European Tour members are playing their part in the global fight against Coronavirus in many different ways, and among them is Steven Tiley, who has swapped his clubs for the factory to produce thousands of bottles of hand sanitiser bound for the NHS and other frontline workers in the UK.
Challenge Tour player Tiley, who claimed his maiden title last year at Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France, stepped up to help when his entrepreneurial father, John Tiley, changed his nutritional supplement production line at Nutracrest Ltd into one producing and bottling hand sanitisers.
A change in product and adjustments to the bottling machine have enabled the company to produce 5,000 bottles per day and distribute to many frontline workers including NHS Trusts, Healthcare providers who work with nurses in community, local care homes and chemists, schools and the local postal sorting office.
Steven Tiley pictured at work in the Nutracrest Ltd factory
“The first couple of weeks of no golf, I was thinking what I am I going to do,” said Tiley. “There are only so many balls you can hit in the garden.
“My Dad is an engineer and scientist and when Coronavirus hit he had the idea of making hand sanitiser.
“At first I was delivering the hand sanitiser and dropping it off at Brighton Hospital. But we only had one guy on the machine in the factory so quickly learnt to operate that and now work seven-hour shifts, four days a week, getting more bottles out.
“We can only have two people in the factory at any time with the social distancing guidelines, and I am on a rota with everyone else, just one person in the production and just happen to be a professional golfer and the boss’ son.”
"There aren't many skills I can use from playing golf but work colleagues have noted how driven I am. When you play sport you are constantly searching for how to do it better. I just tend to try and do above and beyond all the time.
"Athletes self motivate very well, particularly when you play a sport on your own, you set your own goals. Every day I am thinking 'how am I going to get better at golf' and I have used that in the business, thinking 'how can I make this machine work better?'
Tiley now splits his time between home-schooling his two young children when his wife, a primary school teacher, is at work and his factory shifts, but is looking forward to the time when golf returns.
“Having not played for a while the golfing bug hits you. I am ready to get going and get competing. I miss that part and putting myself under pressure, that competitiveness we have as professional golfers to make a living.
“I will think about goals when we get playing but for now I am just trying to get to grips with the machines.”
