine in the morning until eight at night, and has wanted to work in golf for as long as he can remember. His path started with a single club on a football pitch — and today, he’s building a career that he hopes will lead from teaching to golf club management.

A 7-Iron and a Football Pitch

Rafael’s golf story begins with his father. At the age of eleven, his dad bought him a US Kids 7-iron, and the two of them headed to a local football pitch to try their first swings. That was all it took. From that moment, golf had Rafael’s full attention.

Growing up, his coaches became his role models — professionals he looked up to and wanted to emulate. “I always knew I wanted a career that had something to do with golf,” he says. It was never a vague dream. It was a direction.

Learning How a Golf Club Works

After completing the Feusi Sports Business School, Rafael entered the Swiss PGA training programme. His reason for choosing it is refreshingly direct: “It’s the only one in Switzerland,” he says with a grin. But what he found went far beyond a simple qualification.

Rafael values the programme for its breadth. “You don’t just learn coaching,” he explains. “You see how an entire golf club operates — the stakeholders, the processes, the challenges.” It’s a perspective that has shaped his ambition to one day move into club management.

The biggest challenge during his training was the working relationship with his training supervisor — a candid admission that reflects Rafael’s straightforward nature. But it was the first Spring Week that left the strongest mark. “The anticipation was huge,” he recalls, “and it confirmed that I’d made the right decision to start the programme.”

Competent, Individual, Understandable

Rafael describes his coaching in three words: competent, individual and understandable. Every lesson is tailored to the person in front of him — sometimes on the driving range, sometimes in the bunker, sometimes out on the course. “It depends on what the person needs right now and the path we’re on together,” he says.

Technology plays a supporting role. Rafael uses Trackman in his coaching, but not as a default. Whether he brings data into a lesson depends entirely on the student. For some it adds clarity; for others, feel and simplicity are more effective.

Above all, Rafael wants his students to experience joy. “Passing on the love for this wonderful sport — that’s the most important thing,” he says. It’s a philosophy that underpins every hour of his long coaching days.

Focus Golf — Quality Over Quantity

Rafael’s coaching philosophy runs deep enough to have become a brand. He named his business Focus Golf Rafael Hodler — and the name is the programme.

“You don’t get better by hitting as many balls as possible or thinking about as many things as you can,” he says. “What matters is focusing on the right thing.” In training, Rafael wants his students to work consciously, with a clear objective. Quality always comes before quantity.

On the course, the principle flips. There, the goal is to let go of technical thoughts and concentrate on the target and the shot. “It’s not about thinking less,” Rafael explains. “It’s about thinking the right thing at the right moment. Get your focus right, and you’re already more than halfway there.”

Two Things Every Student Hears

Rafael doesn’t point to a single moment that changed his view of golf. Instead, he shares two principles he passes on to almost every student: technique isn’t everything — especially not on the course. And golf is and always will be a sport, so have fun. It’s a grounded, practical philosophy that keeps the game in perspective.

Movies, Management and a Mission

Off the course, Rafael is a passionate film and series enthusiast — a deliberate contrast to his active days on the fairway. Had golf not worked out, he says he’d be an accountant — a detail that perhaps explains the structured, methodical way he approaches his coaching and his career.

Rafael’s five-year plan is clear: he sees himself on the path to becoming a golf club manager. And his wish for Swiss golf is equally ambitious — continued growth and, crucially, the introduction of golf into school sports programmes.

His message to the next generation of Swiss PGA Professionals is characteristically blunt: “Think like an entrepreneur, not like a golf teacher.”

 

by PGA Headquarters