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He’s had a taste of what it takes to compete in a PGA Tour of Australasia event and now Victorian Bradley Kivimets has the chance to play his way into the Australian PGA Championship at the 2021 PGA Professionals Championship Final.
Originally scheduled to be played at Hamilton Island Golf Club in September, the uncertainty around travel restrictions forced a shift to Links Hope Island on the Gold Coast starting Thursday, January 6.
To be played over 36 holes with $30,000 in prize money, the tournament showcases the playing ability of PGA Professionals from around the country with Kivimets earning his spot as the leading qualifier in the Victorian PGA Professionals Championship at Commonwealth Golf Club late last year.
That result also earned the Portsea Golf Club Professional a start at the Victorian PGA Championship at Moonah Links where he shocked the more-fancied members of the field – and himself – by taking the halfway lead.
“I was pretty nervous most of the day yesterday and all day today,” Kivimets said of his unexpected spot at the top of the leaderboard through 36 holes.
“It was nice to feel that, to have the nerves going and be able to still take advantage and do what I needed to do.”
Rounds of 75-76 on the weekend saw the 27-year-old fall to a share of 13th by tournament’s end but the confidence he gained form the experience will make Kivimets one of the favourites to snare one of two invites to the $1 million Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club the following week.
But in a field boasting a number of familiar names with extensive Tour experience Kivimets won’t have an unimpeded run to RQ.
The Assistant Professional at Nudgee Golf Club – home of the 2021 Queensland PGA Championship from January 20 – Matthew Guyatt has played throughout Asia and contended regularly on the Australasian Tour, recording top-10 finishes at both the Australian Open (2017) and the Australian Masters (2012, 2015).
Veteran Glenn Joyner was a winner in his last start at the Casino Legends Pro-Am on the SParms PGA Legends Tour while three-time champion and Royal Hobart Golf Club PGA Professional Matthew Docking will be out to continue his impressive record in the championship.
Royal Canberra Golf Operations Manager Bree Arthur is the lone female to qualify and will draw on her experience of playing six seasons on the Ladies European Tour as she takes it to the boys.
In addition to the $30,000 individual championship, the Vicar Shield team event will be played in conjunction where two representatives from each state combine their scores in each round, the winners having their names engraved on the trophy.
When PGA Professional Josh Shaw plans out his week at Flinders Golf Club on the south-east tip of the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, he schedules days off on Wednesday and Sunday.
Not that it made any difference this particular Wednesday morning.
Most PGA Members live for the golf industry and on his day off Shaw was picking up a new benchtop to be installed in the pro shop and had an afternoon of paperwork scheduled for later that day.
It’s a familiar tale for most PGA Professionals throughout the country but highlights the demands on time and the diversity of attributes necessary to keep a golf club’s golf operations running smoothly.
Shaw’s connection with the membership at Flinders runs deep.
He completed the PGA Membership Pathway Program under fellow PGA Professional Gavin Coyle at the club and plans to remain the club’s Professional for the foreseeable future.
“Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we’re doing a lot of important coaching of our golfers,” says Shaw in an acknowledgement of the importance of coaching in assisting golfers with their enjoyment of the sport.
“I try and coach all day on a Monday if I can, which is generally from 9am until 5 or 6pm.
“We introduced a beginners program called Pathways to Golf which has been very popular.
“It was a group setting designed for people that had never touched a golf club before in their life and has gone above and beyond our expectations. We are at the point where we run two classes on a Monday, Friday and Saturday.
“That’s 36 brand new golfers entering the game and has certainly been an achievement for myself and the club.”
The positive influx of new golfers has put further pressure on a timesheet already being stretched to its limit and which has required constant adjustments by Shaw according to ever-changing COVID requirements.
The role of the PGA Professional also sees fitting days with equipment companies such as Callaway Golf, TaylorMade and Wilson Staff, and stock within the pro shop that requires regular consideration as part of the overall business.
“There’s something at the club, in the Pro-Shop and in the coaching activities that keeps me on my toes all the time as a PGA Professional,” Shaw admits.
“You’re always trying something new and something different to help our golfers enjoy the sport more, have more fun or play better. And if it doesn’t work, then you put a line through it and try something different.
“I find it very difficult to sit still. This whole job and how it all pans out keeps you busy,” he adds.
“I certainly wouldn’t want it any other way.”
PGA Professionals all around Australia are the heartbeat of the sport and custodians of the game. Find your local PGA Professional for everything golf at pga.org.au.
Lucas Herbert’s dual wins on the European Tour and PGA Tour has seen Dominic Azzopardi crowned Australian Golf Digest’s 2021 Coach of the Year.
The Player of the Year Awards are an annual feature of Australian Golf Digest’s January issue and the performances of our top men’s and women’s players across the globe made the Coach of the Year award one of the most hotly contested.
Winner in three of the past four years, Western Australia’s Ritchie Smith had another outstanding year, guiding Minjee Lee to her breakthrough major championship at the Aumundi Evian Championship, Min Woo Lee to the top 50 in the world rankings and Hannah Green to another strong season on the LPGA Tour.
Khan Pullen’s star pupil Cam Davis earned his first PGA Tour title at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Gary Barter helped Stephanie Kyriacou and Matt Jones to wins on the Ladies European Tour and PGA Tour respectively and Grant Field took Cameron Smith to the top 20 in the world, got Australian Amateur champion Louis Dobbelaar ready to join the professional ranks and helped Andre Stolz to become the dominant force on the SParms PGA Legends Tour.
The likes of Michael Jones, Tim Wood, Gareth Jones and Adrian Wickstein all enjoyed great success in 2021 but the Australian Golf Digest judges deemed Azzopardi’s influence on Herbert as the best performance of the year.
A winner on the European Tour for a second time at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in July, Herbert finished tied for fourth at the first event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to effectively seal his promotion to the PGA Tour.
He missed the cut in each of his first two starts as a full member of the PGA Tour but when Azzopardi answered the call for help and flew to the US to take a closer look at Herbert’s swing the results were instant, Herbert coming from four shots back on Sunday to win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Bermuda.
Immediately following his win Herbert paid tribute to the sacrifice his coach made in flying to the United States to make the adjustments they needed to get back to his best.
“I was taking the club back a long way inside, inside plane going back and from there it was very hard to match it up,” Herbert explained.
“I was kind of leaking the ball to the right or double-crossing left, which is not a really good way to play golf.
“We just worked on that takeaway a lot. It’s a lot to work on because then it throws out a lot of your feels of how the ball’s going to launch. I just felt like I was going to hit a lot of shots left.
“For him to make that commitment to come out and help me out a lot with my golf swing… we hit a lot of balls over the last two or three weeks getting ready for this event.
“To have it pay off so quickly and to share that win with him, that was really special.”
For his efforts Herbert was named Male Player of the Year while first year Associate Lachlan Aylen (Eynesbury Golf Club) received the nod as the PGA Associate Player of the Year.
For the full list of award winners see the January issue of Australian Golf Digest, on sale now.
In golf, as in life, timing is everything. The Brisbane Golf Club just 10 kilometres from the centre of Queensland’s capital always had a junior program, it was just never a priority.
Long-time PGA Professional and Director of Golf Joe Janison developed a three-level program six years ago that attracted between 20-30 kids but it was the arrival of fellow PGA Professional Asha Hargreaves from the Northern Territory that brought the program to life.
Prior to beginning the PGA of Australia Membership Pathway Program Hargreaves had already completed her Level 2 Junior Titleist Performance Institute accreditation so it was little surprise that upon her arrival at Brisbane turned her attention to the club’s youngest participants.
“The whole reason I started the PGA Membership Pathway Program was to give the golfers what I never had,” says Hargreaves (below).
“I grew up in the NT where the resources are pretty slim so I’ve always wanted to grow the juniors.
“That’s always been a big thing for me and give them a bit more than we got when we were younger.
“I started changing the program up when I first got to Brisbane. I identified that there needed to be more structure. I started doing prizes and getting the kids more incentivised to want to do things. Little challenges and skills tests.
“Joe let me take control of that and the kids really enjoy having the diversity of it all as well.
“For me the structure was paramount because that was something that I only got in the later years of my amateur golf.”
Hargreaves’ enthusiasm had an immediate impact and gave Janison the impetus to expand the junior program, a program that in 2021 was honoured with the Queensland Golf Industry Junior Program of the Year award.
“Asha has an absolutely brilliant connection with them,” Janison said of the club’s growing junior base.
“We started with three introductory levels – B1, B2 and B3 – and we have now expanded that to seven levels purely out of the demand we’ve had from kids who want to be part of the program.
“At the moment we’ve got 62 kids across the seven levels with eight or nine in each group with two of myself, Asha and our current PGA Associate Tyla Vinter involved with each session.
“I’ve seen clinics with larger groups which can be a great way to get kids started but their progress stems more from that personal service that you get with the smaller groups.”
Using the TPI guidelines as a blueprint, the program at Brisbane is all-encompassing, parents needing to be educated when they see their kids throwing frisbees down the fairway or engaged in a pilates class for the first time.
It’s all part of Brisbane’s desire to establish itself as a club that fosters young talent and develops them into elite amateurs and, potentially, globe-trotting professionals.
And Hargreaves wants to be the one leading the charge.
“I wanted to have a program here where I could take these kids from young all the way through and give them everything they need without having to search for it themselves,” says Hargreaves, a nominee for Queensland’s Game Development Coach of the Year and currently studying for her Certificate III in Fitness.
“My biggest goal is to have a high-performance program, a Brisbane academy that feeds into the Golf Australia programs where we also provide mentoring for young players.
“They need to be mentored in how to train and how to prepare for events so my biggest goal would be to establish that and be that program all kids want to be part of.”
For Janison, the development of good golfers is only surpassed by their development as young men and women.
“Parents all say the same things, it isn’t just about the skills that we’ve taught them on the golf course, but how to be responsible socially and all that sort of stuff,” says Janison.
“They come along because of the connection that they have with us, as well as the golf.
“It isn’t just about coming along to play golf, which was really nice to hear.”
All PGA Professionals receive extensive training in inclusive golf coaching methods, including the effective coaching of junior golfers of all ages and abilities. To help get your kids into golf, contact your local PGA Professional, find a PGA Professional at pga.org.au/find-a-PGA-pro/ or go to https://www.golf.org.au/mygolf/home/ to find a MyGolf Program near you.
It was an historic moment today for Australian golf as the industry’s milestone national strategy was launched following many months of collaboration and alignment.
Launched at the newly opened Australian Golf Centre in Melbourne, the Australian Golf Strategy is said to provide a roadmap for the game at all levels for the foreseeable future, flagging “an ambition to grow golf as efficiently, collaboratively and sustainably as possible”.
Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland said: “This national strategy gives golf in Australia a strong sense of direction. It has allowed us to collectively lift our eyes to golf’s enormous potential as a sport for all.
“We share the industry’s excitement about the opportunities ahead – and commit to serving Australian Golf and its millions of golfers.
“The positive appetite for change has been overwhelming and I’m proud to be standing here today representing not Golf Australia but Australian Golf in this industry first.”
Acknowledging the sport was perceived by many as expensive and not inclusive, WPGA Tour of Australasia CEO Karen Lunn said the Strategy was “designed to challenge this perception and change this reality”.
“Golf needs to commit to making all clubs and facilities a welcoming environment,” Lunn added.
“We need to embrace all formats of golf as golf and enable more people to play more often in ways that suit their lifestyle and interests.
“There is a clear opportunity to better service our members, attract newcomers and to make the game more appealing to women, children and families. It’s affordable, it’s accessible and it’s fun, but we know that’s not how its perceived, and we are determined to change that.”
CEO PGA of Australia, Gavin Kirkman said the strategy provided guidance on the industry’s aspiration for customer experience that drives enjoyment through playing and being involved in golf.
“We all have a role to play in this – golf club managers and staff, PGA professionals, volunteer administrators, and others employed in the industry,” Kirkman said.
“We want all those that play our great game, no matter of their ability or the preferred format they choose to play, to have fun and keep coming back for more.“
Kirkman noted significant growth in the sport through the global pandemic was not something to be taken for granted.
“While Australian golf has seen a material spike in interest and participation through Covid-19, after a 20-year downturn, the industry is not shying from the fact that issues remain and need to be addressed to ensure the growth experienced is sustained,“ said Kirkman.
“Golf has such a great story to tell but needs to get better at telling it. It’s a game that can be played by anyone, at any age, in any format. Growing the game is key to golf’s success and working together is the only way we will do that.”
Kirkman also noted a need to focus on aggregating and packaging key tournaments to help showcase the game in new ways.
“From Karis Davidson to Min Woo Lee and Cam Smith, our competitive golfers come from all walks of life and genuinely reflect the diversity and accessibility of our sport.”
More than 10,000 people were consulted in the development of the strategy, including golfers, club representatives, PGA Members, industry partners, public, government, equipment suppliers and industry experts in a series of webinars, meetings and surveys.
When Golf Australia unveiled its ‘Vision 2025’ strategy in 2018 to embed more women into leadership positions throughout golf and to encourage greater female participation, Claire Elvidge took the responsibility personally.
A PGA Professional who completed the PGA Trainee Program (now the Membership Pathway Program) under Dale Wharton, Elvidge did not see Vision 2025 as an opportunity but more as an obligation to be at the forefront of providing women new to the game with a positive experience.
Currently splitting her coaching time between Wembley Golf Course in Perth and Cottesloe Golf Club on the coast, Elvidge now devotes 95 per cent of her teaching time to women, whether in a group setting or one-on-one.
“We have women coming to golf who could go to tennis, they could go to pilates or play lawn bowls so I’ve got to make sure that they really enjoy this one lesson so they come back,” says Elvidge.
“I came to Cottesloe with the idea to start teaching these women to use the bigger muscle groups that they can create and rely on in the golf swing.
“That approach has been very successful. They’re coming back to the game and they’re enjoying the elevation we get from the extra power by using the bigger muscles.
“I’ve adapted my teaching for women from the core, and really from the trunk rotating set of muscles. I don’t concentrate so much on the upper body in the early stages and it’s been really good to see women deriving their energy from that point.”
Chasing her dream of becoming a professional tennis player, it was an injury as a teenager that led Elvidge to take up golf in the first place.
Her father was an avid golfer and after a couple of trips around Mount Lawley Golf Club as his caddie became fascinated by the range of emotions the game would elicit within her dad.
Transferring her work ethic from the tennis court to the golf course, Elvidge soon played her way into WA state teams and in 1989 was offered a position in the PGA Trainee Program with Dale Wharton at Royal Fremantle Golf Club.
Rather than going straight into teaching, Elvidge’s career diverted slightly to establish an inbound golf tourism company from Asia into Perth and then serving as General Manager at Jagorawi Golf and Country Club, a Thomson-Wolveridge-Perrett design in Indonesia.
After returning to Perth Elvidge resumed her coaching career at Wembley and Cottesloe but it was a visit by Golf Australia’s Female Engagement Senior Manager Chyloe Kurdas that narrowed her focus again.
“I made a decision in 2019 to dedicate 95 per cent of my teaching to female participation,” Elvidge says.
“Whether it’s older women, young women, girls, I go from four to 80. And to a certain extent, I really put my energy into that for the 2025 vision.
“It’s just amazing how important it is because we know if the women get here, the juniors get here and there were only 12 per cent at that time playing when they are 50 per cent of the population.”
Drawing on her own experience, Elvidge has targeted beginner golfers of late and adopted a methodology that communicates the concepts of golf and the swing in simple terminology that is easy to digest.
“Communication wise, my teaching at the moment is programmed to fully explain the concept of the sport,” she adds.
“In the first lesson I get them to understand what we are trying to achieve, highlighting aspects such as not having to hit the ball hard to get it airborne and that golf is a non-dominant hand sport to build that basic understanding of the golf swing.
“I’ve really pinpointed my teaching to more beginners, more intermediate women and getting them on the golf course.
“That’s been a great program at Wembley, to develop a really succinct pathway and show these women exactly where we’re going on their journey in golf.”
All PGA Professionals receive extensive training in inclusive golf coaching methods, including the effective coaching of female golfers of all ages and abilities. Visit your local PGA Professional for all your game improvement needs or connect with a PGA Professional at pga.org.au/find-a-PGA-pro/
Unheralded Kevin Smith has taken the first round lead in the Victorian PGA Championship at Moonah Links after an opening 67 in windy conditions on the Mornington Peninsula.
Teaching PGA Professional Smith put his stellar opening round down to “dumb luck”, but he made six birdies and just the one bogey at the par-three third hole where he missed a putt of less than a metre.
The 38-year-old secured his place for this week by finishing in the top three of the PGA Professionals Championship of Victoria at Commonwealth last month. He leads by a shot from Brad Kivimets, Peter Lonard, Josh Clarke, Dimitrios Papadatos, James Grierson, Michael Sim, and Andrew Martin.
“Just luck. I’ll put it down to luck,” Smith said after his five-under par round on the Legends course in the morning.
“I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was just luck. It was windy. But the course is awesome. You see it pretty early on and as long as you get the ball rolling on line it’s not going to miss. The greens are so good.
“So it was just dumb luck. It could be the absolute opposite tomorrow. I finished fourth to last or something here last year, so if I improve on that, I’m happy. I know that sounds ridiculous.”
Smith, who hails from Waverley Golf Club in Melbourne, turned professional in 2012 but lost his playing card after a year and turned to teaching. He completed a greenkeeping apprenticeship at his home club, and more recently worked as the manager at Warburton Golf Club outside Melbourne and he is now teaching and in the shop at Drummond Golf in Dandenong.
“I’m just happy to play,” he said. “Someone will go lower, someone will shoot nine under today, one of these guys who’s a decent player. You can tell. Someone will go crazy.”
No one did “go crazy” as the 50km/h morning winds proved the best time of the day to play.
Portsea club pro Kivimets, who also graduated to the field via last month’s event in Melbourne, and two-time Australian Open champion Lonard, took advantage of the early conditions to card 68s.
“On the sixth hole the wind really started to pick up, but I was somewhat comfortable with these conditions. It forces you to hit one shot and you can’t overthink it,” Kivimets said.
In the afternoon, the New South Wales trio of Clarke, Papadatos and Grierson, plus Queenslander Sim, slogged it out to put themselves in a good position in the tournament’s initial stages.
For Papadatos, things looked far more bleak when he was two-over through three holes and thinking “maybe 78. I was packing my bags”.
“I got off to a terrible start. I missed a really easy birdie on one and bogeyed two and three, so it wasn’t looking good. I just hung in there and hit a couple of good shots coming in.”
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Grierson relished the challenges the weather and the course presented today.
“I had a fair bit of control over my ball, which was nice,” he said.
“I tried to hold myself to my high standards, and if I signed for 73 or 68 or whatever it is, treat myself to how I can do it and go from there.”
“I love hard golf. It means you have to hit the fat of the green, pars are gold, and for some reason I love that type of golf.”
Defending champion Christopher Wood is two shots from the lead alongside Victorians Ben A Campbell and Edward Donoghue, New South Welshmen Andrew Dodt and Justin Warren, and Queenslander Shae Wools-Cobb.
Only 26 professional players in the field of 90 broke par for the day and they’ll tackle the Legends Course again tomorrow to try to secure their place for the weekend which will be staged on the Open Course.
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.
