It’s no secret that Steen Tinning’s success on the European Senior Tour is as a result of his dedication to the sport of golf and how seriously he takes his training.
Tinning, nicknamed ‘Ironman’ due to his love of the long-distance triathlon event, looks to have passed that dedication on to his son Nicolai, who is also hoping to make a name for himself in the world of golf.
Not only does 23 year old Nicolai have his father, a two-time winner on both the European Tour and Senior Tours and 2013 Senior Tour Rookie of the Year, to look up to, he is also coached by two of his dad’s cousins – Ladies European Tour Order of Merit winner Iben Tinning and golf coach Ben Tinning.
“Nicolai’s goal is to get on the Tour,” Tinning Senior said. “He’ll ask me for advice whenever he wants to and he has my two cousins coaching him – Ben on the swing side of things and Iben who has played in the Solheim Cup.
“He’ll see if he can get into the Made in Denmark tournament. I think the important thing for him is to start playing 11 months a year and getting organised to play a lot of tournament golf.
“He is looking after himself. We’re not in a position to fund his career, so it’s up to him to go for it.
“He travelled a lot with us on tour back in the 1990s. He didn’t play that much until he was ten or 11 years old, he played a lot of other sports.
“Finally, he felt like golf was the sport for him. He tried it and I said if he managed to get a handicap of 18 we would go on a ski trip, and that’s all that mattered to him.
“He got down to 18 and he’s been hooked ever since.”
Despite living on separate continents, the pair are regularly in touch and both have taken turns to caddie for each other, most recently in last year’s Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex at Sunningdale.
“He’s caddied for me a few times, last year at the Senior Open and in Mauritius two years ago,” Tinning continued.
“The big challenge we have is that he has a completely different game to me. He goes for a lot more than I do. He would like to see me go for more par fives, so I’ve got to be aware of that.
“I’ve caddied for him too. He’s different to me in temperament. He’s a bit more even going and needs to relax and talk about football or boxing or whatever – I’m a bit more intense when it comes to playing.”
With the European Senior Tour season starting at the end of May with the US Senior PGA Championship, Tinning hopes to put a difficult 2015 behind him as he starts what will be his fifth season on the Senior Tour.
“Things accumulated for me at the start of the year with all the injuries I had,” he continued. “I hadn’t felt really well until the middle of September – it was a long, long struggle.
“I had a good spell in September, October and part of November. But I was in a place where things added up and I felt drained.
“I’ve taken some time off and I’m ready to get things going again.”
