Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
When Thaxted Park Golf Club Head PGA Professional Cody Sherratt returned from the trip of a lifetime to Everest Base Camp in March, little did he know that he was about to go from the top of the world to complete lockdown.
Yet the mandatory downtime due to COVID-19 has allowed the South Australian-based Professional to reflect on an experience like no other.
When the chance to undertake the Base Camp trek arose in 2018 Sherratt didn’t hesitate. Keen to take on what he describes as the “optimum challenge” that would take him well and truly outside of his comfort zone, Sherratt had 24 months to mentally prepare for the trip before flying into Kathmandu.
Following months of training Sherratt traded his clubs for trekking poles for 12 days of traversing a rough, barren but stunning landscape in often below-freezing temperatures at an altitude that challenges even the fittest participants.
Needless to say, it was a fair way from the fairways of SA.
“It was a bit overwhelming but also amazing. From the get-go the scenery is just phenomenal with mountains on either side of you,” Sherratt reflected.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect but it came around so quick. There are so many things that you don’t really think about that play a role in doings these types of things but we were fortunate that the whole thing went pretty seamlessly.
“I was glad I accomplished it and I feel like I’ve gotten to know myself a bit better as well, what I can and can’t do in regard to challenging myself.
“It was just a good feeling to be able to do it.”
While walks up Mount Lofty in Adelaide and lower body training aided in his preparation for the Everest hike, Sherratt admits little could have prepared him for the rigorous 144-kilometre expedition he faced once landing in the Himalayas.
“We flew into a little town called Lukla which is regarded as the world’s most dangerous airport,” said Sherratt.
“So even flying in there up in the mountains, just straight away I was happy to land and get off the plane in one piece.
“It was zero or minus one in temperature and the altitude was about 2,800 metres so straight away you do have a little bit of shortening of breath.
“Throughout the journey we got all types of weather conditions. It was always cold in the morning but then we had some beautiful days where it got to two or three degrees with the sun shining. Then there were a couple of days where it was basically a snow blizzard and walking eight to 12 kilometres where you can only see a metre or two in front of you.
“At night time it would get anywhere from minus 10 to one night we had minus 18. That was when I knew it was something that I probably didn’t prepare for, that type of cold.
“I wear contact lenses and I took my contacts out that night and when I woke up the next morning my contact solution had frozen over. My contacts were ruined so I had to wear my goggles that day.”
As the group edged closer to base camp, 5,380 metres above sea level, altitude sickness began to take its toll but with a day’s worth of hiking left until their destination Sherratt was determined not to give up.
“I was taking some tablets but I got really crook on one of the nights. I had a severe headache and was throwing up,” he recalled.
“We had about eight kilometres to go before we got to EBC. The leader, Jimmy, was saying that potentially you could get a helicopter back and as soon as you start coming back down the mountain the air is higher in oxygen and you feel better straight away.
“But for me this was two years in the making and I thought, I’m just going to push through it. And I’m glad I did it and went the whole way and made my way back again in one piece.”
While Sherratt admits it’s unlikely he will take on an expedition like this again he is grateful for the experience and the lessons he takes back to everyday life.
“It’s pretty cliché but we’re very fortunate here in Australia and in Adelaide with what we have,” he said.
“My patience is something that I need to work on but being able to do the trip and be patient and understand that you’re not going to get things done in five seconds… Things take time and that’s how I probably need to look at things with work and life in general as well.
“Again it’s a bit cliché but I hope it might inspire a few people. If I can do it potentially anyone else can do it as well. If it inspires some juniors here at the club to pursue their goals that would mean a fair bit.
“It reinforces that no goal is really that silly if you can put your mind to it and get it done.”
Volunteers are a driving force behind golf in Australia and this National Volunteer Week we would like to say thank you to those that give their time to the sport we love.
The dedication, hard work and passion of volunteers across all areas of the game plays a vital role in making golf an enjoyable sport for so many.
To the Community Instructors, tournament coordinators, club volunteers, scorers, marshals, transport organisers, rules officials, volunteer coordinators, greenkeepers, scoreboard holders, assistants and everybody in between, thank you. We can’t do what we do without you.
Together with this year’s National Volunteer Week theme ‘Changing communities. Changing lives.’ it is vehemently clear that the contributions of the community of volunteers that give their time to our tournaments play a defining role in the experience for players, participants and spectators alike.
We look forward to club competitions, Volkswagen Scramble events, Ladbrokes Pro-Am Series and Ladbrokes Legends Tour events as well as ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournaments returning soon so that we can be back out on the course with you all.
Continuing on with our #NationalVolunteerWeek celebrations today we look back on the 2019 @AusOpenGolf and thank all of the amazing volunteers that make our tournaments possible ?
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) May 20, 2020
The passion & enjoyment you bring is part of what makes Aussie tournaments great ?
?️@GolfAust pic.twitter.com/tI0ZFRWbNf
Tony Romo teeing it up in a tournament in Dallas would ordinarily draw a crowd but Aussie pair Greg Chalmers and John Senden won’t have to fear the fan factor after being drawn to play with the Cowboys legend in the Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational 2.0 starting Tuesday.
First staged in April to raise funds for caddies at Maridoe Golf Club, the second Invitational has again attracted a stellar field of talent from the professional ranks along with some of the best college players in America but COVID-19 protocols forbids any spectators from attending.
Scottie Scheffler returns to defend the title he won on April 20 with other PGA TOUR stars such as Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland, 2018 Australian Open champion Abraham Ancer and Ryan Palmer also in the field. There is a strong influence of locally-based Aussies also with Chalmers, Senden and Steven Bowditch playing a practice round together on Monday morning.
Star quarterback for the Cowboys for more than a decade, Romo finished 39th in the inaugural Invitational last month with rounds of 78-80-78 and Chalmers is excited by the chance to play alongside him in his first start since the Honda Classic in late February.
“I met him when we played the Dominican Republic,” Chalmers said of meeting Romo at the 2018 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.
“Obviously pretty keen on his golf so we’ll get out there and get after it tomorrow.
“Hopefully it won’t blow too much because the course is really tricky. If we can get some nice conditions we might see some scores.
“I’m looking forward to it, with Johnny and Tony. I need the practise so I’m looking forward to getting started.”
Listed at 100/1 to win the 72-man 54-hole event, Chalmers views it as not only an opportunity to see how his game has fared during a two-month lay-off but how the on-course protocols will look ahead of the PGA TOUR’s planned return at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club starting June 11.
Able to reset his medical exemption that opens the door to play seven further events for the remainder of the season, Chalmers doesn’t expect to play Colonial, instead targeting the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands as his first start back.
“I don’t know how I’m going to play these next few days. I feel like my practice is going OK but you never know,” said Chalmers, who has been able to play and practise at the ultra-exclusive Vaquero Club where he is a member throughout the coronavirus lockdown.
“Nothing matters until the lights go on. It’s not until it really matters to you that you find out where your game’s at.
“Timing-wise this is great. We’ve got a few weeks until our events, need some load in the legs walking 18 holes three days in a row and it’s a very tough course if they set it up tricky.
“Test your game out, see where you’re at… There’s a lot about it that you need to go through before you start playing the real stuff.”
As for the prospect of resuming travel after spending his time in lockdown with his family, cleaning out the garage and undertaking a typing course (“I lasted one day”), Chalmers has no doubt that even the best-laid plans will require some adjustment on the run.
“I only just got going again after having 20 months off,” said Chalmers, a two-time winner of both the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship where he was top-15 in both events last summer.
“There are so many unknowns about travel and how it’s all going to play out, I really don’t know how to feel.
“What are the protocols going to be? There are so many unanswered questions and we really won’t know the answers to until we get rolling.
“There’s going to be testing done at a specific venue prior to the event. You’ve got to do a home testing first and then questionnaires every day that you’re going to the course, temperature-taking when you get there.
“There are some challenges there and we all have to get on that page a little bit just so that we can all stay safe and keep doing our job.
“I’ve got half an idea in my head of how they want us to go about it. They’ve been pretty clear in communicating to us how they’re going to move forward but we won’t know until we get rolling because I think there’s going to be a lot of learning on the fly, from us as players and the tour.”
In this year’s intake of PGA Trainees in Queensland there are three in particular with an excellent understanding of the opportunities that lie ahead.
The reality is that it could have gone one of two ways.
Seeing a parent leave the house early to go to work, getting home late, hours of toil in between. Working on weekends when other parents are watching their kids play junior sport. These are just some of the many sacrifices PGA Professionals must make, and it is not a job for everyone.
But if you love golf – truly love it – then suddenly a career spent working within golf clubs, helping others to get better and building your own business sounds like a dream come true.
In this 2020 intake of PGA Trainees in Queensland three will become second-generational PGA Pros at the completion of their studies, two of whom are undertaking the Trainee Program employed by their fathers.
Prior to applying encouragement was offered and realities discussed but in all three cases there had to first be a common denominator; a love of the game.
“My entire childhood was spent annoying Dad and all his staff because I never left the shop,” recalls Jesse Egea, who has commenced the Trainee Program under his father Andrew at Wolston Park Golf Club in Brisbane.
“School holidays I would go out as early as Mum would let me leave the house until as late as she would let me come back.
“It was awesome.
“Dad’s had a good career and a good life and loves the industry so it just made me think that this is what I should be doing.
“I’d never really had that feeling, of really wanting to do something, and this was it.”
“I’ve never pushed any of my kids to play golf but the two boys, Jesse and Taj, are both right into it,” explains Andrew, who completed the Trainee Program under Bob Werrell at Wentworth Golf Club in Orange.
“Jesse was loving his golf and got down to a 7-handicap around the age of 13 but he’s always loved rugby league as well. He was missing his mates and missing footy so he went back and did that for 10 years.
“It was when I got the job here at Wolston Park four years ago that he got back into golf. He was studying Commerce at Griffith University and I asked him whether he wanted to come and work with me in the Pro Shop. “That got him back around the golf industry again and three years later he’s in the first year of the Trainee Program.”
Like Andrew Egea, Virginia Golf Club Director of Golf Brett Maxwell is embracing the possibility of one day having two children join the PGA Professional ranks.
Son Zach boasts a growing amateur resume that includes a runner-up finish at last year’s Queensland Amateur while daughter Zoe has chosen to begin the Trainee Program under her father at Virginia.
Admitting that Zoe was initially unsure of what she wanted to do when she finished high school, Brett simply opened the door to opportunity and let Zoe make her own choice.
“I never pushed it but obviously with me working in the golf industry they were always around golf and the golf club,” Maxwell says.
“They played all their other sports and I told them that if they wanted to pursue their golf I’d certainly help.
“Zoe was a little bit unsure of what she wanted to do but in her last year of school thought this was the direction that she wanted to go.
“She would still like to play tournaments but I think in particular she will do quite well in the coaching side of things. “Even before becoming a PGA Trainee she was helping out with the juniors and now I try and have her involved in the junior clinics which she seems to enjoy.
“That’s the benefit of the Trainee Program for Zoe. Zach is very adamant that playing is for him but if that doesn’t work out I could see him doing a the PGA Bridging Program and getting into coaching as well.”
When Jessica Cook finished Year 12 at the end of 2017 she was determined to see whether a life in golf was what she really wanted.
Obsessed with the game from an early age given her father Paul Cook was the long-time Head PGA Professional at Woodford Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast, Jessica used a gap year to see what else might be out there.
She picked up glasses at local clubs, worked in childcare and even served as a party supervisor at the local 10-pin bowling alley but day after day, no matter what she did, her mind always came back to golf.
“At the end of a hard day’s work I just wanted to go to the range or go and play golf,” says Jessica, who is completing the Trainee Program under John Victorsen Jnr at Wantima Country Club in Brisbane’s northern suburbs.
“When I realised that my mind could not get away from the golfing side of it, that was the sign that this was what I really wanted to do.”
But despite her family connection, it took Jessica two attempts before she was selected to begin the program.
A handicap hovering just below the cut-off mark of 6 meant that Jessica’s first application in 2019 was denied but she returned a year later with renewed vigour and a Golf Australia handicap of 0.6.
“I was disappointed of course that I didn’t get selected but I took away from the application what I had learnt,” Jessica says. “I knew what was expected in interviews, I knew what was expected in the playing aspect and I took that into the next year and got selected to be a PGA Trainee in 2020.
“When I didn’t get into the Trainee Program the first year the PGA called Dad and let him know what was going on and why I didn’t get selected. That made me feel very welcome within the PGA, creating that family-based atmosphere in letting my dad know what was going on.
“We had a chat about whether I wanted to go ahead and do it but missing out just gave me the extra motivation to want to keep going and do it.”
Parent and child; employer and employee; student and teacher.
There are a number of different dynamics at play when a son or daughter chooses to undertake the PGA Trainee Program under the supervision of their parent.
Jessica Cook recalls the odd silent car trip back from Woodford Golf Club after practice sessions under the tutelage of her father Paul and Brett Maxwell understands exactly the type of liberties that could be taken by having his daughter work for him at Virginia.
“We had that discussion early on, that when we’re at work I’m her boss, not her dad,” says Brett.
“That’s how it’s got to work. She respects that and even early on if she forgets that I’ll point it out and then it’s fine.
“Zach also works in the club part-time in between tournaments and I tell them that if I’m not around they have to listen to our other PGA Teaching Professional and not make up their own rules just because Dad’s not in the shop.
“It’s definitely something I’m conscious of though and trying to stay on top of.
“At this stage it’s working fine and putting that on the table straight up helped to set those ground rules.”
At 27 years of age, Jesse Egea has already spent three years working under his father Andrew at Wolston Park.
It’s given him something of a head-start on knowing what to expect as a PGA Trainee as well as establishing a clear working relationship with his dad.
Although he wasn’t bestowed a designated job description until officially beginning in the PGA program this year – “I was essentially the right-hand man to the head pro” – Jesse has helped to manage the pro shop in addition to assisting with junior clinics.
He and the boss get on fine and he has no doubt that golf has strengthened their relationship throughout the years. “It was always something we shared. I’ve got such a good relationship with Dad and a lot of that is due to the fact that we spent so much time together when I was growing up,” says Jesse.
“I was essentially at his work every day playing golf. Every time I hit a bad shot I’d be pestering him wanting to know how to fix it. He would have spent countless hours helping me when I was young. We would have spent a stupid amount of time together growing up.
“It’s certainly made us pretty close.”
When Paul Cook’s time at Woodford recently came to an end, it provided the silver lining of allowing him to watch Jessica play more often.
With the support of her father and also John Victorsen Jnr, Jessica has already begun thinking about how she can influence the next generation in her career as a PGA Professional.
“I would absolutely love to get into coaching young girls,” says Jessica, one of four female Trainees in the Queensland class of 2020.
“As a junior at Woodford I was the only junior there with no other girls around. I’d spend my days at the range on my own. “It was only when you’d go to the Glasshouse Mountains and Sunshine Coast days that you would see other girls and start to make friends.
“I first started working with John in November 2018 and in my first few months he started doing a few lessons at schools and asked me to come and join him and see how those group lessons work. “What I noticed over that time is that a lot of girls prefer to have another female around. I could give exactly the same instruction as John but it was like they preferred to hear it from me.
“I would love to think that in time I can encourage even more girls to get into golf and more of them to work towards becoming a PGA Professional themselves.”
Sounds as though we’re in good hands.
The COVID-19 pandemic has convinced six-time European Tour winner Brett Rumford to temporarily shelve this golf sticks for the study books.
While the golf world waits for the tours to fire up again, the West Australian confirmed he is joining the pro shop team at Wembley Golf Course to complete the PGA of Australia’s Bridging Program.
Rumford applied to the PGA of Australia to begin his next step and career transition from PGA Tour Professional to PGA Vocational Professional and said there was no better time to take the first steps.
“I’d like to use this down time as best I can to keep pushing myself, studying, learning and now preparing for the next phase in my professional career,” Rumford said.
“I’m not finished playing just yet, I’ll still head back out where I can, but this program allows me to remain in the game and give back as a coach/mentor and do something that I love.
“This transition has been at the back of my mind as I’ve had some injuries that have set me back across the last few years. I’ve had time to reflect on the next challenge, and ask the question, how do I grow and give back to the game that has given me so much?”
Rumford said he approached the PGA of Australia to learn more about their bridging program, the training, duration and qualifications behind it, and what it ultimately allows him to do.
“Once I complete the program I’d like to dip my toes in the water with some short-game clinics or master classes and help people improve their golf.”
And it appears Rumford fans may not have to wait long to get a lesson from their man. Wembley Golf Course confirmed via its Facebook page that “Rummy” is going to launch a short-game series very soon.
*This article was first published by Australian Golf Digest
The ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia will endeavour to recapture golf’s golden years in this country with a reimagined tournament schedule that will see the tour in full swing from October and culminate with the crowning of the Order of Merit winner in March.
The restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic has brought about significant disruption to the 2020 schedule but in order to play a full complement of events the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia will extend the season until March 2021, a format that will become the norm moving forward.
When Greg Norman was at the height of his powers in the 1980s and 1990s the Australian summer of golf featured tournaments such as the Heineken Classic, Australian Masters and Johnnie Walker Classic in February that attracted some of the game’s biggest names.
Co-sanctioned with the Nationwide Tour – now the only direct pathway to the PGA TOUR – the Jacob’s Creek Open and Moonah Classic were also played in February between 2002 to 2010.
A shift to a wrap-around season would not only allow golf fans to follow the Order of Merit race more easily, but according to ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Tournaments Director Nick Dastey, will also open the door for new events to be added in the January-February window.
“The coronavirus has obviously caused great disruption to golf tournaments throughout the world but we saw an opportunity to not only provide our players with a full season this year but put in place a schedule that we believe is in the best interests of golf in Australia,” Dastey said.
“If the current restrictions do not ease in time we now have the opportunity to push events into the early months of 2021 and give our players every opportunity to push for that Order of Merit title.
“We remain hopeful that the tournaments currently scheduled will proceed as planned but we are also exploring opportunities to add new events early next year to further bolster the schedule.
“The golf season used to run over the summer months and into the new year and we believe by adjusting the schedule in this way that it will be a positive move not only for our players but also golf fans.”
An adjusted ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia schedule centred around an October-March fixture would provide:
Currently the winner of the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit receives a one-year exemption onto the European Tour and such a shift in dates would allow them time to properly prepare for a European season that often begins in November.
As Tour Development Manager, former tour player Kim Felton is tasked with creating new opportunities to add to the schedule and is excited by what an adjusted calendar offers.
“Many fans will remember the Aussie summer of golf starting in October and carrying the excitement of the Order of Merit chase into January and February. Rolling back to this will give us the potential to host more events, which will significantly enhance the quality of our schedule,” said Felton.
“Creating more playing opportunities will strengthen our talent pathways and the development of our future stars so they can progress onto the world stage. We are confident the new-look schedule will reinvigorate the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and allow golf fans to be more engaged in the careers of our Aussie golfers.
“In some respects this change, brought upon by COVID-19, has been fortuitous and we’re really excited by what it allows us to do and what a wrap-around season can potentially look like.”
Adrian Boyle’s appointment as the next General Manager at Wakehurst Golf Club was as perfectly suited as it was unexpected.
A Wakehurst junior who completed his PGA Traineeship at Cromer Golf Club before spending 17 years as the Assistant at Northbridge Golf Club, Boyle joined Andrew Webster as an Assistant Professional two years ago.
On June 1 Boyle will effectively become Webster’s boss when he takes over from retiring GM Glen Hickey, a position he wasn’t seeking yet feels his history at the club and two decades in the golf industry gives him the ideal skillset to undertake.
“If you’d said to me three years ago that I was going to be the next General Manager at Wakehurst I probably would have laughed at you,” says Boyle, who completed his traineeship at Cromer in 2000.
“One of the reasons that they have employed me is that they realise I’m a Wakehurst person at heart and I’m here for the right reasons and want the club to be successful.
“It’s a nice change to have that attitude from a golf club.
“I’ve got a couple of friends who are general managers and I thought it was something that I would like to do.
“I’d had enough of being in the pro shop and I felt that in this role I could give a lot more back, that I can make a difference at the club and where it’s going.”
Boyle is the latest in a growing trend of PGA Professionals moving into management positions at golf clubs. He believes that a Professional’s grounding in all aspects of golf makes them the ideal candidate to shape the future direction of a club.
“When it was announced that Glen was retiring I was having a discussion with a then committee member and she was wondering what business they were going to bring someone in from,” Boyle says.
“I spent five minutes explaining to her why I thought it was a golf person’s job but she had the belief that you had to bring in someone with a business background first and foremost.
“Having a PGA Professional with a golf background in my opinion is now more important than ever.
“Most Trainees who come out of the program are learning how to run a business and the PGA provides opportunity for further study in that area for those who want to go down that road.
“It’s really a no-brainer and I think more clubs are realising that it is really a golf job.
“A PGA Professional has that passion and love for the game and that not only comes out in the job but provides longevity as well.
“If I spend the next 20 years at Wakehurst I’ll be very happy.”
Attracting a younger demographic to the club and more female golfers is one of Boyle’s stated aims when he commences his new role in less than a month’s time, an objective he can target with mentors past and present that he can call on.
Since his days under Brad Wall at Cromer and Ray McGlinn at Northbridge to the past two years spent working alongside Andrew Webster and Glen Hickey, Boyle says he has been extremely fortunate with the quality of people he has worked under.
Hickey will only be a phone call away should he ever need some guidance while Webster will be a key ally in Wakehurst’s future growth.
“He still thinks he’s going to boss me around so that’s OK,” the former assistant says of his new working relationship with Wakehurst’s Head Professional.
“I bought my first new set of clubs off Andrew when I was 13 years old so it’s quite funny how it’s all worked out.
“When I missed out on the job at Northbridge two years ago Andrew offered me a position here at Wakehurst and as soon as I got back there it felt like going back home.
“It’s funny how it’s all worked out in the end.
“Andrew and I are very open and honest with each other. We know there will be times when we’ll butt heads but we also know we’ll be able to work together really well.
“I’ve seen the challenges that Andrew and the team face in the pro shop every day so if they ever need anything hopefully I can help in that regard.
“I know how everything works and I know all the staff so I don’t expect the transition period to be too difficult.
“There are ins and outs with contract negotiations and council stuff that Glen has been managing for a long time but that’s all stuff I can pick up and be guided through. Having Glen as a mentor is going to be very helpful.”
Perhaps the greatest adjustment won’t in fact happen at Wakehurst but in the wardrobe at home.
“Mike Mosher just sent me a picture of a suit the other day,” says Boyle, laughing.
“There won’t be too much tie-wearing going on but there will definitely be a bit of a change to the wardrobe.”
Image: Wakehurst Golf Club
The extraordinary story behind Australia’s newest 18-hole golf course and the people who built it.
It was a course that Wayne Perske had visited once before.
Residing in Brisbane as he forged a career on the Japan Golf Tour, Perske and his wife would sneak away from the bright lights of the city to the serenity of the tiny village of Maleny in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
It was only an hour’s drive but may have been another world away. The sleepy contentedness of the town left a lasting impression, even if the golf course that was being pieced together slowly by a hardy band of volunteers didn’t.
“I knew a little bit about the golf club; I knew that it was a long time coming,” Perske tells The Professional.
“I didn’t know the finer points, the politics and the blood, sweat and tears that went into it.
“I had played here many years ago when it was just scratched out. It wasn’t in great condition at that stage but I did enjoy the layout.
“I thought it could be something cool but never thought it would be. I just thought it would end up staying that way, a couple of blokes with hand mowers doing tees and greens. But it’s morphing into something way cooler.”
Perske’s sole win in Japan came at the 2006 Token Homemate Cup and 10 years later he left life on tour behind.
He dabbled in real estate, completed the PGA Professional Bridging Program to become a Full Vocational PGA Member and worked out of Golf Central in Brisbane before taking his family on a trip around Australia.
With one foot on the sand at Margaret River south of Perth and the other feeling the Indian Ocean lapping at his ankles, Perske received word that a job he had applied for prior to the car departing Brisbane was his.
“You can ask my wife; I said I’d never be a club pro. I just couldn’t see myself doing the role of a club pro day in and day out, but this place is different,” Perske explains of his decision to apply to be Maleny Golf Club’s Manager/ Professional.
“There’s a feeling here and I feel very passionately about the philosophy of the club. It really is the way golf should be moving forward.
“We always wanted to settle in Maleny and there’s only one job here for a golf pro.
“I didn’t expect it to be what it’s turned out to be.”
The Sunshine Coast was not immune from the severe lack of rain that gripped much of the eastern seaboard in the latter half of 2019 and facilitated a delay to Maleny Golf Club opening its completed 18-hole layout.
That ultimately happened on February 15, the latest milestone in a 20-year fight to make it a reality.
When Dr Max Whitten’s great-great-grandfather arrived in Australia almost 200 years ago, there was a space on the immigration form titled ‘Probable Usefulness’.
That would become the title of a book detailing the Whitten family ancestry and the mantra by which Max has mobilised the Maleny community.
Elevated to the position of president by default when the interim president moved to Victoria in 2001, Whitten stepped down in September 2019 with the end of a two-decade journey in sight.
He has only stepped so far as the vice presidency at this stage and concedes there were times when establishing an 18-hole golf course in Maleny faced seemingly insurmountable odds.
“In 2010 we had a meeting with council officers. They wanted us to shift some tees because of the wetland, which also meant a green had to be shifted,” Whitten recalls.
“I said, ‘If that’s what you want, we’re pulling out.’ “They backed off at that point but there have been plenty of other obstacles.
“In 2018 we had only $225,000 from Council to build the last six holes. I put in a bid to Sport Australia for $200,000, I put in a bid to State Government for $150,000 and $35,000 to the State Gambling Fund.
“On Christmas Eve I got knocked back by all of them. I kept that to myself until after Christmas.
“Because of the demand, there was a second round of grants issued by Sport Australia for those who had missed out. In February I got a call from our local politician who said, ‘I’ve got some good news for you, you got your $200,000.’
“There were a few occasions where it got tough but I used to tell people to go home and get some sleep and I’d lie awake and worry about it.”
When course construction began in March 2014 the club hired former Headland Golf Club course foreman Mick McCombe to oversee the works and he quickly bought in to the Whitten philosophy of ‘probable usefulness’.
Initially, McCombe was it. But now with only two full-time greens staff under him, he has harnessed the power of an army of volunteers to perform a variety of tasks, including mowing fairways and greens and building rivetted bunker faces with 80,000 mats of unwanted synthetic turf cut to size by hand. They even built him a maintenance shed.
“We had a plumber, we had a builder, we had a tiler, electrician, they all came and did their bit for nothing. It was incredible and saved us so much money,” recalls McCombe, who was awarded the AGCSA’s Excellence in Golf Course Management award in 2016 following the completion of the initial nine holes.
“When I first started I told Max that I couldn’t deal with so many people. He said I had to train people to train people. That’s always stuck with me.
“I taught guys how to run mowers and now they’re teaching their mate to run that same mower. “All I’ve got to do is to try and direct that energy.
“It’s really turned into something different than what I thought it was going to be.”
Free of pretention and built from the ground up by those who will grace its fairways for the foreseeable future, Maleny Golf Club is a triumph not simply for the golf that it has created but the people it has united.
A 20-year labour of love that has endured many days of frustration and sleepless nights for those driving the cause forward, it is now a golf course with a collection of holes placed delicately within the existing landscape, farmland that was bought for the people of Maleny for use as community recreation.
It is this caveat in such challenging economic conditions that shapes to be Maleny’s greatest strength.
A walking trail surrounds the course and leads directly into the charming township, the course itself has been used as the host venue for the Queensland and National Cross Country Championships and abutting what will be the second fairway is the Maleny Bridge Club, public park and future site of playing fields and equestrian centre.
The golf club is even open at night for the use of astronomy buffs eager to use its elevated locale – and minimal light pollution – to look deep into the dark sky above.
Originally engaged by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to incorporate a golf course design within what was the Maleny Community Precinct masterplan in November 2009, course architect Graham Papworth soon become aware of the challenges the Maleny Golf Club had faced over the previous decade to simply reach that point.
“Under normal circumstances someone would have given up on that job,” Papworth says matter-of-factly.
“They had so many obstacles in their road in terms of approvals and conditions that were put on the project but Max doesn’t take a backward step.
“He was definitely the driving force behind that course.”
Save for some sites in Japan not suited for golf in the first place, the Maleny golf course boasts the most dramatic topography that Papworth has ever worked on.
Responsible also for the designs at Noosa Springs and Lynwood Country Club among many others, Papworth had budgetary and environmental restrictions to navigate yet had just enough space and landscape features to design 18 dramatic, fun and visually pleasing golf holes.
“There is just enough difference in shapes and enough room to be able to effectively utilise the ridges and then the flatter parts of the cross slopes and some of the valleys,” Papworth adds.
“If it was a little bit smaller you’d struggle to fit 18 holes but it was just big enough to do that.
“We couldn’t afford to do much in the way of earthworks but we didn’t really want to because the ground was generally such that we were able to work with the existing contour, especially the green sites. Most of those sit on the natural ground.
“That’s what made it quite as different and as picturesque as it is, just being able to flow with the contours that are there.”
The completed Maleny course opens with a mid-length downhill par 3 before a broad, sweeping par 5 on the western-most side of the property.
A wonderful opening trio is rounded out by a short par 4 with three distinct green sections before moving on to a three-hole pocket in the south-west corner.
The front nine closes with a lengthy roller-coaster par 4 and holes 11 and 12 play either side of a wetland that adds to the Scottish highland feel the club is trying to create.
Long rough well wide of the playing corridors will enhance that links look and deliver what will ultimately be a golf course the people of Maleny will have to share with golfers from far and wide fond of the game’s earliest traditions.
“It is the way of the future, a shorter golf course that requires a lot of strategy,” Perske offers.
“We get quite a lot of people telling us that this has the potential to become the jewel of the Sunshine Coast.
“I can certainly see that happening.”
A flood of Australia’s brightest amateur talent has taken the plunge into the pro ranks; this is the process they went through with their coaches before making the jump.
Like parenthood, you can never be fully ready for what is awaiting you when you decide to be a tournament professional.
You can think you’re ready, only for the vagaries of life on the road to throw challenges your way that you could never have envisaged on your own.
For the PGA Professionals who guide young men and women through this exciting transition – players they may have been developing from a young age – the hope is that they have prepared them as best as they possibly can to be a successful tournament professional.
“It’s not something they should be doing because they are bored with amateur golf and think they are ready for that next step,” says Grant Field, who has guided the likes of Cameron Smith, Maverick Antcliff and Dylan Perry into the pro ranks in recent years.
“Sometimes I will get a comment that a player is keen to turn pro because they are bored with the amateur stuff when the reality is that if they are bored then, they’re going to be bored pretty quickly when they go through heaps of money in six months.
“It’s a readiness where we believe there’s almost no chance that they won’t get their tour card unless something untoward or unexpected happens.
“It’s not a matter of having a crack and seeing how we go. We need to be quite confident that there’s enough evidence that it’s a step we’re ready to take.
“Often they will have people around them telling them that they’re ready. Unfortunately, a lot of that is driven by a bias of wanting to see them turn professional.
“It’s got to come back to an evidence-based decision to support it. I’m sure there are millions of golfers who would like to be professional golfers but a very high percentage of them aren’t good enough to do it.
“There are absolutely no guarantees. There are guys who you would have thought would go on and transition really well and then there are other guys you have doubts about who end up outperforming the other guys.
“The best ones take their opportunity and make their own luck.”
More than the talent they displayed as amateurs, what has been most impressive about the current crop beginning to make their way is how quickly they have won in professional company.
Zach Murray’s win at the 2018 WA Open whilst still an amateur was the final confirmation that he was ready to turn pro. The Wodonga product then won the 2019 New Zealand Open in just his sixth start as a tournament professional to secure status in Asia and provide the foundation to finish second on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, a result that earned the 21-year-old a 2020 European Tour card.
Lucas Herbert and Min Woo Lee have won European Tour events this year, Antcliff won three times on the China Golf Tour in 2019 and Brett Coletta narrowly missed earning his PGA TOUR card last year where 2017 Australian Open champion Cameron Davis is quickly establishing his credentials.
Perry and Anthony Quayle both kept their cards on the Japan Golf Tour in their rookie seasons and Jake McLeod, David Micheluzzi and Blake Windred have all featured near the top of the leaderboard in some of our largest domestic events.
But it’s not just the boys finding early success as professionals.
After turning pro in 2016 Hannah Green won three times on the Symetra Tour in 2017 to earn promotion to the LPGA Tour and is now a two-time winner on that tour and our most recent major champion.
Su Oh turned professional at 18 years of age and within 18 months was on the LPGA Tour but the most recent graduate from the amateur ranks is New South Wales’ Steph Kyriacou.
Kyriacou demolished the field at the ALPG-Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned Geoff King Motors Classic at Bonville by eight strokes in February, taking to Instagram to announce what she and coach, PGA Professional – Gary Barter had initially planned to do later in the year.
“She wasn’t what you would say a stellar amateur like a Minjee Lee but the one thing that I noticed with Steph which separated her was that she would regularly shoot really low numbers, and that’s a rare commodity,” Barter says.
“A lot of good players and good amateurs will shoot 2-under, 3-under but to shoot 6, 7, 8-under par, that’s a mindset. It’s innate. It gives me an indication that they are really good.
“When Steph dominated at Bonville and had those low numbers, that wasn’t surprising to me because I had seen that she had that pedigree.
“That is something that is very, very insightful when it comes to amateurs turning pro. That they can shoot those low numbers in big championships.
“For her future moving forward, that’s a skillset that is very rare and really important.
“As far as the timing of turning pro, to access that two-year exemption in Europe instead of waiting and maximising her value as a pro right now was really a no-brainer.
“Steph, myself, PGA Professional Khan Pullen, Brad James, we all agreed that this was the right time for her to go.
“If you’re good enough, you’re old enough, so that was a pretty easy decision to make.
“If Steph keeps moving forward and doing what she’s doing, I see her winning a major one day.”
Like Murray’s WA Open win, Coletta’s catalyst for turning pro was his victory at the 2016 Queensland Open but it is not always that straightforward.
Starting with Coletta, PGA Professional Marty Joyce has overseen the move to the professional ranks of Murray, David Micheluzzi and Will Heffernan and said that he felt it important that prior to making the switch in September of 2019 that Micheluzzi wait another year before saying farewell to amateur golf.
“The simple part that is quite easy to measure is whether the skills are ready to take that next step and then you have to consider the other parts. Those other parts are very much individual,” Joyce explains, Micheluzzi and Blake Windred both turning pro following the Asian Amateur last September.
“Dave was an interesting one. He was ready. He’d lost to Zach (at the WA Open) and then was leading the Australian Open a couple of weeks later and finished fifth, so the skill level was there.
“He’d been playing very, very good golf for a good chunk of time domestically and internationally but Dave had a great opportunity to get to No.1 amateur in the world, which is not something that everyone does.
“I wanted him to stay amateur for another year and had to sell the package in some respects. I provided him with a schedule of what he could play as an amateur and another of what it would look like if he turned pro.
“For Dave it helped going through that process because he would have had people at his home club or within the media asking why he wasn’t turning pro and he had an answer he could give them.
“He was quite clear on what he wanted to do.”
Steve Elkington’s grass allergy would seem a significant impediment to life as a professional golfer; Zach Murray’s aversion to travel has the potential to be just as debilitating.
Murray knows it is an aspect of his career that he will have to constantly manage and everyone who chooses life on tour will have their own cross to bear.
As they move through the elite amateur ranks, many aspiring pros are exposed to the benefits associated with working on the mental aspect of their performance.
Lucas Herbert credited his win earlier this year at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic to a session with his mental performance coach Jamie Glazier from Dare2Dream Performance and Glazier says it is crucial to be upfront with potential professionals about what lies in wait.
“One of the best tools is to prepare them for what their reality might be,” offers Glazier, who also works with Ryan and Gabi Ruffels, among others.
“A lot of young golfers turn pro with big dreams in their hearts and little sense of reality. It’s key to prepare them for what their reality could be. Professional golf is tough, with disappointments making up a high percentage of their performance.
“Helping young golfers understand that in the face of these disappointments, they are on track and progressing along the pathway to their goals.
“One area of vulnerability I see players having is an understanding that statistically it might take a really good amateur 5-7 years to make their way onto the PGA TOUR or European Tour.
“A lot of young golfers see the likes of Matt Wolff, Collin Morikawa or Viktor Hovland succeed quickly on the PGA TOUR and can begin to measure their own performance versus these guys, which just isn’t a fair comparison on themselves.”
In addition to dealing with disappointment, Grant Field believes it is important for players to be able to adapt quickly to their ever-evolving playing opportunities.
When he turned pro towards the end of 2016 at 23 years of age, forging his way in world golf via China was not part of Maverick Antcliff’s plan yet that is the path fate put in front of him last year.
“He went there originally to play a week in which he wasn’t going to play and then when he won early on and the carrot being what it is, we decided to focus our energies on staying up there for the year,” Field says of Antcliff’s Order of Merit win. “The outcome was a European Tour card.
“He could have played a lot of other events during the year but we made that our focus.
“Golf will sometimes lead you down different paths and you’ve got be adaptable and ready to say, ‘OK, we’re now going this way.’
“You’ve got be adaptable and take different roads. If it works keep going and if not, find a different path.”
Two significant things take place when a player makes the decision to turn pro in terms of the relationship they have with their coach.
Where yesterday they were student and teacher the next day they become employer and employee with wages to pay and expectations to be met.
The other notable adjustment is that much of their communication will now take place from opposite sides of the planet.
Golf Australia’s Rookie Program provides the capacity for some of the expenses associated with having a coach on-site at a tournament to be covered but when money can be tight, much of the swing maintenance must be done over the phone.
“You get to know the players that well that I can tell in the tone of their voice the kind of mood they’re in or if they’re not telling the whole story,” Joyce says of the remote access.
“For me it’s about making sure I keep asking the right questions. If you keep asking the right questions in most cases you’ll get to an answer that’s pretty close.
“I speak to these guys on the days when they have poor days. You learn so much more about them and what’s happening on those days. When they’re playing well it’s quite easy, everything’s going well.
“If it’s been a struggle, that’s more what I need to understand.”
Given Kyriacou’s two-year exemption onto the Ladies European Tour and Blake Windred’s Challenge Tour status, Barter will split his time in 2020 between trips to see PGA TOUR winner Matt Jones in the States and trips to Europe on top of his duties as PGA Head Teaching Professional at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney.
“It will be a little bit more trying but because of my role to help them be the best they can be, I’ll definitely be there to support them as best I can,” insists Barter, who also has high hopes for Justin Warren who turned professional midway through last year.
“Obviously I travel to America 8-10 times a year with Matt for a week at a time and with Blake and Steph they’re both being supported by Golf Australia.
“Part of that funding is to help with travel costs so that does provide the opportunity to travel with me for one or two weeks a year, and that’s fine with me.
“I also coach Dimi Papadatos so the weeks I go to Europe to see Blake I can see Dimi at the same time so that helps to split the costs.
“The general public will look at Professional golfers and the opportunities they have and the money they make but the travel, the staying away from home, missing friends and family, missing four cuts in a row, being in a hotel room, those factors and capacity to handle that…
“To have the mental ability, the skill, the ability to handle the downtimes, the uptimes and to keep your job on that Tour for that many years in a row, you have to have so much respect for the players that can do that.”
The relationship between a player and a coach is a multi-faceted one but for Field the primary concern is their well-being as a person; what happens on the golf course will be a by-product of their state of mind.
“I like to see how they’re going in other parts of their life, not just their golf. A lot of the times those things will dictate their level of play too,” Field says.
“If they’ve got technical issues then we can talk about that using video but a lot of the time it’s just making sure that they’re happy and healthy.
“Having that relationship with the player is hugely important and for them, feeling comfortable that you’ve got that relationship is more important than just swing advice.
“Ultimately for me it’s taking care of them as a person first. If you do a good of that then the other things tend to fall into line.”
Get the most out of your game by visiting your local PGA Professional at your local golf facility. Or visit https://pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/?class=aus
A showdown between major champion Wayne Grady and four-time Australian Open champion Ossie Pickworth highlights an enthralling group of matches in our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Nine of Australia’s major champions advanced to the second round in the opening week of matches and while many were clear-cut victories, the second week throws up some head-to-head battles sure to divide the voting public.
One of the most difficult matches to split is that between Grady and Pickworth, one a player who found success in the United States and another who was a dominant force in the post-War period of Australian golf.
Like another blond Queenslander who would gain worldwide fame, Grady’s professional career was launched with victory at the West Lakes Classic in Adelaide in 1978, a financial injection that paved the way for his move to the European Tour.
But it was in America where Grady really made his mark, winning on the PGA TOUR in 1989 and then claiming the 1990 US PGA Championship at Shoal Creek.
The United States held little appeal for Pickworth despite the urging of Australia’s trailblazer in America, Jim Ferrier.
Still, the only person to win three consecutive Australian Open titles from 1946-1948, Pickworth shot 63 at Royal Melbourne’s West Course to defeat reigning British Open champion Bobby Locke 2 and 1 in a 1950 match and won a fourth Australian Open at Kooyonga in 1954.
Bruce Devlin and Frank Phillips won consecutive Australian Open championships in 1960 and 1961 and will face off against each other on Thursday with Peter Senior and Mike Clayton to go head-to-head on Friday.
Australia’s Greatest Golfer Week 2 Draw
Monday: Jim Ferrier v Marcus Fraser; Geoff Ogilvy v Wayne Smith
Tuesday: Bruce Crampton v Katherine Kirk; Ian Baker-Finch v Brett Rumford
Wednesday: Rodger Davis v Matt Jones; Graham Marsh v Karen Lunn
Thursday: Ian Stanley v Stuart Appleby; Bruce Devlin v Frank Phillips
Friday: Wayne Grady v Ossie Pickworth; Peter Senior v Mike Clayton
Week 1 winners: Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, David Graham, Jan Stephenson, Karrie Webb, Kel Nagle, Adam Scott, Steve Elkington, Jason Day
To have your say on Australia’s Greatest Golfer follow the PGA Tour of Australasia Facebook page and the PGA of Australia on Twitter.
