Former Red Arrows Pilot Reveals How Golf Saved His Life

We sat down with former Red Arrows pilot Mike Bowden at Celtic Manor Resort to hear about his love for golf, how the game supports his wellbeing, and the role it plays in his life today.

A long-time Stewart Golf customer, Mike also shares why golf means more to him than ever before.

Hopefully you welcome Mike to the 2010 clubhouse here at Celtic Mana. Um, I guess we should start this in the normal way. So, please introduce yourself. Well, thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. Uh, Mike Bowen, uh, served in the Royal Air Force as a, uh, fastjet pilot for 17 years. Um, and in my last five years of that career, uh, managed to achieve my boyhood dream of becoming a Red Arrows display pilot. Um, um, at which point finished my career there. boyhood dream done, massive smiles, and have moved to here locally in Cardiff uh with my beautiful wife Leanne and my three children. Settled down here now as an airline pilot and a very average but keen golfer here at the Celtic Mana Resort in Wales. Tell tell me a bit about your your journey into into being a pilot. How how do you get going in that? Yeah, I think everyone at a young age has some sort of you know, eventually sees something, they go, “Oh, do you know what? I really fancy doing that.” And uh I suppose that that light bulb came for me at quite an early age with my dad being in the military and the air force as an engineer and he took us to an air show down in St. Athens. So it’s only about half an hour here just outside Cardiff airport and I was fascinated. I remember being there kind of pick your jaw up moments watching these fast jets come through. The rules were a bit more lenient back then. So there are 100 ft with after burners in making loads of noise really close to the crowd. And then right at the end of that day on came the red arrows. Never seen them before. wasn’t entirely sure what it was all about. But I remember just watching I must have been about 8 or 9 years old in absolute awe of these guys going upside down with smoke coming out doing things that you just didn’t think looked humanly possible for airplanes to go and do. And literally from that moment my light bulb was switched on and that was it. That’s what I wanted to go and do as a boy. And uh I chased that right up until the day that somehow that dream came true and I put a red suit on. Um, a lot happened between that little boy at 8 years old to the boy in his mid-30s putting a red suit on, but the dream never changed. Um, and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to sit here, you know, next to my helmet talking to you about some of those experiences. Um, because uh, it truly truly is a a dream come true. So, Mike, in what ways or are there ways that being in the the RAF and the Red Arrows, uh, what what things can you transfer from one to the other when it comes to being on the golf course? Oh, that’s an interesting one. Um, I’d say it’s actually probably our motto. So, our motto in the Red Arrows was a clat, which French for excellence. And our big thing in the Red Arrows was realizing you can never be perfect. The moment you think you’re perfect, you’re done. It’s like anything, isn’t it? If the iPhone the initial iPhone was the the the ultimate iPhone and there was nothing that could ever replace it, we wouldn’t go through the generations and the iterations. There’s nowhere to go. Very much like us in the Red Arrows. The moment you think you’re perfect, you’re done because there’s always room for improvement. You know, there is there is no such thing as perfect. You’ve got to strive for excellence. Get as close as you can, but know that you’ll never actually ever get there. And I suppose golf’s very much the same. I can come and play my best round. I could go and shoot two under game, which isn’t going to happen. But even then, I’d come off and I’d be the happiest lad in the world, but this game, it’s always against yourself. There’s always room for improvement. And no matter what, you can always be better. So, I think that’s the two things you can translate. And that’s why I see a bit the same. It’s it’s you against yourself trying to be the best that you can. You know, lots and lots of practice makes you better, but you’re never going to be perfect. So, you mentioned we’ve got the the suit here um and the helmet. So um first thing that you can see I can see from here is you got number three on the on the back of the helmet. Tell me tell me about that. Yeah. So uh in the red arrows um there’s nine positions. Um so nine pilots that will fill those positions and for that particular season you maintain that number. You maintain that position and that is yours. Uh it’s a highly trained role each of those positions. So there is no backup. There’s no substitute pilot that can come in and fill any of those positions. Um, for my last season, um, I I filled the red three position here. So, you can see threes on the back of the helmet. Uh, and and no one else would do that. So, if I spun it round, you can see the front. There’s the trademark diamond nine with my position highlighted in red within the diamond. So, yeah, you’d get allocated your number for the year. You train to that number. Um, we train hard in that position uh to make the team work. And, um, you know, it’s it’s not a given that we get to jump into that red suit. Uh we fly in traditional Air Force green grove bags as as they look like as most of the pilots in the Air Force were. But it’s not until probably about a six or seven month training period of flying three times a day, five times a week. Um lots of stress and strains of trying to get that performance as close to excellent as we can. And then once the chiefs come and watch us and deem that we’re an acceptable level to display to the public, do we earn that red suit? and uh earning that for the first time and putting it on is is quite an incredible moment of feeling. So, how long were you in the in the RF and then the Reds for? So, my career spanned over 17 years. Uh I started in an instructor role at a young age. I was in my low early 20s flying million pound fastjet and and guys that weren’t far behind me. So, no what was as a creamy as an instructor uh through the Harrier and the Tornado and then eventually the Red Arrows. Uh that spanned over 17 years my career and uh yeah my last tour the red arrows which was genuinely a boyhood dream to go and do it. Never thought I’d achieve it. Uh got to wear the red suit did it for five seasons in the end. Uh and it was just a the right and a beautiful way to bow out of service life. You know felt I’d done everything I wanted to do. Had a massive smile on my face, tick loads of boxes. Um and yeah, felt like I’d done everything I possibly could. So yeah, it was time for a new challenge. And so you’re flying commercially now. How how’s that? Yeah. So I moved to the commercial world and uh again very very different. You know you’re flying around in a multi-million pound fast jet on your own upside down in front of you know sometimes tens of thousands of people on a beach. Um and and now I’m taking people on holiday which yeah it’s very different ends of the spectrum but they’ve both got their own challenges you know. So the hawk aircraft an old airplane we used to fly in the red arrows. No automatics in it. nothing you can press to go, I’ll take my hands off and just take it nice and easy here. You know, even when we’re flying it all the way to China, we have to manually fly the airplane. You know, you’re trimming it out and stuff, but there’s nothing that will automatically take over for you. Uh whereas you then move into the commercial world and instead of having a stick between your legs on a throttle and sign, you now got a big yolk that you’re flying with. Um and a load of automatics that you’ll use to actually control the airplane in flight. Uh because yeah, you know, doing these long journeys in those big airplanes and have to fly it the whole way would be quite demanding and quite challenging. So you never feel like sort of just popping in a quick sort of barrel roller loop the looper. Well, the G&Ts would be everywhere and uh yeah, I think I’d have a big old bill through the post and a bit of a slap on the wrists. Um as much as I’d love to. So that’s the bit I miss in terms of the the adrenaline, the excitement of doing, you know, lowlevel aerobatics and in a team and in a high performing aeroplane. But I got it all out my system. I did it for years and I look back and smile it and you know I I feel lucky to have gone and sort of sailed in that ship as such and and uh had the experience and fulfilled a boyhood dream. So it’s great now you know this is a much better sort of uh in terms of family life and and being at home with the kids and watching them grow up uh while still being able to fly and and at times it can be a really demanding day and difficult weather and you know making sure we all make sensible and correct decisions and you know clearly safety is first in any flying that you do. Um and and I’ve really enjoyed that challenge working in a more sort of crew environment. Uh it’s not just the two pilots up front, you know, you’ve got the crew down the back, the passengers, the ground handlers, air traffic control, you know, a lot more to deal with, more teams to to to bring into play. So yeah, I I’ve equally enjoyed that challenge as well. So tell me a bit more about about your sort of your golf journey then. When when did you start playing golf? Um yeah, I can remember being invited by some friends at school having never really appreciated what golf is. I can remember hitting a t-shirt off the tea, walking about 20 yards clearly to where my golf ball already really achieved and then getting a tea back out my pocket and teeing it up in the fairway and putting the ball on top. They went, “No, what you doing?” I’m like, “Oh, it’s all right.” You know what the I kind of getting to grips with the game. Haven’t got a clue. But from that moment, I was like, “What a great way of just being in the open doing a sport where you’re out in the outdoors uh with your mates having a laugh.” And I think from that moment onwards, from a young school age right the way through, I’ve always had an enjoyment of the game. And then ever since university and into the Air Force, that kind of stayed with me all the way through. And for me, it’s the socializing and being with people is just as important as being out there and doing the game. You know, in fresh air, in great condition, switch the mind off from everything else in life and just focus on the golf and your mates and having a good time. Um it’s there’s not many places you can go do that for four hours and uh and switch the rest of the world out. Um and so obviously we’re here um with with Stuart Golf. So, um you’ve got your your new um 2025 Q series um one of one custom model just for you. Um but it’s not your first um Stuart product, is it? So, um contrast um playing golf with the um with the trolley um as it goes before it or carrying or however else you would have played. Yeah. It’s hard to put it into words that as as much as you think people that have a human can someone alongside them, how you can replicate that into something that isn’t a human and and and get as close as you possibly can, which is somehow I I really still don’t understand how you’ve managed to do it, but you have. And it it you it’s hard to really is hard to put it into words that you’ve got this thing that’s following you wherever you go. You almost switch off from it. You can have conversation with your friends. I almost forget that I’ve got a trolley following me down the fairway with all my golf clubs and everything else in it. It’s only then when you come to a stop and turn around, oh, it’s still with me. You you know, you get you get so used to to having that thing follow you everywhere you go. Um it it it has been absolutely game. I can’t imagine playing a round of golf without it. It it’s got to that point where it gives you just so much more freedom to be able to drink a coffee, to chat with your friends, to to just focus on the walking the fairways and enjoying the scenery and what’s around you rather than bundling around trying to push a another trolley around or taking a bag off my back and putting it back on and the stresses and strains of that. find it gives you so much more freedom and time to actually go and enjoy walking those fairways and enjoying it for what it is and the reason that I’m here that uh I genuinely couldn’t be without it now. And you’re saying now with your sort of your wider sort of playing group that you’ve got here at Celtic Mana that sort of the the bug spread a little bit. Yeah. I I I gave someone a loan. They were intrigued as to what it was like to play with. So we swapped. I had a go on the push trolley and felt sick after about nine holes and he enjoyed the elegance of playing with a Stewart trolley and uh by the time we got to the 18th hole he’d had an order done in the basket and uh had bought one. He absolutely blown away and that has ricocheted on to several other members and I think over half of the group I play with now all play with Stewarts. Um and again sing nothing but the same praise that I do. Um and that’s just testament to the product that you’ve got. It’s uh you know there’s nothing else behind it other than it is just a fantastic companion to have out there on the golf course. So when you look at the at the current field of the of the Bryson’s, the the tinkerers, the instinctive players maybe like Rory, who so when you’re you’re picking the the new the new members of your of the Reds um team, who are the who are the people that you think maybe they could they could do this? Yeah, that’s a good question, isn’t it? Um, [Music] I I think you’d have to model it on what I know of being in the Red Arrows and and the people that I have worked in with the Red Arrows. And um, I think being brutally honest, it’s someone that’s incredibly focused that can put all of those distractions aside. So whether it be a crowd, whether it be whatever it is, concentrates on the job at hand and doing what needs to be done. And I don’t think anybody in the current field of golf epitomizes that more than Rory Mroy winning his green jacket at the Masters this year. The focus that he had given those trials and tribulations through those holes to still get it done and achieve what he achieved is clearly absolute focus. Concentrate on what he needed to concentrate on. I can only imagine the thought of having to tear it up in a playoff hole against Justin Rose who was clearly informed that day. Um to put it down the 18th uh the way he did and have that uh to to go and achieve the career grand slam is the kind of focus that sticks the same smile on my face and chasing the boyhood dream that I chased. So uh if I was to pick a whim man out of the field of professionals, it would have to be right now Rory Moroy. So, um, so how does it feel to be back in the golf course? Do you know what? It’s it’s fantastic. It’s, uh, I don’t know. For me, it’s just somewhere that you can can come and escape just everything in life, isn’t it? You know, I’ve had a a few medical dramas the last couple of years, you know, busy life at home with three young kids, you know, chores up the yin-yang with, you know, as we know, uh, who runs the house. So it it’s just it’s a complete escape, you know, coming out here and just having four hours catching up with, you know, mates and I find I can just switch off everything else in life and just it’s a complete escape. I can hear enjoying myself in my happy place and it just puts a smile back on my face, you know, um after some tough times, it’s um it’s a real place of solace. So how long’s it has it been? Uh two years. Two years. So um sadly you know diagnosed stage four cancer and you think that’s it life’s over you know I’ve got a impending life of hospital and treatment and chemo and you know two years of that has been bit of a struggle bit bit hard tough times you know I’m on my back in hospital for a few months and then chemo every other week which just drains you know just drains all the energy out of you so you know considering 6 months ago I was in an intensive care unit and here we are on a fantastic golf course you know playing golf in the sunshine here in South Wales it’s it feels slightly surreal, but at the same time it’s fantastic. It’s just great to be back. You’ve um had some um health issues um to say the least. Over the last couple of years. Do you want to give us a um a bit of an outline as to Yeah, absolutely. Uh I was, you know, fortunate to go and do that boyhood dream, finished on the highest of highs, looked at myself after 17 years of military service in the Air Force. Uh conducted time on the front line on operations. um went and fulfilled the boyhood dream of being a Red Arrows pilot and uh done everything I wanted to do and think well I’ve dined out on an absolute high and uh I left with nothing but the fondest memories. Uh but it was time to put the family first because they’d given up a lot for me, you know, a lot a lot for me to go and uh do that journey, be away from home a lot, wife bringing up three children. Um and it was time to put them first. And uh we’ve sailed here in Cardiff, become an airline pilot and uh put that behind me. A few years into really enjoying my new career, the new challenge of being an airline pilot uh and and from the highest of highs uh to very quickly felt what hit the lowest of lows when out of the blue I got diagnosed with cancer. Um, so I was uh, yeah, about two and a half years ago now. Got diagnosed with bowel cancer. Uh, managed to get through surgery and get that all fixed and thinking I was done and clear. Got myself back to work as quick as I could cuz uh, getting itchy feet being stuck at home and not on the air. It’s my happy place up there. Year later, sadly, follow-up scan and being told that uh, I was now stage four uh, in a much more tricky kind of prognosis and and future not looking too great. So at this point, sorry to interrupt, but at this point, what was the your percentage of of living through this that you were given? Yeah, the diagnosis wasn’t too great. I was looking at, you know, probably a couple of years uh at best, I think, given given what was on the uh on the plate at the time and the and the the diagnosis I was faced with. But with surgery, there’s an option of hopefully extending my life and giving myself a bit time back. Um but with the amount of disease that was in my liver, sadly I was a bit uh a bit stuck. Thankfully I managed to find a surgeon in London um that was very experienced in the field that could take surgery at a high risk. Um which I did cuz uh I want I want to be as long as I can. I’ve got a few more 18 holes to go and uh go and do and I’m still chasing Mroy down. So uh you know where there’s where there’s a will, there’s a way. ended up on intensive care for four weeks, which was pretty gut-wrenching being on your back, not knowing whether you’re going to pull through. Ended up under four different consultants in four different fields. Uh the wife uncertain of my future as well as me wondering what was going to happen next. Um but somehow I pulled through against the odds, I’m told. So battled through that and uh I’m here now. Recently been told that I’m cancerree at the moment. um uh adittly staying stage four, but it’s, you know, a road ahead, but I’m in the best possible place I can be now. And the fact that we’ve been out and playing some golf and less than 6 months ago, I was horizontal in a bed in intensive care to me uh sticks a very big smile on my face. Um we know that tomorrow is never guaranteed and that’s why we made the most of today. And you said a few times when we were out there, it’s just great to be out. It is. Um so just sort of trying to describe words of what do you really mean by that? It’s hard hard to put into words, but um it is hard to put into words. And and and I think for me, I’ve always been a happy golucky guy. I’ve always enjoyed life to the full. I’ve partied hard. I’ve worked hard. I I I’ve been rewarded with amazing opportunities. You know, it’s certainly in my last role. Uh but I think when you’re hit with a such a a medical diagnosis and the position I found myself in, it puts a huge sort of reality check on life again of all those super things that are important to you. you know, my incredible family and wife that have been super supportive through this journey, uh, both in the military and and now in a a quite testing medical time. Um, but just how precious every day is and and and how quickly that can be taken away from you without realizing. You never think it’s going to be you. I never thought it was going to be me. It’s always someone else it happens to. And then one day out of nowhere, found myself in that position and spent the last two and a half years fighting my way out of it. Um, but yeah, as I said, tomorrow’s never guaranteed. make the most of the here and now. Do what puts a smile on your face and out there walking 18 holes in the beautiful South Wales weather today. That does put a big smile on my face and um yeah, more of that uh being with the family, enjoying those moments, getting back to work and enjoying what that does for me as well. It’s all really good, isn’t it? Just to keep yourself in that positive space and I think there’s a lot to be said for a positive mindset. So, if you keep your mind fairly positive, I think the body follows and uh and yeah, lot lots more good times to come, I’m sure. So, what role does does golf sort of play in your now in your continued recovery and just generally like say putting a smile on your face? What what is it about golf? Well, it’s the fact that not only does it go out and stick a smile in your face for the few good shots that you manage to pull out the bag as I’ve proved today, but it’s it it’s that mental well-being clearly of just that headsp space we talked about being out in beautiful scenery, being with your mates, having that banter, just being able to go out and walk. And that walking, that bit of exercise for me now, you know, I haven’t been able to exercise. I’ve been on my back mostly and and intensive chemotherapy for the last year. You know, I’ve taken a real whack. The unfittest I’ve ever felt in my life. I feel, you know, generally quite weak. So, being able to go out there and walk and have a trolley or a bag that I haven’t got to pay too much attention to cuz it’s doing it for me. You know, it’s that makes a huge difference. Enables me that I can go and walk further, not have to take a bag on and off my back. um I I get to enjoy that time for longer and and golf will now be a huge part of my recovery that I can go out there more frequently hopefully get my strength back up, walk more yards, and I’m certainly looking to to use it as a tool to also raise money for charity um throughout this next year and and hopefully help people that find themselves in the unfortunate position that I found myself in. We’ve we’ve talked about this um a lot already, but I really want to understand a bit more about the thought process of of the little boy that wanted to be the Red Arrow. Um just put that into words how how you sort of how you felt and then how that how that journey went. Yeah. Um yeah, it it was genuinely a real light bulb moment for me the first time I saw the Red Arrows. I say I was about eight or nine years old at an air show in the summer at St. Athen. And I I can still feel it now seeing seeing those planes do it for the first time. And I’m sure anyone that’s out there that may not have seen us and seen us for the first time is a bit of a takeback moment of what these, you know, humans can achieve in an airplane so close together doing incredible things. And uh for me it it really did blow my mind. And I just wanted to do it. I just had an absolute crave to go and do that as a career cuz it just it it it just filled me with so much drive to go and to go and get it and do it. And I never let go of it. I genuinely never let go of it. I never thought I’d achieve it and I knew the stepping stones I had to do to get there, joining the Air Force and and having a career on the front line flying fast jets uh before I’d even be able to apply. So, it was all these hurdles along the way that that you had to get through. Um and and as I got closer and closer, you get a bit more nervous and nervous. Um but to have actually put that suit on and and achieved that boyhood dream, that little 89y old boy that was thinking, I want to do that and to have actually done it. Um, incredibly surreal, but for me, just this this lad that’s grown up in Newport from a, you know, a normal upbringing that anyone else would be, uh, I I would feel, I just hope that there’s someone out there that can listen to that and understand, trust me, that if I can do it, you absolutely can. And it’s not just to go and be a Red Arrows pilot. Whatever your dream might be, grasp it, chase it, and until something physically stops you from doing it, um, just keep on going because that the only way you’ll ever know is by trying and not giving up [Music]