Welcome to James Tugwell Performance Coaching

There are two gaps I kept noticing before I started coaching. Most golfers still think of the gym as irrelevant to their game entirely, when it’s arguably one of the biggest levers available to a player (amateurs in particular). Whilst endurance athletes – runners, cyclists, triathletes – overwhelmingly treat strength training as optional, something bolted on if there’s time left over, rather than a proper part of the week. I built this coaching business to close both gaps properly and to help people maximise performance in their sports (with health benefits being a nice positive).

For golfers, it means strength training and swing speed work delivered together, programmed around your actual practice time, competitive rounds, and the rest of your life – not a generic gym plan or something that just doesn’t fit. For endurance athletes, that means a genuinely integrated training week – strength and conditioning built into your endurance sport schedule from the start, not provided as a nice-to-have you’re expected to squeeze in around everything else.

Who I coach, and why

You probably guessed it – I coach two groups specifically: golfers who want more distance and consistency, and endurance athletes who want to get faster and stay injury free. Underneath both is the same principle – strength and conditioning done properly builds not just performance, but injury resilience, which matters more the longer you want to keep doing this, and particularly as you get a bit older and the body stops forgiving bad habits so easily.

The injury resilience point matters more than it might sound. Most golfers and endurance athletes I meet aren’t held back by a lack of ambition – they’re often held back by the same injury or limitation resurfacing every few months, which doesn’t allow for consistency. Fixing that isn’t glamorous, but it very often unlocks significant potential ability.

Why golfers and endurance athletes – these are my sports. I live and breathe them every day and personally see how much improvement even a small change can make. I want to help others perform and achieve their full ability.

A bit about me

I work full-time in private equity, and I’m a father of a 3-year old boy, which means training happens in the same limited, interrupted way most of my clients’ training does. Over the years, that’s produced a marathon PB of 2:50, an Ironman PB of 9:43, and a golf handicap down to 9.2 – not all set in the same season, but each one built the same way: consistent, well-structured training fitting in around a genuinely full life, not despite it.

Sport and fitness have also been close to my heart. My grandfather was 5th in the world in bodybuilding in his prime (yes, we have slightly different builds!) and I’ve played a number of sports throughout my life. I’ve now focused on golf and endurance sports, and I try to fit as much training as possible (including gym work!) around my life.

On the certification side, I’m a Level 4 Personal Trainer, TPI-certified in golf fitness and power training, and qualified in sports nutrition (with many more additional courses completed) – built on top of years of actually racing, playing, and training as a serious amateur myself. What this means is I have the practical experience to apply to the theory.

What’s different about how I coach

Programmes built around your real calendar, not an idealised one. Strength and conditioning specific to the demands of a golf swing or the demands of your endurance sport. Training is fully personalised, and we’d work together to target your goals and built to address any limitations we find during onboarding. My approach is grounded in what the research actually supports, with learnings from my personal long-term training.

What you’ll get from this blog and Instagram

Practical training advice for both golfers and endurance athletes, one exercise explained properly each week, research reviews in plain English, and an honest look at my own training as it happens through the year.