From the Fairway to the Winter Olympics: PGA Member Joachim Lange Reflects on Coaching Team Norway Curling

Joachim Lange has gone around the world thanks to golf.

But in February, his worldly travels took him to the Winter Olympics in Italy – because of curling.

Lange, who has been a PGA Member since 2006, is also the team coach for the mixed-doubles curling team from Norway – his home country – a role he’s been in for three seasons.

Lange helped the team of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten to a sixth-place finish in Italy, while the Swedes won gold and the United States won silver.

Lange has now returned to his regular job as the head golf professional and director at the Hauger Golfklubb (Golf Club), but with a tremendous experience under his belt.

Lange said becoming a curling coach came about as he was at first friends with the Olympic duo (who are a married couple), and Nedregotten said after just a year or two that he thought Lange would become a national coach one day.

“I was like, ‘Well, no, I work as a golf pro, you can shut it,’” Lange said with a laugh.

Hauger is located just north of Oslo, where most of the curling centers are in Norway.

“A lot of curlers play golf, and I got in on the insights really quick,” Lange continued. “There are not that many curling rinks in Norway, but I just got into the right environment.”

Lange said he didn’t work too intensely on technique with the Olympians, but instead borrowed plenty of knowledge on the golf side with the same kind of basics – set up, routines, working on lines, feel, and other specific exercises and drills, since practicing for golf is so drill-oriented. He would go to many tournaments leading into the Olympics and work on the things they were keen to improve – including providing emotional support as a friend.

Lange is in his second decade as a PGA professional and has been based in Norway for the duration. He did “really well” on the final PGA exams, he said with a smile, because he already had a job in Norway lined up. Everyone else was nervous, but he was just trying to have fun.

“A positive attitude helps, just like everything in life,” Lange said.

In 2001, Lange began working with Mike Reilly of the PGA of Kentucky Section at the Standard Club in Louisville, right next to Valhalla. When he earned his PGA designation, Norway became just the fifth country outside the U.S. to have a representative in the organization after Canada, England, Spain, and Sweden.

“(Reilly) helped me a lot. I had the worst boss ever in golf, and then I had Mike – he helped me so much. He pressured me to give speeches and provide tournament information in front of large crowds. I learned so much from Mike,” Lange said. “He made me enjoy it and open up a lot more. He’s my mentor and a great person.”

Back at Hauger, Lange manages the academy with two pros who work for him and is also the director of marketing, coordinating with local businesses to serve as sponsors of different holes. In Norway, Lange explains, they have a program called the ‘Veien til golf’ (essentially, the ‘Road to Golf’), which you have to do before you can even play on a course. Public golf in the U.S., he explained, may take six hours if golfers wouldn’t even know what side of the club to use. They do a lot of that programming – to the tune of more than 600 last year. The sport, Lange said, has doubled in popularity in the last five years in Norway, and now it’s the second-biggest participation sport in the country.

Whether it’s golf or curling, Lange has had his hand in helping so many of his countrymen and women.

“One thing led to another (and) I got into the curling environment quite quickly since they had a lot of respect for my golf ability,” Lange said.

And that ability and experience helped lead him to the Olympics.