I grew up an hour the other side of Horsham in a tiny little town called Goroke. Only 300 people live in Goroke and my mum was such a good golfer. My mum’s mum passed away when my mum was only four and she was raised by her aunty and uncle in a little town called Harrow. Aunty Nellie played golf and Mum wanted to take up golf. My uncle Charlie went out to a tree, found a branch that looked like a golf club, cleaned it up and gave her that and a tennis ball. That’s how she learned to play golf and she still has that branch. Still has that golf stick, her original golf stick.

My mum and dad were legends in the area. They went around to all the tournaments, they won all the mixed and my dad won a lot of club championships, as did my mum. I grew up playing tennis and really loved it but I went and played in this tournament got absolutely wiped by this girl in the final. I think I was 12. This girl was younger than me and I said to my dad, “There’s no way I’m ever going to be that good. I’m going to start playing golf.”

When I was 10 there was no golf course in Goroke but my dad had a bulldozer on our farm and he and two mates went to the local council and said, “We want to build a golf course in Goroke.” They gave them a plot of land just outside of town and my dad drove his bulldozer all the way from our farm out to this plot of land and built a golf course.

I started playing there and I played at Edenhope and then when I was nearly 15, Dad sold the farm and we moved down to Warrnambool. I played at Warrnambool for a couple of years and then I moved to Melbourne. That was how I started playing golf.

I played a lot with Karrie Webb growing up and when you play with someone like Karrie, you soon realise that you’re not good enough to make a career out of playing. But from a very young age I loved teaching. I actually wanted to be a schoolteacher and I got to a stage with my golf where I thought, You know what? I’m not good enough to be a player but I want to teach.

My best friend Jodie Hawkins – she was Jodie Adams at the time – was playing at Kooringal and David Wren was on the trainee committee at the time. He asked Jodie whether she was interested in doing a traineeship and then she rang me and said, “If I do it, will you do it too?”

We researched it and at the time you could do a 12-week course with the ALPG and become a fully qualified coach or you could do the three-year PGA Membership Pathway (Program). Obviously we thought it’d be much easier to do the 12 weeks but I just felt like there was so much more to it and so much more education. I came out with a Diploma in Business and I wanted to be well respected by my peers.

I went to Royal Melbourne, did my playing test and was accepted into the PGA but I couldn’t get a job. In the end, Wayne Rogers, who was at Werribee Park at the time and chairman of the trainee committee, rang and said, “I need a trainee, come and work for me.” That’s how I started my traineeship.

Girls didn’t work in pro shops back then. It was a very male dominated area in golf, and now I can’t tell you the amount of people who ring me and say, “I need a female pro. Do you know of anyone looking for a job?” Females are really sought after now.

I think women are more approachable in a pro shop. We tend to be more active in the pro shop as far as the shop being tidy, displays well presented. I think our phone manner is better. And I think clubs are now beginning to understand that they need to look after the women coming into their golf club better. This is where we need to embrace female membership a little bit more and embrace the women who walk into the pro shop. It’ll be interesting to see in the next 5-10 years how that’s going to shift as far as how women are represented in the pro shop environment.

Golf is the time to get away from everything in your life and go out there and be in beautiful surrounds and enjoy that time that you’re outside with friends. There’s no reason not to play golf and I think that that’s one of the things that we’ve got to get across to women. There’s no reason not to play golf, except the fact that it has been a male dominated sport in the past. That’s a perception that we need to change.

There are currently around 150 female PGA Professionals throughout Australia. For information on how you can become a PGA Professional and unlock a myriad of career opportunities in the industry, head to www.pga.org.au/education/academy/membership-pathway-program/

Tony Di Tommaso’s innate ability to not only remember the names of his members at Carbrook Golf Club but their football team of choice, names of partners and golf ball preference comes from his passion for people, a passion he has shared with indentured trainees for the past 30 years.

It comes naturally to Di Tommaso, but he is adamant that a passion for the club and the people you are serving will bring such a talent out in anyone.

The PGA Professional at Carbrook in Brisbane’s south-east since March 1991, Di Tommaso has guided a dozen trainees through the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program and as they worked hard on their studies and playing, urged them to take great joy in the career path they had chosen.

“I try to make sure they’re gregarious in terms of talking to the members, not just treating it as a 38-hour-a-week job,” says Di Tommaso, who has worked alongside younger brother Paul for the majority of those 30 years at Carbrook.

“One of my great assets is the ability to listen to people and create conversation that engages them.

“It’s not talking down to them or listening to them and not caring about what they’ve got to say.

“I try to get that across to my kids, to really engage in the conversation and bring out the best in their personality.

“I’ve got a young guy working with me at the moment from Colombia and he says to me, ‘How do you know everybody?’

“It’s just about paying attention and showing people that you care.”

One of the PGA Assocaites to have come through under Di Tommaso is current Carbrook Golf Club General Manager, Scott Wagstaff.

Wagstaff, who has since employed another Di Tommaso graduate in Angus Porter as the club’s Manager of Membership and Development, believes it is his manner with the members and visitors that has entrenched Di Tommaso as a fixture at Carbrook.

“He’s always looked after others, whether that’s an Associate or a member,” says Wagstaff, who completed his PGA credentials under Di Tommaso from 1997-1999.

“He’s often put others in front of his own needs, to his detriment in some instances. 

“He will look after people and make that his highest priority and if he happens to make some money then that’s a bonus.

“That’s why someone like Tony has lasted more than 30 years, because everyone rates him as a human being.”

Growing up four doors down from The Brisbane Golf Club, Di Tommaso’s first foray into the golf industry was to fox balls for Errol Hartvigsen out the back of the pro shop.

A talented junior athlete, he began playing, did some caddying, won the 1979 Queensland Junior Championship and then in 1984 began his traineeship under Hartvigsen.

There was time on tour playing the mining towns littered throughout the Queensland Sunshine Tour – where he honed his skill for remembering names of pro-am partners – spent time working in the pro shop at both Brisbane and Indooroopilly before ultimately accepting the position at Carbrook at the start of 1991.

When he joined Carbrook Michael Billington was into the final year of his traineeship, Di Tommaso taking great pride in the relationships he has forged and the people he has guided through the PGA program.

“I’ve probably had about a dozen trainees, and I still have a great relationship with all of them,” says Di Tommaso.

“They’ve always enjoyed their time and I think that’s because I’ve never looked down on any of them. I’ve always tried to treat them as equals.

“It’s been my life, and my brother’s life, and I just feel like I want to keep fostering the game and to keep people playing golf.

“If I can pass that onto the trainees that come through Carbrook then hopefully that has a positive impact on the industry as a whole.”

I look at my career and I’ve always had semi visions of where I’ve wanted to land at certain points but I’ve never actually landed there. I’ve always morphed and moved in a slightly different field again. Early days I just loved the game and was very set on wanting to coach.

I did that first at Kingston Beach in Tasmania after completing my traineeship at Country Club Casino in Launceston. I moved to North Adelaide Golf Course first as the golf professional but Adelaide City Council were very good with professional development and put me through an Emerging Leaders program so towards the end of my time there was more of a management element.

To be honest, when I left North Adelaide I could have thrown it all in the bin. My shift to Royal Adelaide was very much a left-field move for me. I applied for the position as Golf Operations Manager but I wasn’t sure that was exactly what I wanted to do.

At that point I was thinking more down the General Manager’s path as a career option. The club is very supportive of professional development so I locked in to do my Diploma in Golf Management through the PGA IGI as soon as I moved here.

All that study was done self-paced online which is just perfect. The online structure means you can jump in and do two hours of a night-time or go in early and do an hour before you go to work, or whatever it might be. It’s certainly not easy – it’s still a fair lump of time to get it done – but the flexible arrangement certainly makes it more appealing.

What that did was to fill a hole between what we covered in our traineeship 15-20 years ago versus what the guys cover now through the Membership Pathway Program. For me, a lot of that was around the financial side of things, risk management and HR. When we did our traineeship, the program was a little bit heavier on the coaching and the pure management of a pro shop from a retail perspective. Whereas now I see the focus of the program being a lot broader and a lot more inclusive and covers all those other areas of the business.

I feel like I’ve managed to get advanced status in each stream which gives you the ability to provide really rounded thoughts and opinions on all aspects of a golf club’s operations. I can sit in a management meeting and have a valid opinion on some other areas of the business as well. It enables you to see the club in a far more holistic light. I’m not just looking at it from a pro shop perspective, or a tee time management perspective or something like that. You’re able to see how that fits within the greater scope of the whole club and everything working together.

If more PGA members work into management positions and develop those skills that’s going to create some great general managers. They won’t just bring a financial background or a HR background, they will bring a very rounded approach to what they’re doing.

I’m really lucky that I still do some coaching and I’m reasonably heavily involved in coaching programs. Overall, it’s the variety that motivates me and excites me every day. I’m part of the admin team, I head up the operations team, I’ve got a hand in lots of different areas of the club and lots of different events, and then the pro shop and the business side of things. It’s amazing to look at your day and see where it goes but you generally work on so many different areas of the business which all lead back to member satisfaction and member engagement.

I genuinely feel golf facilities need to become more family friendly. We talk a lot about time and I think the time taken is relative to who it involves. It’s hard to get five hours or six hours alone time and solo whilst the family might be doing something else. I just feel clubs need to be more understanding of that and more welcoming of that. If we can provide greater opportunities for the rest of someone’s family – or at least make the clubs more welcoming for spouses and kids and whatnot – then I think we go a long way to being able to retain players.

When we talk about players being committed to the game, we’ve got to still provide some flexibility and look at that age bracket where we do lose a lot of players and how we can best fit into their lifestyles. That might be clubs providing more than just golf where they can. It may be that little bit of diversification where is there space. A couple of tennis courts. A gym. A swimming pool. A creche. That sort of stuff that just makes it that bit easier to justify.

Losing players once you’ve done so much hard work to get them in is such a shame. It’s very rarely because they’ve fallen out of love with the game, or because they’ve had an injury and it prevents them from playing like they do with other sports. It genuinely comes back to time and involvement, and again, I find time is only part of the reason. There are other factors to that and if you can provide something more than just golf, then time becomes less of a factor.

Exposed to the concept of personal branding and marketing as she completed her PGA traineeship under Luke Bower at Eastwood, Taylor made the decision to embrace social media as a way of growing her clientele beyond the club membership.

Promoting your business through social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn remains a relatively new concept for many PGA Professionals but Taylor understood its power as she set about targeting beginner women golfers with little previous exposure to the game.

“I just believe you can reach so many people using it,” Taylor said of her use of social media.

“A lot of the guys and girls that I’ve come through my time with all seemed to latch onto that same kind of idea whereas some of the older PGA professionals tend not to and rely on word of mouth to market their services.

“I want to be reaching more than our membership base at our club and a lot of the time I’m trying to market to those who have never even played golf before.

“The great thing with social media is that when you’re doing promotional marketing you can target certain people. So whilst they might not have a specific interest in golf, you can choose the fact that they’re interested in fitness and all of a sudden that comes up in their news feed and that’s a seed that’s planted, that maybe they want to try golf.”

In designing her logo Taylor had front of mind the type of golfers she wanted to attract.

With the help of best friend Molly Drane who runs a marketing company called Good Golly Creative, Taylor wanted a logo that was appealing to the female eye, from the colours down to the font.

“The fact that my name’s actually written in more cursive writing, that really appeals to me,” said Taylor, who coaches both men and women at Eastwood. “I felt it made it look a bit more feminine than just normal block writing.

“Molly gave me different colour palettes to choose from and we went with the blues and the softer tones. Not particularly because I looked into whether that would be better but to me it looked softer and more welcoming. A bit more inviting and a bit more feminine.

“I listen to different business podcasts and I get a lot of information from those about the need to be marketing a tone of voice and that tone of voice is included in your colour schemes.”

Estimating that a third of her coaching clientele has come by way of her social media activations, Taylor also utilises Facebook in particular to turn her beginners into bona fide golfers.

If the golf club environment is still intimidating for some, Taylor connects her students from her various programs into one dedicated Facebook group to provide an online community that gathers in the real world to share their love of golf.

“Whilst some of my content is presented to everybody, I actually have quite a lot of content on Facebook specifically for them,” Taylor says of her dedicated Facebook group that currently boasts 48 members.

“For the girls who haven’t particularly shared numbers or what have you, someone might put out a post and say, ‘I’m going to the driving range to have a practice. Does anyone want to join me?’

“They’re all part of that community and have a place to be able to reach out to each other. Quite a few of them that have exchanged numbers which has been a really great thing to see.”

A certain proficiency playing the game is important for those entering the Membership Pathway Program.

You need to have at least an interest in the fundamentals of the swing and desire to expand your understanding so that you can share that knowledge with others.

Work ethic and time management skills are integral for anyone hoping to balance hours working in the pro shop with playing commitments and the educational responsibilities of the program.

But perhaps what is not evident on the surface are the depth of communication and people skills necessary not only to become a successful coach but to become an entrenched and valuable member of the golf club where you are employed.

As a keen golfer growing up on Sydney’s North Shore, Neil Rolfe sent letters to every club within reach of his house looking for a way to work in golf.

Having first joined the club as an 11-year-old junior, Rolfe worked as a casual at North Ryde Golf Club for three years before being offered the opportunity to take up a traineeship under Marty Lyne in 2002.

Now the Director of Golf at Pennant Hills Golf Club, that early experience working with a broad demographic at a public golf course reinforced to Rolfe that as he progressed in his career communication would be key.

“I underestimated the people skills and communication skills that you need in the job,” admitted Rolfe, whose sole focus in beginning his traineeship was to become a club professional.

“Having access to such a busy public course, I found I had to deal with a lot of different personalities and a lot of different people. It challenged me, but it also helped bring out communication skills and you learn to get an understanding with a student or a member.

“I am extremely lucky to have a great team around me here at Pennant Hills in Rachel Bailey, Andrew Potter and Liam Shiels. Communication is the ultimate key to my success and something at the start of my career I didn’t understand the importance of.

“You need a great team around you of staff that all communicate really well and have the same goal, the same vision.

“I never ever thought when I started out being a pro that I would need those skills as much as I do now.”

After more than a decade working at North Ryde Rolfe joined Rod Brown at Bayview Golf Club in 2012, taking over as Head Professional in 2013 for a period of five years.

That led to the position at Pennant Hills and a new membership base extremely proud of their club and their status as one of the premier clubs in Sydney.

Again, it was those communication skills that he employed to appreciate the standard of service that Pennant Hills members have come to expect.

“I was quite obviously very thrilled to get the position but I also felt like I had a really important responsibility to take on the legacy of the club,” said Rolfe.

“A really great camaraderie, great membership to be a part of and I really embraced it because it was a really amazing opportunity to be a part of the tradition of the club.

“Meeting so many different people at other clubs, I knew that I had the skills to deliver the membership what they wanted from their pro.

“My role is really making sure that the members engage with their golf club. I’ve got to be that approachable person that they can come to, to help them with their experience.

“I’m a big believer that if someone engages with their pro at their club, they’ll stay at that golf club and they’ll play golf if their pro takes an interest in their golf.

“If they’re engaged with me, I know that they’re happy here and they’re going to continue to be a member at Pennant Hills.” 

Represented by the PGA of Australia, Golf Australia, Golf Course Superintendents Association of QLD and Golf Management Australia, the QLD Golf Industry Awards Night acknowledges the achievements the finalists have accomplished during a time that the game has experienced unprecedented activity.

“We have had a record number of nominations in many categories this year and it is pleasing to see so many deserving individuals, golf clubs and events,” said PGA State Manager Broc Greenhalgh.

“The judging period was expanded this year due to a move of the Awards Night from its traditional March date to its new home in October, and therefore award nominees were judged on their activity for the period of January 2020 to July 2021.”

Golf Australia State Manager Luke Bates explained how the evening is a great opportunity to bring the industry together at a really important time.

“The game of golf has been extremely busy at golf facilities since the beginning of the pandemic and our focus has now turned to maintaining the momentum that the game is experiencing. The awards night recognizes those who will play an integral part,” said Bates.

Having all areas of the industry represented by governing bodies, the night is truly an industry-wide event and, as Golf Management Australia (QLD) President Aaron Muirhead explained, it’s an integral part of the golfing calendar.

“It is an opportunity, not only to look back at those who have excelled, though to celebrate the health of the game,” said Muirhead.

“We are fortunate that our game was well geared to thrive over the past 18 months and after the awards were conducted virtually last year, this year’s awards night is another milestone that we are close to returning to a new normal.”

The unsung heroes of our sport are often those who prepare our playing surfaces and for this reason recognising the golf club ground staff has become an increasingly important part of the QLD Golf Industry Awards Night.

Golf Course Superintendent Association (QLD) President Paul McLean is pleased to see the support that this part of the industry has received over recent times.

“Golf courses are busier than ever. To keep them in the condition we have come to expect in QLD has been tough, however there have been some standouts during the last 18 months and we look forward to putting them up in lights,” said McLean.

The finalists for their respective awards (in alphabetical order) are:

Golf Club of the Year

• Maroochy River Golf Club
• Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort
• Pine Rivers Golf Club
• Redcliffe Golf Club
• Virginia Golf Club

Golf Club of the Year (Under 400 Members)

• Babinda Golf Club
• Dalby Golf Club
• Maleny Golf Club
• North Stradbroke Island Golf Club

Golf Supplier of the Year

• Acushnet Golf Australia
• adidas
• Callaway Golf
• Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
• De Bortoli Wines
• MiClub
• Schweppes
• SParms
• TaylorMade Golf
• Toro Australia
• Under Armour

Junior Program of the Year (MyGolf Centres of the Month – QLD)

• Atherton Golf Club
• Burleigh Golf Club
• Brisbane Golf Club
• Bundaberg Golf Club
• Cairns Golf Club
• Carbrook Golf Club
• Half Moon Bay Golf Club
• KDV Sport
• Keperra Country Golf Club
• Kingaroy Golf Club
• Maroochy River Golf Club
• The Glades Driving Range
• Townsville Golf Club
• Victoria Park Golf Complex
• Virginia Golf Club
• Wynnum Golf Club

Volunteer of the Year

• Noel Dowd – Murgon Golf Club
• Leigh Madsen – Gailes Golf Club
• Jane McFarlane – Gatton Jubilee Golf Club
• Terry Payne – Links Hope Island Golf Club
• Kay Tischler – Bundaberg Golf Club

Coach of the Year (Game Development)

• John Collins – Brookwater Golf Club
• Asha Hargreaves – Brisbane Golf Club
• Michael Jones – Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club
• Mick Murnane – Bundaberg Golf Club
• Jay Simpson – First Swing
• John Hempstock – Pacific Golf Club

Manager of the Year

• Mitch Bligh – Townsville Golf Club
• Mark Brady – Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort
• Geoff Kuehner – Brisbane Golf Club
• Kerry Newsome – Redcliffe Golf Club
• Chris Richards – Yeppoon Golf Club
• Tracey-Lea Tiley – Links Hope Island

Coach of the Year (High Performance)

• Dominic Azzopardi – Peregian Golf Club
• Grant Field – Pelican Waters Golf Club
• Michael Jones – Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club
• Ji McBryde – KDV Sport
• David NAble – Coolangatta Tweed Heads Golf Club
• Richard Woodhouse – KDV Sport

Club Professional of the Year

• Chris Adnams – Redcliffe Golf Club
• Brent Barlow – Gailes Golf Club
• Tony Di Tommaso – Carbrook Golf Club
• Anthony Newey – Victoria Park Golf Club
• John Victorsen JNR – Wantima Country Club
• Peter Zealley – Keperra Country Golf Club

Management Professional of the Year

• Luke Altschwager – Parkwood Village
• Mitchell Bligh – Townsville Golf Club
• Tim Porter – Victoria Park Golf Club
• Scott Wagstaff – Carbrook Golf Club
• Andrew Webb – City Golf Club
• Dale Williamson – Pelican Waters Golf Club

Golf Club Staff Member of the Year

• Warren Austin – Gailes Golf Club
• Todd Brown – Parkwood Village
• Nathalie Fagerberg – Links Hope Island
• Keiron Judges – Links Hope Island
• Aaron Scanlan – Brookwater Golf Club
• Sutthichai Sukplang – Tally Valley Golf Club

Golf Club Board Member of the Year

• Kathleen Griffith – Hervey Bay Golf Club
• Joey Lyttle – Wolston Park Golf Club
• Peter Winfield – Cairns Golf Club
• Greg Warden – Goondiwindi Golf Club

Tournament of the Year

• Elgin Valley Beerwah Legends Pro-Am
• Maroochy River Legends Pro-Am
• Hutchinson Builders Redcliffe Pro-Am
• Royal Queensland Legends Pro-Am
• Coca-Cola City of Brisbane Pro-Am (Victoria Park Golf Club)
• Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am

Superintendents Achievement Award

• Stuart Campbell – Maroochy River Golf Club
• Danny Foote – Links Hope Island
• Stewart Poole – Gailes Golf Club

Metropolitan Tournament of the Year

• Belle Property Bulimba Pro-Am
• Maroochy River Pro-Am
• Hutchinson Builders Redcliffe Pro-Am
• Coca-Cola City of Brisbane Pro-Am (Victoria Park Golf Club)
• Breakas Beach Resort Vanuatu Virginia Pro-Am
• TruHealth Solutions Windaroo Lakes Pro-Am 

Regional Tournament of the Year

• Downer Blackwater Pro-Am
• Manuplex Emu Park Pro-Am
• Kooralbyn Valley Pro-Am
• Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am
• Pacific GWM – Haval Tin Can Bay Pro-Am
• Oaky Creek Coal Tieri Pro-Am

PGA Legends Tournament of the Year

• Eligin Valley Beerwah Legends Pro-Am
• Brisbane Legends Pro-Am
• Maroochy River Legends Pro-Am
• Rowes Bay Legends Pro-Am
• Royal Queensland Legends Pro-Am
• Tropical Auto Group Yeppoon Legends Pro-Am 

Golf Course Turf Apprentice of the Year

• Nick McClymont – Headland Golf Club
• Jesse McGilvray – Palmer Colonial 

PGA IGI Excellence in Golf Education Award

• Sean Bradfield
• Shannon Coad
• Le Zhang

Additional awards presented at the QLD Golf Industry Awards Night that don’t attract finalists include:

• Services to Golf Award
• Male Amateur Golfer of the Year
• Female Amateur Golfer of the Year
• Junior Female Amateur Golfer of the Year
• Junior Male Amateur Golfer of the Year

To book your tickets or for further details about the QLD Golf Industry Awards Night, please visit www.qldgolfindustryawards.com.au or alternatively contact the PGA (QLD/NT) office on 07 5657 6100 or via email qld@pga.org.au.

When he combined that intuition for enterprise with his passion for golf and found his way into the PGA of Australia’s Membership Pathway Program, Smith began to establish a connection between the two that would shape his career.

Owner/Manager of the Bank of Queensland Branch in Southport on the Gold Coast, Smith’s pathway to the financial sector had its grounding in the PGA traineeship he undertook at Queanbeyan Golf Club in the ACT under Geoff Gorham… and an opportunity to test the market for himself.

“I had a boss who was quite liberal in letting me learn as much as I could in the shop,” Smith recalls.

“He decided to go overseas for five or six weeks and let me run the place while he was away.

“He gave me an incentive. He said whatever I could sell while he was away he’d give me 10 per cent. Back in those days you could sell a full set of clubs for about $350.

“While he was away for that six weeks I think I sold $6,000 worth of product, which was probably as much as we’d sold all year.

“By him doing that it gave me the reins of how to run the shop, what you need to do to sell product at x amount of price to make the profit to pay the bills and all the rest of it.

“That was a very good learning curve to a) be doing an apprenticeship and b) learning how to run a business at the same time.

“That earlier grounding does give you a great understanding of how business works. Using the PGA curriculum as an example, it was very, very good for me in going into business.

“I’m not sure all of the trainees would get that kind of experience but I was blessed with my boss in Geoff Gorham who is still a PGA Member to this day.”

Introduced to the game by a father who played off scratch at Huntingdale Golf Club in Melbourne, Smith’s interest was sparked when the family moved to the ACT and bought a house backing onto the 10th tee at Queanbeyan.

As his game developed aspirations of world domination ensued but after seven years of slogging away on the PGA Tour of Australasia circuit reality set in.

“Like all budding PGA Members I wanted to get out there and be another Greg Norman,” says Smith, who attempted to qualify for the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews but missed out.

“We all tested our luck and had mixed success but all in all not much success.

“You soon realise that you’ve got to do something else.”

Smith ultimately joined the family business and it was that background in conjunction with his golf experience that landed him the job as Director of Golf when Hyatt Regency Coolum opened in 1988.

He spent five years in that role and then 10 more on-site running major events at the resort that morphed into a sports management company.

That introduced Smith to the likes of Wayne Grady and Peter Senior, cricketers such as Ian Healy and Andrew Symonds and Brisbane AFL premiership winner Simon Black.

There were 12 Wizard home loan branches in south-east Queensland before Smith and Black made a move into the banking sector, opening a branch in Kallangur in Brisbane’s north and then the one in Southport in rather unfortunate circumstances.

“The day after we bought it was the start of the Global Financial Crisis,” Smith adds.

“We played catch-up for six or seven years before we got it going properly but now it’s going really, really well and growing all the time.”

Understanding the financial strain that golf professionals – both Tour and Vocational – experience, Smith has gone out of his way to assist PGA Members with their lending needs, whether personal or for the business.

“With the pros who may be unsure as to exactly what they want to do we give them a free appraisal on where they’re at with their bank and their borrowings and what their costs are,” says Smith.

“If they’re on a good deal we tell them that but if they could be on a better deal we tell them that as well and then they make a decision whether they want to move or not.

“We also have a ‘Family and Friends’ offer which varies during the course of each year, such as waiving the application fee and other ways of giving funds back to the PGA Member.

“We try and give them something extra that a normal BOQ customer is not going to receive.

“I’ve been a PGA Member for 43 years and it’s been a great tag to have with the guys, especially with the guys that don’t know me or the new guys coming through.”