I started the Dunsborough Lakes Pro-Am back in 2016 and our 2019 tournament received the Pro-Am of the Year award at the WA Golf Industry awards back in June. That puts us on the map. We’ve got a very good course superintendent and we’re getting lots of people coming to play our wonderful golf course.

When they announced that we’d won Pro-Am of the Year I had to make out that I didn’t know anything about it because they hadn’t yet shown the interview I’d done earlier in Perth. I had to come back to Dunsborough and not tell anybody; I couldn’t even tell my wife. Everyone here got quite a surprise.

I came up with the format for the pro-am back in the 1990s when I was at Busselton Golf Club. I had Kel Nagle and Dan Cullen, Billy Dunk and Ted Ball, I had them all playing in a tournament at the Busselton Golf Club and it was quite a big hit.

I used the same format at Dunsborough. We have Gold, Silver and Bronze sections and the amateurs pay a certain amount to be in each section. We had 33 teams – two of which were sponsors teams – and my son Marty and I came up with the idea that we would pay everybody. We only needed 33 pros to play so instead of it being a $12,000 tournament where the prize money stops at the person who comes 18th, we took it up to the 33. Everyone from 19th onwards received $200. That’s probably the first time these pros have played in an event where everyone got paid.

I grew up in Perth and lived close to the Cottesloe Golf Course in Swanbourne and I became a caddy as an 8-year-old kid. I was wandering around there one day, a fella told me to carry his bag for him and when we got back to where I’d picked him up he gave me three shillings. I thought this was the start of a big career for me and I became a caddy.

In 1952 there was a big tournament held at Cottesloe called the Mobilco and the week after was the Australian Open at Lake Karrinyup. The Slazenger guy came to the Cottesloe Golf Course with Norman von Nida and asked, ‘Who is the best caddy here?’ I stepped forward and said I was the best caddy and Norman said, ‘Well I’m the best player so we’ll get along pretty well.’ I was 13 at that time and he went on to win the Australian Open. From that day forward I was only going to be one thing; a golf professional.

I caddied for Norman again when they came to Perth to play the Americans in The Lakes International Cup in 1954. He played Tommy Bolt and that was the day when they had a fight in the locker room. He was a tempestuous little prick. He didn’t back down to Bolt; he was ready to take him on.

I attended Perth Modern School which was a scholarship school and when I told the sportsmaster I wouldn’t be at school because I was caddying for Norman von Nida he asked what business I had playing golf. He took me to his golf course, Nedlands Golf Club, and told me to show him how good I was. At one point I made four birdies in a row. He never gave me a hard time after that.

I couldn’t join the Cottesloe Golf Club until I was 15 so when I turned 15 I finished school and joined Cottesloe. My first handicap was 6 and the next year when I was 16 I won the WA State Amateur Championship. The year after that in 1956 Gary Player came to Perth to play in the Western Australia Open as a 20-year-old and I finished runner-up to him. No one had ever heard of Gary at that stage but after that tournament in Perth he went off to Melbourne and won the Ampol Tournament at Yarra Yarra. He got £5,000 for winning that and then went back to South Africa and married Vivienne.

When I went to the New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney to do my traineeship Norman von Nida would use the course for his golfing activities. He used to bring Gary to the course so I would play with the two of them regularly during that three-year time I had doing my traineeship. I got to know Gary very well.

I became a member of the PGA in 1960 and in 1961 I tried to qualify for the Wills Classic. I missed the cut by one at Newcastle so I caddied for Gary instead and he won the tournament. I got £100 from Gary for caddying. Billy Dunk came sixth in the tournament and got £105.

The Australian Open was played again in Western Australia in 1960 and it was followed by the PGA of Australia Championship being played in Perth. I got to the semi-finals and who do you think I played in the semi-final? Norman von Nida. He was friendly, but he didn’t want me to beat him.

I had quite a bit to do with Graham Marsh and Terry Gale when they were coming through their late amateur years into the pro ranks. I used to help them with their short game. Terry comes from a country town called Yelbeni and he was a very talented boy. He went to Scotch College here in Perth, became captain of the college and was a very talented sportsman. He was a good tennis player and he was on the verge of playing state cricket for Western Australia.

Terry didn’t turn professional until 1976 and we’d been working on his short game prior to him going off to play in his first tournaments. At the time John Hadley and I were golf consultants for TAA and I was able to do a deal with TAA to get Terry to do exhibition matches with me through Western Australia. We played 39 towns and Terry would get an airfare for every exhibition he played.

John Hadley and I were business partners and we ran the Wembley Golf Course together. When we finished in 1982 John went off to work with Bob Tuohy on the tournaments and I took over at another big public course in Perth called Hillview. We built another nine holes there to take it up to 27 holes and it became a very successful public golf course.

I moved down to Dunsborough in 1989 to live down in the south-west and joined the Busselton Golf Club because at that time the Dunsborough Lakes Golf Club didn’t exist. I became a member at Busselton and pretty soon they wanted gear and lessons so I ended up with a contract to be the golf pro with a 10-year lease and a five-year option.

Eventually my golf pro son Marty – who became a member of the PGA back in 1991 when he was just 20 years old – took over for me and I went to China in 1995 and taught golf in China for 17 years.

Lyndsay Stephen I were recently made the first Life Members of Dunsborough Lakes in the club’s 25-year history. It’s another honour in golf for which I am very grateful and proud.

The awards serve not only as recognition for the hard work and dedication of each PGA Professional but the way in which they have so brilliantly adapted to the adversities of 2020.  

“Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners. We are extremely pleased to be able to get together and present these awards at the tail end of what has been a challenging year,” said SA Senior State Manager, David Barker.

“The submission of numerous nominees reflects the calibre of PGA Professionals we have here in South Australia and their fantastic contributions to our sport.”

Jamie Clutterham has been named the South Australian PGA Management Professional of the Year for his work at North Adelaide Golf Course.

Jamie’s work in the introduction of new technologies at North Adelaide Golf Club to improve venue efficiencies and the golfer experience, as well as fast tracking projects including the integration of handicaps into memberships have led to a significant increase in traffic and club membership.

Kooyonga Golf Club PGA Professional Daniel Blackwell has been awarded the South Australian Coach of the Year award for his work with both South Australia’s established and emerging golfing talents.

Blackwell’s innovative approach to coaching during COVID-19 including an increased presence online and on social media as well as continued learning and development have seen him recognised once again for his contributions to coaching in the state.

Simon MacWhirter’s successful adult group coaching programs at North Adelaide Golf Course, a fresh approach to course management through on-course training as well as growing junior MyGolf programs have seen him named the SA PGA Game Development Professional of the Year for 2020.

For his work in providing a welcoming and uplifting pro shop environment at Thaxted Park Golf Club and a focus on MyGolf, ladies and SAAGA golf clinics, PGA Professional Cody Sherratt has been named the SA PGA Club Professional of the Year.

2020 has been a particularly interesting year for Sherratt. The South Australian travelled to Nepal earlier this year to complete the Everest Base Camp trek, an experience he hopes will aid his work as a PGA Professional. Find out more about Sherratt’s journey to Everest Base Camp earlier this year here.

Ahead of the award celebrations PGA Tour of Australasia regular Ben Stowe won the SA PGA Professionals Championship, played on Grange Golf Club’s east course, with a round total of 4-over 76 in gusting SA conditions.

View the final SA PGA Professionals Championship leaderboard here.

Rain and increasing winds also challenged the field at the SA Trainee Championships where Nick Thompson fired winning rounds of 70 and 79 for a 5-over total to finish eight strokes clear of Joshua Groom in second place.

View the final SA Trainee Championships leaderboard here.

In an exceptional field of nominees recognised, Haydn Thompson (Deep Creek Golf Club-Pakenham), Sandy Jamieson (Oakleigh Golf Course), Tim Wood (Rosanna Golf Club) and Alan Patterson (Patterson River Golf Club) stood out for the innovative ways they have each approached their area of expertise.

Thompson was named the Management Professional of the Year for the community connection he has helped to foster as CEO at Deep Creek Reserve, Jamieson’s 1Club Golf concept saw him awarded the Game Development Professional of the Year, Wood’s biomechanics-inspired philosophy to the golf swing earned him Coach of the Year honours while Alan Patterson was named Club Professional of the Year for the way he has engaged the membership at Patterson River Golf Club.

“Obviously COVID-19 has forced us as an industry to look at the way we do things but these PGA Professionals were already examining new ways to deliver golf programs and engage with the broader community,” said PGA Senior State Manager, Victoria, David Barker.

“It’s innovative thinking such as this that not only energises existing golfers but shows those thinking about playing that they are welcome and that there are programs tailored specifically to meet their needs.

“This is also why PGA Professionals represent such an important asset in advancing our golf facilities not only in Victoria but throughout the country.”

“Nothing replaces dedication, time and hard work.”

Congratulations to our Victorian PGA Management Professional of the Year, Haydn Thompson from Deep Creek Reserve-Packenham ⛳️

📰 https://t.co/t1ubfW4Lgf#PGAProud pic.twitter.com/beRk3dXobC

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) December 4, 2020

Management Professional of the Year

Haydn Thompson (Deep Creek Reserve-Pakenham)

It was as simple as a $6.90 Parma Night but that too-good-to-refuse offer three years ago represented a dramatic shift in how the then Pakenham Golf Club east of Melbourne was perceived by its community.

Joining the club originally seven years ago as its PGA Professional, Haydn Thompson progressed quickly to the role of General Manager. The timing was critical as he championed a club that wanted connection with its community over any exclusionary perception that may have existed.

“We actually approached the local council about becoming a more community-minded facility which to be honest caught them a bit by surprise,” Thompson explains.

The result is a $14 million refurbishment that has seen the clubhouse relocated, two new holes built to accommodate the reconfiguration and construction of a new driving range.

But perhaps the most significant asset in the club’s repositioning is the all-abilities playground that is proving to be a magnet to local families.

“The whole idea of the parma night was to offer an affordable family meal where people would come to the golf club for no other reason than to have a night out,” Thompson adds.

“We were conscious of never talking golf and our social media to this day reflects that, to get people to understand that we are here for so much more.

“By starting with that we could take people on the journey of what the new complex was going to look like, what the playground was going to look like and how awesome that was going to be.

“It was that conscious decision of really trying to talk up those things that were going to be of interest to the majority of people who live in the area, not necessarily the golf.”

It was a shift intended to secure the club’s future for the next 50 years and beyond and has already begun to provide the club with some financial stability.

In lockdown for four months, those who had been enticed initially by a $6.90 parma eagerly took up the club’s offer of takeaway meals.

“There was a point where we were putting through 500-600 takeaway meals a week,” Thompson says.

“Without that income it would have been extremely difficult for the club to keep staff employed and helping to them to just get by.

“We came out of that period a lot better than we thought and in many respects it was business as usual.”

And further establishing the club as a treasured community asset in the process.

.@RosannaGolf PGA Professional Tim Wood has been named the Victorian Coach of the Year at the 2020 Vic PGA State Vocational Awards for his work in implementing a scientific and accommodating approach to the golf swing 🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♀️

Congrats Tim! 👏

📰https://t.co/t1ubfW4Lgf#PGAProud pic.twitter.com/2b4wIUpOOv

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) December 4, 2020

Coach of the Year

Tim Wood (Rosanna Golf Club)

As a talented young player in the Victorian Institute of Sport, Tim Wood spent nearly five years trying to create a position in the backswing that his body wasn’t willing to accommodate.

A former PGA Trainee whose first interest was coaching, when Wood brought an end to his playing days he turned his attention to developing a methodology that would allow him to fit a swing to a player’s physical capabilities, and not the other way around.

Wood’s star pupil of the past 12 months is long-time friend Josh Younger, the 2019 NSW Open champion who in the space of three weeks late last year rose from 966th in the world to 272nd.

Given the events of 2020, Younger’s ability to secure his playing future on the Asian Tour more than likely saved his career… and validated to Wood that what he was teaching could withstand the greatest pressure professional golf can exert.

“I was so nervous watching that playoff,” Wood says of Younger’s showdown with Travis Smyth.

“We’d worked on correcting this shot he hits left under pressure all winter and then on the 72nd hole he hits his driver left, it hits a tree and goes into a pond.

“So then in the playoff he’s got to face up to those demons again and I’m watching it thinking my job was on the line.

“He hits a good drive, stiff his approach to three feet and makes birdie to win the tournament.

“That was very cool.”

A chance meeting with Hall of Fame coach Mike Adams at a conference in Melbourne five years ago and a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate his wife’s 30th birthday paved the way for Wood to tap into the minds of the game’s foremost thinkers on the golf swing.

Armed with that insight Wood achieved a perfect score in the Biomechanics in Golf online course offered by Pennsylvania State University and continued to develop his own style centred around a person’s physical limitations.

“I spent three days with Butch Harmon and I lived with Mike Adams for a week and it just showed me a whole new world of coaching, a whole new way of doing it,” Wood says.

“I started to understand human movement better and I was sucked in straight away.

“Because of my chest size, I’d spent five years trying to fix something in my swing that essentially couldn’t be fixed in the traditional way. Imagine if I’d spent five years on my short game and hitting better shots rather than chasing positions that I now know weren’t actually achieveable.

“Before I work with anyone I have a page with 10 questions and a sheet of measurements. The first thing I do before they hit a shot is to measure six things on their body: Wingspan, length of forearm, which leg is stronger, how their shoulder wants to move – which affects their grip – and how their lower body creates power.

“I then understand what their swing will look like before they’ve even picked up a club.

“So many pros are coming to me because when they have a lesson I make only minute adjustments. I don’t try to rebuild them because we understand what their swing should look like.”

Congratulations to our Victorian Game Development Professional of the Year, @jamogolf ⛳️

Sandy’s 1Club Golf concept has struck a chord with new golfers, helping to increase attendance at @oakleighgolf & get new players out on course quicker

📰https://t.co/t1ubfW4Lgf#PGAProud pic.twitter.com/jcBhSRAano

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) December 4, 2020

Game Development Professional of the Year

Sandy Jamieson (Oakleigh Golf Course)

If the simple things in life are truly the best, it’s little wonder the 1Club Golf concept pioneered by Sandy Jamieson has struck such a chord with new golfers.

The former PGA Professional at Commonwealth Golf Club for nine years and a 25-year PGA Professional, Jamieson looked at the downward trend in golfers and identified the perception that it was difficult, serious and expensive.

He wanted it to be easy, fun and affordable, just as it was when he fell in love with the game as a kid.

“I went back to the public courses where I played as a kid and they were empty,” Jamieson says.

“Given there was space available I wanted to coach new golfers on the golf course and to do that I needed to make it as simple as possible.”

Jamieson developed a golf club that was easier to hit and designed a program where after a 15-minute introduction new golfers were on-course and playing the game.

Prior to the onset of COVID-19 Oakleigh had witnessed a 50 per cent increase in both player numbers and turnover in just six months, females outnumbering men among the social players on a daily basis.

“I believe everybody already possesses the skills needed to play golf; I just need to help them to apply those skills on the golf course so they can play straight away,” he adds.

“For $100 a group of four can come and get a lesson and play nine holes and be a good golfer inside an hour. My definition of a good golfer is someone who can play safely, move at the right speed, understands their ability and looks after the course.

“I don’t teach grip, stance, posture or alignment; I teach them how to play golf and then refer them on for lessons elsewhere if they choose.

“I’m in the business of creating new golfers. PGA Professionals, golf clubs and equipment companies will all benefit on the back of new golfers coming in.”

An online store established during COVID-19 lockdown, an upbeat, friendly approach to member engagement and more have seen @alpattersongolf named the 2020 Victorian PGA Club Professional of the Year 🎉

Congratulations Alan! ⛳️

📰 https://t.co/t1ubfW4Lgf#PGAProud pic.twitter.com/DozRt6b7zy

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) December 4, 2020

Club Professional of the Year

Alan Patterson (Patterson River Golf Club)

Alan Patterson could have kept doing things the way they’d always been done.

It is the default setting for the majority of the population but it is not a sustainable way to do business.

Concerned by a flatlining of the golf industry within Australia, Patterson could see where the path was taking him and decided to redirect his focus.

The result is a thriving membership culture within the Patterson River Golf Club just south of the Melbourne Sandbelt and an atmosphere that makes going to work a pleasure.

“We place a big emphasis on customer service and giving members and guests a really good time when they come to the club,” Patterson explains.

“When they come to the club it’s their leisure time so we like to make it a happy place.

“When they walk into the pro shop they have a laugh and they’re smiling and they’re happy when they walk out the door.”

In addition to developing more flexible membership categories, Patterson River staff engage with new members to ascertain exactly what they want out of their golf club.

The Wednesday Twilight Comp is so popular that it has to begin at 2.30pm to accommodate all the players and the Golf Extravaganza on December 17 will include a nearest-the-pin competition from the back terrace to the chipping green, long drive comp in the PGA blow-up tent using FlightScope and a putting competition that anyone can participate in.

“If something isn’t working then we’ve got to try something different,” says Patterson, who is nearing 12 years at Patterson River.

“In my opinion the industry has been stagnant for a long time so we just wanted to do something different that gets as many people to the facility as possible.

“It’s just about getting as many people as possible into the club, especially our new members.

“Our whole retention plan is around giving them the opportunity to come to the facility more often and bring their partners and friends.

“That’s how it becomes their club as opposed to a place they come to play golf.”