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The process of finding the golfing advice you need is easier than ever before, as the PGA of Australia updates its nation-wide Find a PGA Pro service.
Now, whether they specialise in a certain service or are industry all-rounders, PGA Professionals can easily be identified in categories of coaching, retail, events and advice.
General Manager of the PGA Membership and Education Department, Geoff Stewart is excited by the development and what it represents both for PGA Professionals and the broader industry.
“PGA Professionals are our accredited experts in golf,” he said. “That is a very broad term, and their skill set expands well beyond coaching on the lesson tee, to every area of the golf industry.
“It is crucial that this is recognised on our national database. Equally, for golfers, it means they can have the confidence that they are seeing the right person for whatever their game needs.”
Each of the four specialist categories is broken down into a further four options, so golfers can have greater clarity when choosing to visit a PGA Professional.
The new options on Find a PGA Pro are:
| Coaching – Individual Lessons – Clinics – Juniors – Adults | Advice – Getting Started – Where to Play – How to Play – What you Need |
| Retail – Equipment – Apparel – Club Fitting – Club Repair | Events – The Scramble – PGA Pro Ams – Corporate Days – Club Competitions |
“It is important to emphasise that through their extensive training, every PGA Professional is qualified to provide all of these services,” Stewart affirmed. “But this update gives them the flexibility to call out the areas they spend a lot of their time in their individual roles.”
There are currently more than 1,200 of Australia’s PGA Professionals on Find a PGA Pro, and each of them have the chance to continue updating their profiles to show the golfing public how they can help you.
Golfers can search via postcode to find their closest PGA Professional, with links to contact and booking information.
We invite you to find your golfing perfect match today, by visiting: https://pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/
Throughout the industry, PGA Professionals are applying their skills to map a prosperous future for Australian golf.
From one hour to the next, Grace Lennon can find herself teaching a five-year-old to swing a club for the first time, to an 85-year-old whose love for the game will not abate.
Proud of the fact that as a PGA Professional she can tailor a golf offering to suit the needs of any player she comes across, Lennon meets a wide range in her role as a Teaching Professional at Albert Park Driving Range in Melbourne. Ultimately, however, regardless of their skill-level, age or background, one thing remains the same.
“I just want to help people to enjoy the game,” she concludes.
Delightfully simple, it’s a philosophy that Grace, and more than 2,000 PGA Professionals right around the country adopt as they work passionately to help more people fall in love with golf than ever before.
“I know the game can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, so helping someone to get the ball in the air or shoot under par – whatever their goal might be – helping them to achieve that is a success,” she explains.
With that as her definition of success, Grace works hard to ensure that wherever her students might be on their golfing journey, after lessons with her, they are set on a path to become rusted-on golfers.
“Now that I have the opportunity to help people, I am conscious of keeping things as simple as possible,” Lennon notes. “We don’t want to give so much information that a player might become overwhelmed.
“In that way, they can continue to enjoy the game.”
With extensive experience as a player on the WPGA Tour of Australasia as well as overseas, Lennon is well-placed to help everyone appreciate the nuanced lessons that golf provides.
“It’s not always the fairest game,” she laughs. “But I’ve learnt that it generally pans out overall and the more you stick at it, it tends to come together. These are the skills and broader life lessons that golf teaches you.”
After completing the PGA Bridging Course in 2020, Lennon now has the chance to impart these lessons on the next generation of golfers.
Not something she takes lightly, it is a responsibility that she believes PGA Professionals need to embrace in order to help golf thrive.
“Ultimately, we all want to see golf boom and have more people – especially the younger generation – involved in the game,” says Lennon. “As PGA Professionals we are all working to try and make golf as fun as possible and show people what a great game it is.”
Something she witness first-hand on a daily basis, Lennon was thrilled to play in the history-making ISPS HANDA Australian Open alongside the men’s and All Abilities fields and knows that the flow-on effects of this coming together will be positive at the grass-roots.
“We have already seen a big spike in golf over the last little while,” she says. “Generally speaking, there are more people, especially women getting into the game and coming to the range and getting started. That’s the biggest thing I’ve seen.”
As this new wave of golfers receive the time, dedication and care from PGA Professionals like Lennon, they are bound not only to enjoy the game, but to form an enduring and life-long connection to it.
Golf’s boom in the past two years has been particularly noticeable at club level, where memberships and playing opportunities have been in hot demand.
A 36-hole facility that sits just on the New South Wales side of the border with Queensland, Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club is not only providing the foundation for a strong future for its membership, it is also actively promoting both ends of golf’s spectrum
The club boasts a proud history of hosting high-class tournament golf.
Greg Norman returned as the reigning Open champion to win the 1986 Queensland Open at ‘Cooly-Tweed’ – in front of an impressionable Karrie Webb, no less – and last year alone the club hosted the Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned NSW Women’s Open and the Queensland Amateur.
But the COVID-19 induced golf boom has not only bolstered Coolangatta’s membership base but provided new opportunities, such as hosting the Women’s Golf Network, which the club will do for a second time in March 2023.
Whether it is the popular member events, external tournaments or corporate days, General Manager Nicole James is tasked with bringing them to life.
A graduate of the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program in 2000, James has held numerous roles throughout the industry over the past two decades and plays a critical role in ensuring Coolangatta-Tweed helps to foster all levels of golf.
“From a club perspective, we try to do our bit to support the industry,” explains James.
“We’ve held lots of big tournaments and lots of very prominent names have played here so it’s nice to keep that going.
“We need to be growing the game. Not only as a club and our membership but providing opportunities for new golfers to come here. Whether that’s as part of a coaching clinic or social play, it’s about exposing people to the game.
“That will help to keep the game really solid and help us to all retain the current influx of players.”
With a background in management and golf operations that extends back to her time at Avondale Golf Club on Sydney’s North Shore as a 25-year-old, Purcell enjoys setting a direction for the sport.
Alongside her husband James as co-Head Professional at Wagga Wagga Country Club and now as a Board Director for Golf New South Wales, Purcell is driven to create an environment where golf is set up for long-term success.
“I want to continue to provide a resource to clubs so they can continue kicking along and getting more people into the game,” she explains. “We need to continue to offer people exactly what they want in golf.”
“I always liked the running of golf in an overall sense,” she says. “I liked the idea of running it at a higher level. That management background helps to open your eyes to what the golf club needs.”
Having also worked at North Ryde Golf Club, Highlands Golf Club in Mittagong and now back in her home town of Wagga Wagga, Purcell has a good sense of what different clubs need, and this is something she is looking forward to bringing to life in her new role on the Golf NSW Board.
“Because of that (the time at different clubs) I had a broad range of experience of what golfers wanted and what clubs might be struggling with,” she adds.
“Being involved in the sport at a higher level is really interesting to me.”
PGA Membership Pathway Program Associate Steffi Vogel is living her dream for a second straight year in the TPS Murray River event at Cobram Barooga Golf Club this week.
Vogel has been an Associate Professional for the past three years at the club she grew up playing golf at and having the chance to tee it up in the second leg of the mixed-gender Webex Players Series on her home course has her over the moon.
“It was like a dream come true having the event come here again,” Vogel said. “I’ve always practised and thought ‘imagine there being a professional tournament here’ so to be able to have it is unreal. The rest of the club is buzzing too.”
The 24-year-old started swinging a club at a young age courtesy of her father Terry who was an elite amateur golfer and is now superintendent at Cobram Barooga after being a greenskeeper at the club where he is a 20-time club champion for more than 30 years.
“Born and bred here. Been here my whole life,” Vogel said.
“Started playing here years ago. I’ve probably had a handicap since I was ten and played a bit before that as well.
“Dad used to play in the high-level amateur events like the Interstate Series and we used to come out with Dad while he was practising. I used to fiddle around while he was hitting balls.
“My sister and I would slide down the face of the bunkers and all sorts of stuff. I eventually picked a club up and started doing juniors clinics and went from there.”
As she rose through the junior and amateur ranks, Vogel followed in her father’s footsteps by playing in the Interstate Series for Victoria in 2018 and 2019, and not long after she took the professional plunge.
She enrolled in the PGA Membership Pathway Program to gain varied and valuable training within golf and took to her studies like a duck to water.
Vogel’s week consists of practice on Monday and Tuesday, then anywhere from eight to 12 hours per day for the remainder of the week in the pro shop conducting lessons, coaching junior clinics and heading out for more practice on a Sunday afternoon.
At the 2021 Victorian PGA Associate Graduation & Awards Dinner, she won the Leading Victorian/Tasmanian Academic Award and the 2020 Victorian PGA Trainee of the Year award.
Now, she is eager to add some a strong showing on the course to her impressive resume.
“This week I just want to do better than last year. I didn’t make the cut,” Vogel said.
“So, I really, really want to make the cut and play all four days. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Last season Vogel played each of the four Webex Players Series event as well as the Vic Open, and she has confirmed that same schedule again for this WPGA Tour of Australasia season plus the Women’s NSW Open and the Australian Ladies Classic.
She missed the cut at last week’s TPS Victoria but feels as if she is has already made significant strides forward.
“It’s been a great experience for me. I struggled a little bit last year. I didn’t really know what to expect. This year I feel a bit more comfortable,” Vogel said.
It is no surprise that this week’s familiar surrounds are helping her to feel more settled, but despite knowing Cobram Barooga’s Old Course like the back of her hand, Vogel is keeping her tactics very simple.
“I’m lucky that I’m quite accurate off the tee because the rough is quite thick out there at the moment,” she said. “The person who wins this week is going to have to hit it straight off the tee. Keeping it on the fairway is my game plan.”
Whatever numbers go on her scorecard, playing golf at home has always been about family and friends for the Vogels and the coming days will be no different.
“The members, my friends and family have always been really supportive of me so it’s going to be great to see some of them out there watching me,” Vogel said.
Australia’s largest and most successful teams’ golf event is back – the 31st season of The Scramble officially getting underway from tomorrow.
The Scramble, which will see approximately 300 events held nationwide from February 1 – October 1, gives amateur golfers the chance to play together in a friendly and fun format, with both a mixed and women’s only section available.
Competing for places at a Regional Final and ultimately the Championship Final, all “Scramblers” at local events around the country are feverishly putting together their teams and strategies in preparation for their first tee shot.
Event Manager for the PGA of Australia, Louise Meagher is thrilled to see The Scramble back for another year.
“The Scramble is an iconic event on the Australian golfing landscape,” she said. “It has paved the way for golf participation across the nation for 30 years now and we are very proud of that.
“It is a unique event, with a fun and inclusive nature and we are looking forward to running it again in 2023.”
Although the official window opens on February 1, with 100 events already locked in, some couldn’t wait, as Brighton Lakes Golf Club kicked off the season last week with a capacity field of 160 entrants.
Head Professional Kurt Stegbauer was excited to see The Scramble return in 2023.
“Our members love The Scramble,” he smiled. “Golf is all about growing communities and events like this give our members and their guests the chance to do that.”
Brighton Lakes has a strong affiliation with The Scramble and a good track record of success, too, having made the Championship Final in two of the last three years.
A record that the club will be looking to uphold, the early signs are positive, as the winning team of Josh and Brock Speechley, Paul Byrne and John Harker recorded an impressive score of 50.87.
Remarkably however, the real highlight of the day came on the par-3 eighth hole, when Brett Sharp – who won his way through to the 2020 Championship Final – made a hole-in-one to catapult his team into eighth position on the leader board.
Meanwhile, at Pacific Dunes Golf Club in New South Wales, Head Professional Jamie Hook welcomed a strong field of 148 to their 2023 Scramble over the weekend.
“I really enjoy being part of The Scramble, such a long-standing event,” Hook said. “It’s a great way to connect with the PGA brand and to provide club members the opportunity to connect with PGA Professionals.”
Pacific Dunes has been running a Scramble for a decade now and Hook has been responsible for managing it at the club for the last seven years.
“I know the members always look forward to the event and it is always well supported by visitors and guests as well.
“We really want to ensure a great day for all involved.”
For more information on The Scramble, how to get involved or to register an event, click HERE
The PGA Golf Learning Hub opened its doors for 2023 on Monday, as Term 1 commenced for on-campus and online students.
Students completing courses with the PGA Institute, the PGA’s Registered Training Organisation, as well as those enrolled in various PGA Academy programs, hit the books – and the golf course – in a bumper first day for the New Year.
“It’s wonderful to be back for 2023, welcoming students both here on campus and online,” said the PGA Institute RTO Manager, Suzanne Burns.
“We know that our sport is booming at the moment, so to see students of varying ages embracing their passion for the game and looking to turn it into a career is a very special thing.”
New on-campus Institute students enrolled in the Diploma of Golf Management, met their returning classmates and received their official Learning Hub golf bag and apparel, before an afternoon of classes.
Bronte Kirkman, who currently works at Cheltenham Golf Club in Melbourne, is looking forward to expanding her understanding and fully immersing herself in the industry, as she begins her time with the PGA Institute.
“I just love golf,” she smiled. “I already work at Cheltenham, so this is a great chance for me to learn everything there is about club management and other aspects of the sport.
“I also really want to improve my golf game, so to have the chance to do that as well is really exciting for me.”
Nick Bielawski, Coaching Programs Manager for the PGA of Australia was also pleased to meet a new cohort of golfers on Monday at the PGA Academy. Both the Golf Performance Program and the Golf Development Program welcomed students; keen to immerse themselves in a true golfing experience to help take their game to the next level.
“The programs we offer are designed to help golfers take the next step in their golfing development,” Bielawski explained. “All of our students have the drive to improve and we are looking forward to going on that journey with them.”
For Brock Caldwell, the PGA Performance Program was enough of a lure to move across the country from Western Australia. A member at Seaview Golf Club in Cottesloe, he has made the move to lower his handicap and improve all aspects of his golf game.
“I want to get to a level where I can eventually look to start playing professionally,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having a training plan with real consistency and driving my passion to improve.”
Bielawski is also excited that the 2023 cohort of PGA Academy students will have access to the new TrackMan Performance Zone at the Golf Learning Hub. Including four state-of-the-art simulators, the facility will help fast-track game improvement for everyone.
“Getting our students using our brand new TrackMan simulators means that we can use data and real-time insights to aid game improvement,” he said. “We are really proud of the facility and it’s a big step forward for the PGA Academy offering.”
For more information on the various PGA education programs, click HERE
Popular local star James Marchesani kept his head and shot a second-round 65 to move into the outright lead at the TPS Victoria event at his home club Rosebud Country Club today.
Tied in the lead through round one at 8-under, the 32-year-old multiple club champion at this layout rattled home the back nine in 32 to get out in front on his own, admitting that sleeping in his own bed at home in Rosebud and having his family around him has agreed with him.
“It’s been fun, and the golf’s been good, which is another bonus,” said Marchesani, a six-year PGA Professional who has had a tough past 12 months, missing out on playing rights in Asia and Europe.
Marchesani leads by a shot from Queenslander Jake McLeod (66 today), who got hot on the back nine as well shooting 7-under.
But it is a packed leaderboard, with New South Welshman Jordan Zunic, Victorian teaching professional Grace Lennon and Melbourne pro David Micheluzzi at 10-under, just four from the lead.
The legendary Karrie Webb remains in contention in a group at 9-under overall after a 68 today in beautiful conditions, notwithstanding the annoyance of a three-putt at the last hole.
The scoring was not quite so low, although Sydney’s John Lyras made three separate runs of three consecutive birdies in his 62, the day’s low round.
Marchesani made eight birdies mixed with two bogeys on the day, pulling along with him the biggest gallery of anyone in the field owing to the presence of many friends and Rosebud members.
He had a putt from inside 10 feet for birdie at the last and a 64 to go with his opening 63, but it slid by the hole.
Afterwards, the Victorian conceded that thoughts of winning a tournament at home – it would be his first tier-one victory on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia – would surely enter his mind.
“I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t. But yes, try and treat it like any other day out here. I’m feeling very relaxed in front of family and friends which I think’s been a big help, and it’s good to see a lot of the members coming out and supporting me too. I’m expecting a good crowd tomorrow, I reckon.”
His closest pursuer is the 28-year-old McLeod, who said he’d been in “no man’s land” on the front nine before his putter kicked into gear on the back side. Five birdies and a second, straight eagle at the par-5 16th hole put him into the final group for Saturday. “I got back to some of those feels I was working on yesterday and I just putted well on the back side,” he said. “Pretty much holed everything.”
Melburnian Lennon’s appearance near the top of the leaderboard has been another highlight this week.
A contemporary of LPGA Tour players Minjee Lee, Su Oh and Hannah Green, she struggled as a touring professional and opted to teach. Ironically, it was some of her own advice to amateurs that she followed over the past two days.
“It’s been obviously a little while since I’ve played some big tournaments, but it’s great, I’m enjoying it, I’m trying to take a lot of my own information I pass on to my students. I’m trying to keep things simple out on the course, not overthink this which is one of the principles that I try to teach my students.”
The 31-year-old Lennon is comfortable holding her day job, although on the evidence of the past two days she might have to reconsider. “I love playing golf, but I also love the stability of working at the driving range and stuff like that,” she said. “If I keep shooting 66s I might have some decisions to make!”
Among those to miss the halfway cut re tournament host Geoff Ogilvy (70-71), defending champion Todd Sinnott (73-69) and Queensland star Anthony Quayle (70-72).
Sixteen elite juniors will join the field for their own 36-hole event from Saturday, with one player joining two open-age players in each of the last 16 groups as part of the tournament’s commitment to put golfers of all genres together in the same space.
Australian golf icons Alex Mercer and Bob Shearer have been honoured for their service to golf after receiving the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day 2023 Honours List.
Long-time golf administrator Annette Court has also been recognised for significant service to golf administration and the community by being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
One of the most revered figures within Australian golf for his work with tour players such as Steve Elkington, Jan Stephenson, Peter O’Malley and Michael Campbell, few have influenced the game more than Alex Mercer.
Mercer was the PGA Professional at Royal Sydney Golf Club for 35 years and is one of just three PGA Members recognised as ‘Immortals’ alongside Peter Thomson and Charlie Earp.
While he was an accomplished player, he made a lasting impact through his teaching, gentle nature and innate understanding of the golf swing, providing an entry point for thousands of Aussie golfers.
A PGA of Australia Life Member, the late Robert (Bob) Shearer sadly passed away at age 73 in January 2022, with the golfing community mourning and remembering him as one of Australia’s most decorated professionals.
In a playing career that stretched across four decades, Shearer amassed 27 professional wins including the 1983 Australian PGA Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club and the 1982 Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney.
PGA of Australia Chair, Rodger Davis, said it was special to have two golfing greats acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the game
“Bob and Alex are both legends of golf in Australia, and we’re incredibly proud to see them recognised and awarded the Medal of Order of Australia,” Davis said.
“It’s just over a year since we lost Bob, and while we would love to be celebrating this moment with him, I know Kathie and their two sons Brett and Bobby will be as grateful and proud as Bob would be.
“Bob was one of the best golfers Australia has produced, and Alex is one of the best coaches and teachers having guided players such as Steve Elkington and Peter O’Malley to the very top of the game, while always maintaining a passion for helping young amateur players.
“He was made an Immortal of the PGA back in 2017 and it is wonderful to see his contribution to the game honoured in such a way.”
PGA of Australia CEO, Gavin Kirkman, said that Mercer and Shearer’s recognition was indicative of the role that PGA Professionals play in the promotion and success of golf.
“The late Bob Shearer and Alex Mercer are icons of golf in Australia and have played a major role in influencing and inspiring thousands of Australians to play the game,” Kirkman said.
“Alex is without question one of the most accomplished and respected figures in the history of the PGA of Australia, and the tributes paid to Bob when he passed show what a monumental figure he was. We could not be prouder to see two of our members awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM),” he said.
Court, a member of Barwon Heads Golf Club and Royal Melbourne Golf Club, was honoured for service to golf administration.
She was President and an executive member of Women’s Golf Victoria and vice-president of Women’s Golf Australia for many years, refereed for more than 30 years, and is the current patron of the Golf Society of Australia as well as a life member of that organisation.
Golf Australia Chair Andrew Newbold paid tribute to the trio of award recipients. “These are three great servants of our game in different ways,” said Newbold. “Alex Mercer with the incredible legacy he has left for golf, the late Bob Shearer for his playing record and his remarkable love for the game, and Annette Court for her selfless work at club, state and national level administration over many years. Golf Australia is forever grateful for their tireless and inspirational efforts to make the game better.”
Golf Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland said: “Congratulations to all three recipients of these awards who’ve made their families very proud. Bob, Alex and Anne have given a lot to the sport of golf and they thoroughly deserve to be acknowledged in this way.”
“Oh, it would be well into the thousands.”
Jamie McCallum can’t help but laugh when asked to consider just how many junior golfers he might have worked with during his time as a PGA Professional. Even a ballpark figure doesn’t bear thinking about for the 2021 PGA National Coach of the Year – Game Development, who delivers a range of programs to budding youngsters every day at the thriving Albert Park Driving Range.
“Between school holiday clinics, school groups and our own MyGolf program, yeah, it’s a lot,” he laughs.
A former Australian Tour player himself, McCallum understands that fostering a love of the game relies on having strong role models to show the way, something he was lucky enough to enjoy when he came to the game as a 12-year-old.
“I got lessons from a PGA Professional at that time from Ian Donnelly at Keilor Golf Club,” recalls McCallum. “He instilled all the basic fundamentals in me from the start; things like my grip and stance.
“From there, I just became addicted. I started to love the game and would play whenever I could.”
Although the notion of getting hooked on the game in such a way is not uncommon, McCallum appreciates that he was very fortunate to have received the level of care and attention that he did from Donnelly. So, once he became a PGA Professional himself, McCallum sought to offer the same experience to every young golfer he came across.
“I’ve taken his lessons into my own coaching,” he explains. “A lot of the way he went about it with me as a junior has shaped my philosophy today.”
Beyond the stance, grip and swing, McCallum believes that when it comes to junior coaching, PGA Professionals have a broader responsibility to tee up youngsters for success, whatever that looks like for them.
He remains a firm believer that golf is a game that should be enjoyed for life, and that a positive introduction to the sport goes a long way to ensuring people have the desire – and the basic skills – to pick up a golf club whenever they may want to later in life.
“All I want to do is introduce them to the greatest game there is,” McCallum smiles. “I stress to every kid that you can play this game for life; with family, friends, at university and even work. You can have a good skill for life and I just love the whole picture of that.”
Not in the game to produce a production line of Tour professionals, though he is quick to point out that if any junior does have the desire to follow a high-performance pathway, he would be keen to support their journey, McCallum’s philosophy to his work is delightfully simple.
“I just want to make sure they all have the most enjoyable experience possible.”
To make that happen, McCallum employs a wide range of techniques to engage kids of varying ages, abilities and even interest levels. A combination of mini games, competitions, slightly more specific drills and even the odd prank has kept them coming back over more than a decade.
“Sometimes I mix in one of those exploding balls on the tee,” he laughs. “That’s the sort of thing that sticks in the minds of kids and you can see their faces light up with excitement.”
It’s that pure joy on the faces of the next generation that lights up McCallum, too. From helping a junior clinic group get a photo with Usain Bolt, to running a MyGolf promotion in partnership with triple-Premiership player, Tom Hawkins, McCallum is always keen to create lasting memories at the golf course.
“They remember these things, and it makes it enjoyable for them.”
He also knows that coaching juniors isn’t for everyone, but considers it one of the great privileges of being a PGA Professional that gets to play such an integral role in the development of young people.
An honourable outlook, it is just part of his nature and happily it is golf that allows McCallum to express it every day.
“I love mentoring and working with young people,” he explains. “Not everyone is suited to it, but it works for me and my personality so I actually find it quite easy.”
A source of fulfilment as well, McCallum is happiest when he can see that juniors he has coached in the past, maintain their association with the game in one form or another. From those who pop back to the range and share a memory about a particular clinic, to those he has helped secure work in the industry, McCallum knows that as a PGA Professional, he has the chance to make a lasting impact.
“What we are doing is much more rounded than just golf.
“We are instilling life skills as well as golf skills.”
PGA Professionals are delivering junior clinics right around the country. MyGolf is Australia’s national junior coaching program; delivered under the guidance of a PGA Professional, it is the perfect way to get started in the game.
Aware that the secret would soon get out, Michael Sim set his alarm for 11.59pm so that he could register for the second tournament in the TrackMan-powered NEXT Golf Tour.
A former top-50 player in the world with four wins on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour in the US to his name, Sim uses the simulator bays at Burleigh Bunker on the Gold Coast primarily to dial in his iron and wedge distances and check club path and attack angle.
An e-mail from TrackMan’s Director of Sales in Australia and New Zealand, Brook Salmon, alerted Sim to the new 10-event virtual tour promising a minimum of $US100,000 prize money for each event.
He signed up for the opening tournament, shot five-under at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West and finished tied for 12th when the tournament closed on Monday, Sim expected to bank close to $1,000 for his efforts.
A four-time winner on the Nordic Golf League, Denmark’s Mathias Gladbjerg won Round 1 by one stroke with a score of eight-under 64, TrackMan CEO Klaus Eldrup-Jørgensen personally delivering his cheque for $US17,477.
Sensing it would grow in popularity, Sim made sure not to miss out on Round 2 by setting a midnight wake-up call, all 250 spots snapped up within the first three hours.
“I knew how popular it was starting to get,” said Sim, a two-time winner on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.
“I actually set an alarm clock for midnight to enter and by the time I got up at quarter to five in the morning it was sold out.”
Entry for each competitor is $US130, $100 of which is put straight into the prize pool.
Given demand, Round 2 was opened up to 500 competitors and the expectation is that by Round 3 there could be as many as 1,000 entrants playing virtual golf for very real money.
“If we get 1,000 players we’re really going to see some sizeable prize purses and the ability for someone to make $50,000 for a 45-minute round of virtual golf,” explains Salmon.
For Sim – and touring professionals just like him who have access to TrackMan technology – the possibilities offered by NEXT Golf Tour are endless.
“If you’ve got a week off and an event’s on, it costs you $200 and you might win $25,000; why wouldn’t you do it?” Sim asks.
“I’m going to play them all. The guys at Burleigh Bunker have been great and it’s a great facility down there.
“You’ll see way more Tour guys start to jump on. I’m not sure how big the fields are going to get but if the fields do get bigger, I’d like to see two or three rounds. Then you’ll start to see the better players win or certainly up the top of the leaderboard.”
In addition to the overall strokeplay champion, each event offers cash prizes for aggregate closest to the pin, birdie streak, longest drives for men and women and greens in regulation.
Although hitting greens can bring its own reward, the fixed putting that is in play means that anything inside three metres is automatically counted as a one-putt, between 3.1m and 20m is an automatic two-putt and outside 20m is an automatic three-putt.
“There’s a little bit of strategy involved with that,” said Sim, who played his tournament round in 38 minutes, all of which is recorded and verified by TrackMan representatives.
“I was two-under and then I had two holes in a row where I was 3.6 and 4 metres away and they’re only pars.
“If I’d got those I would have been four-under after eight and that gets your mind thinking. You almost feel like it’s the last round, back-nine sort of thing.”
That a player of Sim’s calibre admitted to feeling nervous energy while playing a virtual tournament adds even greater legitimacy to what TrackMan has created with the NEXT Golf Tour.
“’Simmy’ is a pretty even-keel guy on the golf course but you could see there was that nervous energy, the nervous smirk,” said Salmon, who watched Sim complete Round 1.
“He air-mailed a green and by his own admission said it was because the heartbeat was racing a little bit because he was pushing to birdie three of the last five to equal the lead.
“There’s a guy that has played on the biggest Tour in the world yet he’s still getting a buzz out of virtual golf. It was cool to see.
“I’m sure our owners would be thrilled to see a person of that ilk have those feelings and emotions.”
There are more than 400 TrackMan units throughout Australia and 23 TrackMan-powered commercial simulator centres.
The NEXT Golf Tour is open to both professionals and amateurs but amateurs are limited to winning a maximum of $1,000 as stipulated by both the USGA and the R&A.
Entries for Round 3 – to be played on Medinah Country Club from February 1-12 open on January 19.
For more information visit nextgolftour.com.
In his fifteenth year as a PGA Professional, Luke Young remains passionate about developing his skillset, expanding his offering and learning as much as possible about the industry that has given him so much.
Currently completing the Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management with the PGA Institute, Young is finding that hitting the books is helping him to thrive in his role as assistant General Manager/ Director of Golf at the Northern Golf Club.
“It has been beneficial in a practical sense, because the tasks that I’m doing for the assessment are things I am currently doing in my job anyway, Young detailed. “It’s making my outcome at work better, because you get some ideas from the modules you’re doing – It’s been a really good start.”
Having begun his PGA Associateship at Heidelberg in 2005, Young has worked right throughout the golf industry. In the golf shop and coaching on the range at first, he moved on to run his own business; operating coaching services out of Yarrambat in Melbourne’s North.
“I really enjoyed that process and wanted to develop my coaching during those years,” he recalled.
A desire for increased stability, however, led him to accepting the Director of Golf role at Eastwood Golf Club. A position he held for three years, Young came to enjoy the administration side of the game.
“Being behind the scenes and pulling the strings can be particularly rewarding when things come together and you see the outcome working,” he said. “I think PGA Professionals are best placed to do it (working in club management), with a range of experience you just have a better sense of what will work and what the membership is after.
“Grounding as a PGA Professional makes it much easier to put all these different hats on; from changing a keg, signing up a member, giving a ruling or helping behind the till, the days are always so diverse.”
A man in demand, Young returned to Heidelberg to run the golf shop on a contract basis for a further six years in 2014. The chance to balance a level of stability while still having the opportunity to coach, Young was also able to impart some of his knowledge onto the next generation of PGA Professionals.
“I had five Associates go through their Associateship under me during that time,” he said. “That was really rewarding and now to see them progress through the industry on their own journey is great.”
As the broader golf industry boomed in the wake of the pandemic, Young made the move to Northern, where he started out coaching and club-fitting, before the management and administration side of the game came calling once again.
“The club asked me to split my week with twenty hours of coaching and twenty hours of golf operations,” Young explained. “I was keen to dive into the operational side of things again and after six months, we had achieved a lot.”
Not one to overstate it, Young completely redesigned the website, completed an overhaul of the club’s marketing, oversaw a change to all online systems, as well as an updated point-of-sale.
“I was really enjoying it and getting an insight into how the club works,” he laughed.
From there, the team at Northern was more than willing to support Young’s progress, agreeing to fund his study with the PGA Institute; their preparedness to invest in his development accompanied by a promotion to his current role.
Young’s chance to bring together his range of experience and take Northern’s offering to the next level, he believes that the process of ongoing education is vital for PGA Professionals looking to keep up in a rapidly changing industry.
“The golf industry is changing so much at the moment,” he explained. “Operationally, it is moving so quickly with technology and the general attitude towards getting more and more people involved.
“I really think that the training that is available is the best way to understand how to communicate effectively with current and prospective golfers alike.”
A firm believer that the current trend is taking golf in the right direction, Young is keen to use his rapidly expanding skillset to be at the forefront.
“I would love to be a General Manager one day and to run a facility that is quite literally open to everyone,” he says. “From the steady weekly member, to someone who just wants to come for lunch and has no idea how to hit a golf ball, that level of inclusion and diversity of experience is where I want to head.”
A noble ambition, Young knows that he is giving himself every chance to achieve that dream.
“The whole industry is opening up, golf clubs are becoming facilities for everyone to enjoy and embracing education and training helps to make us better at driving that.”
For more information on the PGA Institute and the courses available to everybody, click HERE
