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A rejuvenated club in Canberra, more than 200 new female golfers at a regional golf club, close to 100 juniors engaged across two Sydney golf clubs and victories on two of the world’s biggest professional golf tours.
These are just some of the accomplishments of the four recipients of the 2021 NSW/ACT PGA Professional of the Year awards.
Nominations for each of the four categories were again of the highest order as PGA Professionals guide newcomers to the game, foster new areas of growth amongst juniors and women, guide the fortunes of elite amateurs and world-class professionals and take an active leadership role in the performance of many of our top golf clubs.
“Our PGA Professionals have perhaps never been busier than the past two years and their influence on golf facilities has never been greater,” said NSW/ACT PGA State Manager David Barker.
“Their skills are diverse – from conducting lessons, coordinating golf operations all the way through to being actively engaged in management decisions at golf clubs.
“Our four award winners this year have been exceptional in their particular areas of expertise but I’d like to congratulate all of our PGA Pros for the way they have contributed to the game in the past year.”
Few have made a greater impact on their golf club than NSW/ACT Management Professional of the Year, Anthony Sinclair.
The General Manager at Federal Golf Club in the heart of the ACT, Sinclair has had an extraordinary influence on all areas of the business.
Through his leadership and skill set Sinclair has turned around the club’s previous financial struggles, instituted a rebrand and comprehensive marketing plan and implemented new course management practices that has the layout in superb condition.
The results of that are some 400 new members, close to double the number of monthly rounds, an increase of more than 200 per cent in equipment sales and the addition of 15 new corporate partners.
With a high priority placed on service, James Single’s devotion to the membership at Port Macquarie Golf Club on the Mid North Coast has earned him the coveted crown as the NSW/ACT Club Professional of the Year.
With a focus on the little things and providing the connection between the members and their club, Single has built a strong rapport since coming to the club eight years ago and continually looks for ways to engage new golfers.
One of his great success stories of the past 12 months is the Swing Fit program that has attracted more than 200 new female participants to Port Macquarie Golf Club.
More than 30 of those women have since become regular playing members and the ladies who have taken part in the Swing Fit program have encouraged partners, parents and even children to also give golf a go.
Giving golf a go has also been a key driver for Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club Professional Anthony Summers.
Summers has been named the NSW/ACT PGA State Coach of the Year (Game Development) largely due to the junior programs he has conducted not only at Ryde-Parramatta but also at St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
An accomplished player on the PGA Tour of Australasia and now PGA Legends Tour, Summers is engaged with 36 juniors at St Michael’s, writes and conducts the program with 56 juniors at Ryde-Parramatta and has also contributed to the Western Sydney Academy of Golf High Performance program.
At a time when many juniors in Sydney have been restricted in terms of accessing the golf course, Summers went above and beyond in establishing online programs to keep the kids engaged and continuing to improve even when they couldn’t get on course.
The restrictions imposed by COVID-19 have also presented new challenges to coaches of elite players based overseas yet Gary Barter has experienced another year of great success.
Director of Tuition at The Australian Golf Club and a PGA Member for the past 33 years, Barter’s international movements have been limited the past two years but that hasn’t prevented him from guiding Matt Jones to a second PGA Tour title and Stephanie Kyriacou a second Ladies European Tour win in 2021.
Barter has also worked in elite amateur golf programs for Golf Australia and Golf NSW and his insights a highly sought after as a keynote speaker, appearing at both the NZ PGA and Victorian PGA teaching summits as well as presenting to the Australian PGA Teaching Summit.
A PGA Professional for the past 47 years, Allan Telford was honoured with the Services to Golf award at the South Australian Golf Industry Awards. Here he shares his philosophy on growing the game at every age.
It’s trying to grow the game, trying to grow clubs, which is important. Help clubs in developing their membership, which is hard to do, because generally the people at the club lack the confidence to step up and lead the way so they generally call on a PGA Professional to do that for them.
The golf course serves as a nice greenbelt in a lot of small country towns but it’s also a gathering point for community. A lot of the country clubs not only use their venues for golf, but they might use them for weddings and funeral services and that type of thing. A golf club certainly adds something to a country town.
In those towns you’ve got to get to know the people first and you’ve got to show a genuine interest. You’ve got to show a genuine interest in what they’re trying to do and what they’re trying to achieve. Clinics at the local school, fostering some kids out of the school to come over to the golf club and showing the club how to do that. That’s very important.
You’ve got to have the strongest primary schools program you possibly can because that’s where your golfers are coming from. Twenty per cent of your population is in schools. You get them at a young age, you’ve got every chance to get them into the game for life. I spent 20 years at Tea Tree Gully Golf Club, which has a thousand members, so it’s a busy club to get juniors on the golf course. But to keep working, keep grinding at the development of juniors in those clubs, is so important.
If you’re getting one kid in the school ground to come over to the golf club and stay there for 20 years, at a club like Tea Tree Gully, that’s a fair few gold nuggets to get into the club. Clubs have to recognise that every kid in the school yard is a little gold nugget.
I fell in love with golf through watching Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf on the ABC on Friday nights and then I went out and created a little six-hole golf course in a paddock about a couple hundred metres from my house.
Junior golf in our town was started with all the kids. We all played golf, and we went up there and started mucking around for a few weeks, and all of a sudden the adults took an interest in what we were doing. A couple of mums of the kids started running a bit of a program for us and that’s how we started junior golf in Pinnaroo.
We run our South Australian primary schools competition statewide. The year I got involved they were down to 39 kids participating and I thought, Well this is no good. We have 16 qualifier regions, 22 events. We make sure that wherever a kid is in the state, there’s a qualifier that they can get to. My goal is to get 480 kids at that qualifying stage. We’re up to about 320 now and we bring 160 of those kids to Adelaide to play at the state final, made up of 80 metropolitan kids and 80 country kids.
I’m happy with where the school program is going but you’ve got to keep pushing, keep going with that.
I’ve been lucky to be in this industry for 47 years. I’m lucky that it hasn’t been one thing. I’ve done a lot of things in the golf industry. That’s been a very good thing. Staying passionate for the game is a key to it all. I still want to get people playing, encourage people all the time to keep playing. It’s a challenge this sport but it’s a great sport for life.
To find a pathway into junior golf in your region visit golf.org.au/mygolf/home or sportaus.gov.au/schools
Tim Wood has been named High Performance Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year as the state’s high-achieving PGA Professionals were honoured in front of their peers at the Commonwealth Golf Club for the presentation of the PGA Vocational Awards.
As we inch towards the end of another hectic year in golf facilities throughout the country few have had such challenges as those faced by PGA Professionals in Victoria over the past 18 months.
Extended lockdowns and changing operational requirements have meant that golf club staff have had to adapt quickly with PGA Professionals often leading the way both in the pro shop and in club management positions.
The four awards presented on Monday were for Club Professional of the Year, Coach of the Year (High Performance), Coach of the Year (Game Development) and Management Professional of the Year.
The recipient in 2020 for his work with Tour players and continuing to advance his knowledge base, Wood refused to rest on his laurels this year.
Splitting his coaching time between Rosanna Golf Club, Growling Frog Golf Course and the Plenty Views Driving Range, Wood (far right) has not only become a highly sought-after coach for amateurs looking to improve their game but also fellow PGA Professionals seeking to advance their knowledge base.
In recent years Wood has helped both Josh Younger and Terry Pilkadaris find success in Australia and on the Asian Tour and takes great pride in the professionals who have come seeking input in search of improvement.
“I guess I’m most proud this last year with all the challenges is that I’ve had 41 professional golfers seek my advice since July 2020,” said Wood.
“Quite a few I’ve since become mentors to with their coaching careers and I’ve also helped eight international players and a constant growing PGA Associate list.
“Fourteen Associates since July 2020 have come seeking my clarity as well as wanting to help their own coaching skills.”
Making junior golf a priority has led Jamie McCallum (second from left) at Albert Park Driving Range being acknowledged as the Game Development Coach of the Year.
In addition to a flourishing MyGolf program that has welcomed some 400 kids to Albert Park McCallum has actively sought new opportunities to engage kids with golf.
He has aligned with the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre working closely with their holiday program ‘Planet Sport’ to introduce more than 100 children to golf every school holidays and worked with country schools such as St Patrick’s College Ballarat and Hamilton College to develop and run a ‘City Experience’ golf program at Albert Park as part of their annual school camp.
McCallum has also conducted more than 100 sessions within schools, constructing appropriate golf programs for such schools as St Michael’s Grammar, Scotch College, Haileybury College, Albert Park College, Star of the Sea, Wesley College, Christ Church Grammar, Christian Boys College, MacRobertson Girls High School, Melbourne Girls Grammar, Melbourne High School, Box Hill College and Melbourne Grammar.
As part of his ongoing education McCallum also became one of the first PGA Professionals in Australia to become an accredited ‘First Tee’ instructor.
Striking the right balance between exceptional service and a warm and inviting atmosphere was a key factor in Kingston Heath Golf Club Director of Golf Justin Burrage (second from right) being named the Club Professional of the Year.
Now in his 19th year at the club, Burrage has been integral in not only fostering the right culture befitting one of world golf’s most admired clubs but establishing pathways to bring new members into the fold.
One of the initiatives that has proven to be a hit is the Women’s Heath Gateway program that guides women new to the game all the way from picking up a club for the first time to becoming active members.
“The six-month program provides those enrolled with a limited membership trial, plus extensive education in golf,” Burrage explains. “At the conclusion of the program, club membership is then available.
“Two programs have been run, and even though they have been heavily compromised through COVID, we have had approximately 80 participants involved with 35 progressing to club membership.”
Setting Eynesbury Golf Club on a path to a prosperous future has earned Brad Alton (far left) the honour of Management Professional of the Year.
Following a change in ownership a new direction was required to restore Eynesbury to its former glory and a strategic plan centred around improved course maintenance practices and a family-friendly atmosphere has Eynesbury headed in the right direction.
The construction of an on-site water treatment plant will provide Eynesbury access to water all-year round at a price that won’t break the bank and the course maintenance team has expanded from five to 11, with plans to ultimately get to 18 within the next 12 months.
The surrounding housing estate also provides the opportunity to engage with families of all ages, the Winter Festival that featured a 200-foot ice rink beside the pro shop attracting more than 15,000 people to the Eynesbury precinct.
With a new marketing campaign centred on the tagline, ‘Destination Eynesbury’, Alton is expanding his knowledge base by taking a six-week tourism course and hospitality training to develop Eynesbury into a facility for everyone.
Portsea Golf Club PGA Professional Brad Kivimets has secured a start at next week’s Victorian PGA Championship at nearby Moonah Links Resort courtesy of his victory at the PGA Professionals Championship of Victoria.
Kivimets and Warburton Golf Club’s Kevin Smith finished tied with rounds of one-under at Commonwealth Golf Club with Kivimets claiming the crown at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.
Not only does Kivimets ensure his place at the PGA Professionals Championship Final on the Gold Coast in early January but a return to Moonah Links for a PGA Tour of Australasia event worth $137,500.
Kivimets missed the cut at the Moonah Links PGA Classic in February but qualified for the weekends at both TPS Victoria at Rosebud and the Golf Challenge NSW Open at Concord.
Although he missed out in the playoff the consolation for Smith is that he and David Tapping (73) will join Kivimets at Moonah Links next week while the top 13 qualifiers from the PPC of Victoria all qualify for the 36-hole Championship Final at Links Hope Island from January 6-7.
Three players finished tied for 13th at five-over 78 with Leigh Deagan earning the spot in the final, Michael Bainbridge and James Hartley the first and second alternates respectively.
The leading two players from the Championship Final will be exempt into the $1 million Australian PGA Championship the following week at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Rossdale Golf Club Director of Golf Michael Moore (above) was the winner of the Victorian Club Professional Championship also held at Commonwealth, fighting back after a rough start to post two-over 75.
Royal Hobart Golf Club Teaching Professional Scott Laycock has been honored with a unique double feat, winning the Tasmanian PGA Championship less than 24 hours after being awarded the Tasmania Coach of the Year (High Performance) title.
Trailing by four shots after completion of round one, Laycock stormed home recording a four-under-par round of 67 to claim the Tasmanian PGA Championship at Country Club Tasmania.
After a long and successful career as a Touring Professional, Laycock undertook the PGA Tour Articulation Program in order to upskill his coaching qualification. Since completion, Laycock has built a successful coaching operation, integrating his experiences on Tour with the theory learned via the PGA education program.
Royal Hobart Head Professional Matthew Docking was awarded the Tasmania Club Professional of the year, while Golf Australia’s Regional Development Manager Simon Weston was recognized as the Tasmania PGA Management Professional of the Year.
The Tasmania Coach of the Year (Game Development) honour went to Adam Holden in recognition of the extensive work he has done introducing children, women and culturally diverse groups to the sport of golf.
Each of the award winners will now form the Tasmanian nominees for the National PGA Vocational Awards to be presented in conjunction with the Greg Norman Medal.
Play for a share of prizemoney on some of the most spectacular golf courses on the planet in the unique Pro-Am Tour format available exclusively to PGA Members.
Designed with Vocational Members specifically in mind, Pro-Am Tours where the Professional recruits and plays with three club members have proven to be extremely popular. And with borders reopening and international travel once again possible there are two trips on sale that offer the experience of a lifetime.
Hosted by Air Adventure Golf, the first three events held at King Island since 2018 have proven to be so popular that the January 2022 tour sold out in just two weeks.
Many of those groups are return visitors so Air Adventure have added a second event for 2022 in May with just 25 groups available.
PGA Professionals who recruit three members at their club to join the tour will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip that includes flights, accommodation, transfers and meals.
Played across Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes, the King Island experience is one that every golfer must enjoy at least once in their lifetime and Tour Promoter Jon Perrett is eager to see plenty of new faces in May.
“The response to the January Pro-Am was incredible and the majority of those bookings were PGA Professionals who have done the trip in the past,” said Perrett.
“With the borders reopening demand is going through the roof so we thought adding a second event in May would give others the chance to come down and experience King Island for themselves.”
Now is also the time to start planning international travel and there could be few better golf destinations than a week in Ireland.
CGE Golf are staging the Iconic Ireland Pro-Am from April 16-22, 2023 where PGA Professionals and their three amateur teammates will be treated to rounds at three of the most jaw-dropping courses in the world in Ballybunion, Doonbeg and Lahinch.
Included in the package will be a welcome dinner and presentation gala function at the Trump Doonbeg Hotel where the tour will be based.
The tour consists of a practice round, one round team event and a 54-hole Pro-Am Stableford Tournament for the prize pool of $55,000 with daily and overall prizes for the amateurs in the field.
The PGA Member’s ground cost is free of charge, while the amateur cost has been supported by Doonbeg Golf Links & Hotel, making this a most attractive package. Qatar Airlines will be offering a special flight price, departing from all major cities for pro-am participants.
There is also the opportunity to extend the trip into Northern Ireland and schedule a stopover in Doha on the return leg for those who take up the special price offered by Qatar Airways.
“We know international travel is going to be highly sought after in the next few years and for golfers there are few more desirable destinations than Ireland,” said CGE Golf Director Steven Baron.
“We created these tours specifically for PGA Members who don’t ordinarily get to play tournament golf and who have wonderful relationships with the members at their respective clubs.
“This is a way to further enhance those relationships, play some extraordinary golf courses and with a limit of 30 PGA Members pick up a nice slice of the prize money at the same time.”
For more information on either tour click the links below.
Tom Bond has taken out the 2021 South Australian Associate Championships at Links Lady Bay, Normanville in bitter and windy conditions on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
“I’m happy how I played over the four rounds,” said Bond after his win.
“The conditions were brutal. We had four-club winds and the rain was relentless. I had to golf the ball and grind it out mentally and physically on every shot, all the Associates had to.
“The course was in great condition and a real big thank you to Links Lady Bay for hosting the event, it’s a great course.”
With the 72-hole tournament played over two days each comprising two 18-hole rounds, Bond endured the cold and windy conditions to produce a 3-under par 69 in round one and even-par round two to lead the field at 3-under par after day one.
Similar conditions followed on day two, as Bond shot rounds of even-par and a closing 4-over par to claim the title with a total score of 1-over par 289 for the four rounds.
Steve Capon finished runner-up 11 shots back with a total score of 300 strokes.
“I consider my final round to be probably the best golf I’ve played in my life,” said Capon.
“I shot three-under in the last ten holes and I’m incredibly proud with the result. It was a great tournament that was played on one of the toughest and best golf courses in the state.
“The course layout always makes you grind and adapt to the unrelenting situations you ultimately find yourself in, especially in those conditions.”
Brodie Whitbread finished in third place with a total score of 302.
“Some of the hardest conditions I have ever played in but that’s golf. A real testament to Tom and Capo’s games,” said Whitbread.
In the concurrently-run Pro Am, a hole-in-one was made by Darcy Salamon from Kooyonga Golf Club on the 15th hole in round two with a perfect 9 iron.
“Because of the elevated green we couldn’t see the ball go in, we heard a noise, but didn’t have a clue until we got up there,” said Salamon.
Anna Stanton’s path to becoming the Golf Operations Manager at Woodford Golf Club west of the Sunshine Coast is simultaneously an example of where golf in Australia has come from and the people who will shape its future.
As she oversees a thriving junior program at Woodford boasting a growing group of young girls, Stanton can’t help reflect back on her formative days in the game in Kilcoy just 20 minutes down the road.
There was a lone friend who was also a golfer, less than 10 lady members at Kilcoy and little indication that a career in golf was ever possible.
Stanton’s playing ability earned her an invite to Brisbane to attend the Kelvin Grove State College’s Golf Excellence program and her rural upbringing helped to earn a scholarship through the Adam Scott Foundation to study a Diploma in Golf Management at the PGA’s International Golf Institute in 2012.
A Bachelor of Business majoring in sport management through Griffith University followed in 2013 and 2014 but after completing her Professional Year at Palmer Gold Coast to attain her PGA credentials, Stanton found employment difficult to come by.
“I’ll be honest, I had those thought processes at the end of 2015, when I was going from casual job to casual job of, ‘Is there actually a career for me in golf?’,” Stanton reveals.
“I think that mindset has changed now, not just in the golf industry but across all industries with regards to gender equality and opportunity.”
Will full-time employment within the golf industry proving elusive Stanton tapped into her upbringing on the family farm and enrolled in Veterinary Technology at UQ Gatton, picking up a part-time job at Gatton Golf Club to keep some money coming in.
When she was exposed to the most difficult aspect of life as a veterinarian, Stanton shifted again to study a Graduate Certificate in Applied Digital Marketing before applying to become the Assistant Golf Operations Manager at Woodford in November 2019.
“It’s a bit of a crazy little ride,” she concedes.
“My role’s quite diverse here. I look after the communication including the Facebook page and we’ve essentially doubled our audience in the space of two years.
“I wear a lot of different hats, I do monthly newsletters, I do weekly updates, the designs for flyers. But then also look after the actual golf ops side of things, which can be quite overwhelming too, especially when golf is so popular and just grown in popularity.
“Our club numbers have improved by probably 25 per cent. It’s crazy.”
Subconsciously, Stanton is also doing something at Woodford and in south-east Queensland that perhaps won’t come to fruition for another decade.
From the enthusiastic band of junior girls at Woodford to girls taking their first steps in the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program, Stanton is providing the one thing she lacked as a junior… an example to follow.
“I’m only 26 and in the grand scheme of things, there’s not too many golf ops managers who are around my age let alone female,” she adds.
“We’ve got three little girls at Woodford all around the same age and they wear their junior member shirts. They’re really, really sweet and they bind together in the program and egg each other on which is fantastic. Because that’s what you need. That’s what you need to build more of that culture and make everyone try harder and be better.
“I’ve thought about the influence that I’ve had on the aspiring female trainees because there are more females than ever in the program. I understand the ones in Queensland look up to me as something of role model with a job that they would like to be able to move in into.
“It’s good to be able to lead the way and hopefully encourage more females in golf to take up those roles as well.”
Women are welcomed into Thrive. Men become part of the Wolfpack and juniors play as a Centenary Park Shark.
Golfers tend to join clubs without ever being part of a team but recognising the flood of interest from new golfers in the wake of the pandemic, Centenary Park Golf Course in Frankston south-east of Melbourne sought to approach things slightly differently.
Led by PGA Professional Jack Donaldson (pictured) who operates Impact Golf Performance at Centenary Park, the group dynamics and enhanced connection to the golf facility are engendering an enthusiasm that Donaldson says can’t help but be infectious.
“With team sports being shut down, a lot of men and women who traditionally would have been a part of football and netball and those sort of sports have gone, ‘You know what? I want to do something. And being locked down for a year, I need to start a sport’,” says Donaldson.
“We have the ‘Get Into Golf’ program and then we have development programs that enable people to feel like part of a team.
“The women’s program is called Thrive. The logo for that is basically a flower with a golf ball in the middle of it and women have really loved that, love to feel that inclusion in the program.
“The men’s program is called Wolfpack. It’s that pack mentality – a bit more masculine than a flower – and it’s been really cool to see men embrace that and the mateship and camaraderie they develop being in those programs.
“And then the junior program is called the Centenary Park Sharks.”
Akin to martial arts disciplines that reward levels of progression with advancing colours of belts, Donaldson encourages development within his junior program with different coloured hats.
Based on the Titleist Performance Institute program, juniors start out with red Centenary Park hats and progress to white, blue, green and eventually black.
“Red is a lot of locomotive skills – running, jumping and basic posture – and then we go into white, which is the fundamentals level, dialling in posture, grip, athletic weight shift,” Donaldson explains.
“Blue is basically the play stage, introducing kids to the golf course, and then we go to green, which is the training stage for the older teenager who does drills and stations and things like that.
“Finally, black is the elite level for kids who take the game quite seriously and want to play at a competitive level.
“The good thing about those caps as well is that motivation to get the next one and we some retention in our junior programs because they want to go up to that next level and get the cap that their friend may have already earned.”
And it is not only the juniors who Donaldson manages in transitioning from beginning to the golf course.
A crucial element in his adult program comes towards the end, guiding his newcomers not only in technique but providing a grounding in how to feel comfortable on the golf course.
“I block out times on a time sheet in an afternoon on a Saturday or Sunday to provide an environment where they know there will be people of similar abilities and they can just ease their way into the game,” adds Donaldson.
“It’s like a lot of traffic coming through, ‘How do I merge into the traffic?’ It’s our job to make that golfer’s journey easy.
“I tell people that the most important thing is to understand how to look after the golf course and to be aware and respectful of other people on the golf course.
“If you are playing slowly but know to let other people through, those golfers will appreciate that awareness and are much more likely to make you feel welcome on the course.
“The rules are just a byproduct of playing the game. You’ll learn them as you go, but you don’t have to know them all. We’re just looking to have a good time and enjoy ourselves.
“Golf can be whatever you want it to be. If you want to go and play three holes and then go and have a drink with a friend, or go to the driving range, or play 18 holes competitively, it is whatever you want it to be.
“I really drive that home as much as I can. That this is a game for everybody and it’s what you want to make of it.”
Meeting the market
The over-riding question arising from the COVID-infused golf boom centres on how to turn newcomers into life-long golfers.
Rather than a reliance on the heritage of the game and the traditions it is built on, Donaldson says it is beholden on the golf industry to meet the market that has suddenly emerged rather than expect it to come to us.
Whether it is offering more group-based lesson environments that people can participate in with friends, making time available to transition them to the golf course or simply embracing the new ways people want to experience golf, every opportunity is one worth exploring.
“I actually had some girls come to the range, they would have been in their early 20s, one looked like a bit of a punk and one had Converse on,” Donaldson says.
“They were out on the range and pumping music and I actually excused myself from a lesson to go over to them.
“They might have been thinking I was coming to tell them off but I said, ‘Can you please come back? Because this is awesome.’
“That’s the sort of stuff that we’ve got to encourage. The right attitude in the pro shop and the engaging and welcoming personality is crucial.
“We’re not exclusive anymore. We can’t use that word. We’ve got to be inclusive, being welcoming to people of all walks of life. It’s being adaptable to different people and understanding that golf is not a certain type of clothing and attitude anymore. It’s quite vast in that the people that it caters to.”
Guiding Cameron Smith and Louis Dobbelaar to become Australia’s highest-ranked male professional and amateur golfers respectively has seen Grant Field named the Coach of the Year (High Performance) at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards on Thursday night.
In its new position on the calendar in October, the celebration of Queensland golf’s high achievers from January 2020 to July 31, 2021 attracted more than 350 guests to The Star on the Gold Coast where PGA Professionals, tournament hosts, turf professionals, administrators, golf clubs, amateurs and volunteers were recognised for their contributions.
A highlight of the evening was a live Q&A via Webex with three of Queensland’s greatest golf exports, Karrie Webb dialling in from North Queensland and Cameron Smith and Scott Hend from their homes in Florida.
Since the start of 2020 Smith has climbed from outside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings to now be at a career-high of 21st and on the verge of breaking into the top 20 in the world.
His breakthrough individual PGA Tour title at the Sony Open was the start of an impressive run for Smith who was runner-up at the 2020 Masters, won the Zurich Classic alongside Marc Leishman and represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics.
In the time of COVID where travel has been difficult, Smith says it is Field’s communication and strong foundation that has enabled them to continue to find success despite being unable to work together in person.
“It’s pretty weird not being able to see him face to face but we’ve done a pretty good job of staying on top of things with video and FaceTime,” said Smith.
“Before I came out on tour we had a pretty good idea of what worked and what didn’t and we’ve never really tinkered with anything.
“We knew what worked, we knew what didn’t, and we just kept getting better 1 per cent at a time.
“It’s an easy trap to fall into but we’ve never changed something to try and get better.
“Throughout my career so far we’ve done a really good job of staying to true to what we’ve worked on from day one.”
Field’s other star performers the past 18 months include Australian Amateur champion and Male Amateur Golfer of the Year Louis Dobbelaar, European Tour player Maverick Antcliff, Dylan Perry, Luke Parker, Sarah Wilson and Andre Stolz.
The other big winner on the night was Maroochy River Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast, picking up three awards.
Course Superintendent Stuart Campbell received the Superintendents Achievement Award, the Maroochy River Legends Pro-Am was named the Legends Tournament of the Year and they were awarded the prestigious and hotly-contested Golf Club of the Year award.
Brookwater Golf Club’s John Collins was named the Coach of the Year (Game Development) for his work in coaching some 7,000 juniors and introducing 700 adults to the game through Get Into Golf programs during the judging period.
In addition to his daily duties at Gailes Golf Club in Brisbane Brent Barlow has completed more than 50 education programs in the past 18 months to earn Club Professional of the Year while the ongoing success and development at Parkwood Village saw Luke Altschwager recognised as the PGA Management Professional of the Year.
The Brisbane Golf Club celebrated a double win with General Manager Geoff Kuehner taking the Manager of the Year award and the club’s junior program overseen by Head Professional Joe Janison named the Junior Golf Program of the Year.
2021 Queensland Golf Industry Award Winners
Coach of the Year (High Performance): Grant Field (Pelican Waters GC)
Coach of the Year (Game Development): John Collins (Brookwater G&CC)
Club Professional of the Year: Brent Barlow (Gailes GC)
Management Professional of the Year: Luke Altschwager (Parkwood Village)
Tournament of the Year: Hutchison Builders Redcliffe Pro-Am
Metropolitan Tournament of the Year: Coca-Cola City of Brisbane Pro-Am
Regional Tournament of the Year: Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am
Legends Tournament of the Year: Maroochy River Legends Pro-Am
Golf Course Turf Apprentice of the Year: Nick McClymont (Headland GC)
Superintendents Achievement Award: Stuart Campbell (Maroochy River GC)
Assistant Superintendents Recognition: Michael Todd (Royal Queensland GC)
Golf Club Staff Member of the Year: Sutthichai Sukplang (Tally Valley GC)
Golf Club Board Member of the Year: Joey Lyttle (Wolston Park GC)
Golf Club of the Year Award: Maroochy River Golf Club
Inside Golf Manager of the Year: Geoff Kuehner (The Brisbane GC)
Male Amateur Golfer of the Year: Louis Dobbelaar
Female Amateur Golfer of the Year: Justice Bosio
Junior Female Amateur Golfer of the Year: Justice Bosio
Junior Male Amateur Golfer of the Year: Kai Komulainen
Volunteer of the Year: Jane McFarlane (Gatton Jubilee GC)
Golf Club of the Year (Under 400 Members): Dalby Golf Club
PGA IGI Excellence in Golf Education: Sean Bradfield
Golf Supplier of the Year: MiClub
Services to Golf Award: Len Beck
Junior Golf Program of the Year: The Brisbane Golf Club
