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Jake Higginbottom has won the Gunnedah Golf Club, Stripes Engineering & Komatsu Pro-Am at Gunnedah Pro-Am by three strokes.
Facing a tricky crosswind that whipped across the course all day, Higginbottom took advantage of the two par-5s on the course to move up leaderboard at the PGA Pro-Am Series event.
An eagle on the par-5 fourth hole, following by a birdie on the par-5 sixth went a long way to helping the Asian Tour player take victory with a round of 5-under 65.
“I’ve never had the chance to play here before but from talking to the boys the course has come a long way in the last 12 months,” said Higginbottom.
“It’s great to have something to play in after the year we’ve had so I’d like to thank Gunnedah Golf Club for hosting us today.”
Matthew Jones and Jordan Widdicombe tied for second place at 2-under the card, ahead of Justin Warren, Aaron Townsend and Martin Dive at 1-under.
The NSW swing of the PGA Pro-Am Series now moves to the Coffs Harbour Golf Club for the North Coast Open in early December.
View the final Gunnedah Golf Club, Stripes Engineering & Komatsu Pro-Am leaderboard at pga.org.au.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ commitment to 100 per cent recycled packaging is a good news story that PGA Professionals should share with golfers.
What’s a bottle of water worth to your business? $2? $3?
What if the perceived value of that bottle of water to the consumer stretched into a positive environmental message and a feeling of increased goodwill toward their golf club?
The commitment by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners to reduce packaging waste and achieve ‘packaging neutrality’ by 2030 is one that should be celebrated within the golf industry.
Recent studies have shown the positive impacts that golf courses have on the environment and as a valued partner of the PGA of Australia, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners is opening the door to an important conversation and an initiative that every golfer can get behind.
Point to the packaging on bottles of Mount Franklin that display the 100% Recycled Plastic branding. Advise golfers of the recycling programs in place at your club and where they can return empty bottles at the end of their round. Make each consumer feel good about the choices they are making when they grab a drink from the fridge.
“We’ve heard the community message loud and clear that packaging waste is unacceptable,” says Peter West, Managing Director of Australian Beverages at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
All Coca-Cola soft drink brands (600ml and below) and all water brands (600ml and below) in Australia are now being produced in 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles. This includes Mount Franklin spring water and Powerade as well as Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta.
“Our 600ml still spring Mount Franklin bottle and our 600ml soft drink bottles now feature a message encouraging Australians to recycle in the right way so they can be made into bottles again,” says Ben Thiele, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ National Business Manager for Golf.
“We believe that this is a great conversation for PGA Professionals to have with all golfers and a positive message for those clubs who stock Coca-Cola Europacific Partners products.”
The extent of the positive impacts that Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ responsible packing commitment are many and varied, upholding lofty company targets and leading the way in government campaigns such as Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets.
In addition to ensuring that each bottle has more than one life through its manufacturing process, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners is reducing its carbon footprint in the way it sources and bottles the water in each of its Mount Franklin bottles.
The water is sustainably sourced from Australian springs, bottled and transported within Australia, the end-to-end value chain including the manufacturing processes, packaging formats, delivery fleet, refrigeration
equipment and ingredient sourcing resulting in a 25 per cent reduction in carbon footprint.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ commitment to using recycled plastic builds on sustainable packaging initiatives to reduce or replace plastic across the whole portfolio. This includes 7 out of 10 plastic bottles in Australia now being made entirely from recycled plastic, removing plastic straws from sale, light-weighting (making plastic bottles less heavy so the production and distribution process is more efficient) and forming partnerships with
environmental organisations to clean up waste in the environment.
In June last year Coca-Cola Europacific Partners began rolling out recycled plastic packaging for their carbonated beverage line for the first time in Australia; another way in which they are helping to keep our golf courses beautiful.
“Such initiatives are the perfect example of why Coca-Cola Europacific Partners are such a valued partner of the PGA of Australia,” said PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman.
“Knowing that the drinks they sell in their pro shops are being produced and sourced in a sustainable manner should act as an extra selling point for our PGA Members.”
The PGA of Australia will launch a national campaign from next week celebrating the invaluable role of PGA Professionals in the industry.
The campaign – featuring three television commercials and outdoor media – aims to bring to prominence the vast skillset of PGA Professionals and enhance the recognition of the coveted PGA Professional accreditation badge.
“On the back of golf’s pandemic-inspired boom, we have seen thousands of new and returning golfers flood our fairways and facilities. Our multi-channel campaign is targeted to assist first-time golfers to understand who they can turn to for coaching or fitting advice and reinforce to existing golfers the important role and function of PGA Professionals,” said Gavin Kirkman, PGA of Australia’s chief executive.
“The fun, fresh and creative way in which we have promoted our PGA Professionals helps illustrate strongly that our Members are more than just good golfers. They are the heartbeat of the golf industry and are the leading experts in coaching, equipment and club fitting, retail, game development and golf club management.
“To earn the right to wear the prestigious PGA Professional badge, aspiring Professionals must undertake a three-year PGA Membership Pathway Program. Their education and training makes them golf’s most skilled person, so when you see the PGA Professional badge, you know you are getting the very best in golfing advice from a fully qualified professional in their field.”
This campaign sees the creation of a fictional character, Dale the Driving Ranger, who hilariously attempts to give advice to golfers using a series of bizarre coaching techniques. Dale adorns a child-like Sherriff’s badge with the words ‘Driving Ranger’ scrawled over it on masking tape. The ad concludes by illustrating that the only badge that should be trusted is that of a PGA Professional, and acknowledges that they are golf’s only accredited professional coaches.
The outdoor advertising encourages audiences to get a lesson and fitting by a PGA Professional and will be showcased in high traffic locations across Australia.
Some of the golf industry’s leading equipment manufacturers – Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, Cobra Puma Golf and Mizuno – have all assisted in widening the reach of this campaign by providing their support.
“These golf brands have been pivotal to bringing this campaign to life,” Kirkman said.
“They – like us – believe that a healthy golf industry is reliant on the success of PGA Professionals. We are proud to unite with these quality brands and thank them wholeheartedly for embracing this campaign.”
The PGA Professional campaign goes live later this month.
Currently the Singapore Golf Association National Coach, PGA Professional Matt Ballard is renowned for his short game expertise. In 2017 he helped to prepare Adam Scott for The Masters where he finished tied for ninth. Here he shares the challenge posed by Augusta National’s green complexes and the drills he used to sharpen Scott’s short game.
To the right of the par-4 11th. Over the back of both the par-5 13th and 15th holes.
At some stage over the course of 72 holes the winner of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club will be required to display some short-game wizardry that keeps their name at the top of the leaderboard.
The back of 15 is the perfect example of players having to control their spin and trajectory to land their ball in the section of the green that gives them the best chance to get up-and-down.
If you miss at the back-left of 13 you have to chip it up from that little valley and stop it on the top tier. I’ve seen players chip in and others chip it off the other side and almost into Rae’s Creek.
They’re the holes and shots that I like watching because the best players in the world have to fly it into the right portion of the green and control their spin.
Whether I am coaching club golfers, elite amateurs or helping professionals, my starting point is to make sure the player understands the low point in their swing and that they can hit it on a consistent basis.
I’m a big advocate of players understanding how to hit the ground and where to hit the ground. A lot of golfers try and achieve ball-first contact but in my mind that’s where a lot of issues come in.
Putting the ball back in your stance and pushing your hands forward are the two biggest mistakes that I see amateurs make. It leads to hitting the ground with the leading edge and effectively negates using the sole of the club and the trailing edge.
I like to have the ball more forward, have the shaft more neutral at address and the face slightly open. That set-up change alone will help a fair portion of amateurs who struggle with their chipping.
Back in 2017 I worked with Scotty on a short-game training plan for the shots he would need at Augusta.
One drill that I had him do was to chip from a spot off the green and using the same club land the ball in three different segments – just on the green, six-feet on and 12-feet on – and still have his ball stop next to the pin.
By varying his landing zones Scotty had to control both the energy of the ball, flight of the ball and subsequent spin to get the ball as close to the hole as possible.
A slight variation on that is to put a club on the green and play three different shots to get the ball close to the hole; one where the ball bounces twice before going over the club, then once and then have the ball carry the club on the full (below).
Golf is a sport in which we are constantly trying to control where the ball stops but few players give due consideration to – particularly in shots into the green – creating a predictable first bounce.
Being really specific about where the ball lands on the green is really important because that is how we create the most predictable first bounce possible.
When players survey the green before playing a chip shot or a pitch shot they are looking for the flat spot and if they land the ball in a certain position whether it will kick left, right or go forward. Do I want the ball to kick forward? Do I want it to check?
The complexities of greens such as those at Augusta and Royal Melbourne are such that you might want to fly the ball onto a different tier to get a certain kick so that it then can release down to the hole. Sometimes it can be like trying to land your golf ball on a frying pan in a certain spot to get the desired first bounce but if you can control that first bounce then ultimately the player can predict where their ball is likely to stop.
Your ability to control spin is paramount coming into the green because if you mis-hit your chip and it comes out with no spin, it will kick forward, roll and can get away on you very quickly.
When the margins for error are so tight it can make even good chippers look stupid but the ones who have good control with clean contact and can land their ball in the right sections will look like geniuses.
And quite possibly leave with a green jacket.
The PGA of Australia’s state PGA Professionals Championship schedule has been finalised with tournaments to take place across the country in November and December.
PGA Professionals are set to test their skills alongside their colleagues from the 29 November at the Tasmanian PGA Professionals Championship at Claremont Golf Club, followed by events in NSW/ACT, Western Australia, Queensland/Northern Territory and finally the PGA Professionals Championship of South Australia on 7 December. A Victorian date will be advised in due course.
Although the PGA Professionals Championship Final will not be played in 2020 a variety of exemptions will be available for participants including in state PGA Championship tournaments to be played in 2021.
In addition, an increase in prizezmoney will see players vie for a share of more than $33,000 across the state PGA Professionals Championship events.
Competitors will also receive complimentary gifts thanks to championship partners including Acushnet and Club Car.
“It has been an extremely challenging year for PGA Professionals across the country,” said PGA of Australia State Manager – QLD/NT/WA, Broc Greenhalgh.
“Through floods, bushfires, a global pandemic, lockdowns and everything that 2020 has thrown at them they have shown an incredible resilience and ability to adapt during these tough times.
“While we are unable to run our final at Hamilton Island Golf Club this year, we hope to provide participating PGA Professionals with a fantastic experience in their home states as a reward for everything they have done for the industry over the past 10 months.”
| Date | Event | Venue |
| 29th November | PGA Professionals Championship of Tasmania (in conjunction with Tasmanian PGA Championship) | Claremont Golf Club |
| 1st December | PGA Professionals Championship of NSW/ACT | Castle Hill Country Club |
| 1st December | PGA Professionals Championship of Western Australia | Wembley Golf Complex |
| 2nd December | PGA Professionals Championship of QLD/NT | Sanctuary Cove GCC |
| 7th December | PGA Professionals Championship of South Australia | Grange GC |
| December (TBA) | PGA Professionals Championship of Victoria | Sandhurst Club |
In the midst of a two-year project to build 28 new holes across the 36-hole facility in Brisbane’s northern suburbs, Nudgee Golf Club lost 19 of 20 critical workdays during February due to rain.
And then the coronavirus pandemic struck.
The club closed its doors on March 23 and arrangements had to be made for some of those carrying out the civil and irrigation works on the James Wilcher design to be granted access from New South Wales into Queensland, with specific health plans developed for the workplace to enable construction to continue.
“Whilst it’s been difficult, we’ve been able to operate and move forward, which has been fantastic,” says Nudgee Golf Club General Manager and PGA Professional Darren Richards.
When people were permitted to play golf again demand drastically outstripped supply and with only 18 holes to utilise, Nudgee made the decision to move to ‘members only’ with a request made to the membership to be considerate of others in how many times a week they played.
Richards’ operations know-how and understanding of the wants and needs of members enabled the club to prosper while navigating an all-encompassing time of change.
In a challenging environment the benefits of having a PGA Professional in a management position at the club have been countless.
The golf industry’s willingness to share expertise and encourage learning was a defining aspect of Richards’ introduction to the career of a PGA Professional.
“Don Gregory was a great mentor for me, giving myself my first golf job at Pacific Golf Club as a junior,” Richards explains.
“In typical Don style he said, ‘If you’re going to be here every day you may as well be useful and work for me’.”
Since then Richards has been building a bank of golf knowledge that equipped him with the skill set required to navigate such unpredictable winds.
A traineeship under Hugh Dolan at The Brisbane Golf Club was followed by five years out on tour before 10 years at Indooroopilly. The role as General Manager at Ipswich Country Club was next before his latest position as General Manager at Nudgee.
Richards was named the 2019 PGA Management Professional of the Year for the way in which he guided the club through the course reconstruction in the wake of land resumption by the Queensland State Government.
He has needed all of his expertise to manage the variety of issues thrust his way the past six months in addition to pro-shop operations at the club bring brought in-house.
“Certainly my golf knowledge in being able to run a pro shop at the same time as being under Government restrictions was needed more than ever before,” Richards admits.
“Luckily that’s my background and I was comfortable explaining to people what we were doing and why we were doing it.
“Understanding what golfers want at their club, having the background to be able to be flexible in the way we played the golf course and then to run the pro shop at the same time was a challenge but having done it before provided a sense of calm across the management team that it was going to be OK.
“It’s definitely been a huge advantage being a PGA Member as the GM at that time.”
For the first time since the coronavirus struck Nudgee returned to 27 holes on the weekend of August 1, paving the way for an expansion from 224 players to 334, all of which were eagerly snapped up on that first Saturday.
That came as 14,000 square metres of turf was laid and marked the opening of the new sixth hole on the East Course, the club expecting that there will be as many as an additional eight new holes for members to play by the end of the year.
In the midst of such upheaval and ever-changing operational procedures, Richards has seen opportunity.
Nudgee is one of a large number of Australian golf clubs to have experienced significant membership growth in the past five months and intend to continue some of the innovations born out of necessity.
“We’ve been looking as an industry as to how to make golf quicker and playing in groups of two certainly had that affect here at Nudgee,” Richards says.
“We’ve been having competitions every day and playing in twos on Monday morning we regularly had groups finishing in three hours. That’s something we’re looking to continue even when we’re back to full capacity.
“With our course configuration at present we’ve got the ability for members to play six holes and they love that, to be able to come out and play six holes, have a drink with their friends and be home in less than two hours.
“The golf industry can be slow to adjust at times but I really hope that the experience and the interest we have seen the past few months encourages us managers to try new ways of doing things.
“It’s a great opportunity for golf as a whole to capture those people, impress them with your service, impress them with your facilities and get them back more regularly.”
Main image: Nudgee Golf Club
Robert Kennedy and David Paddison have won the inaugural NSW/ACT 4BBB Handicap Matchplay final 2&1 at Pennant Hills Golf Club over Dimitrios Papadatos and Michael Smyth.
Kennedy and Paddison made the perfect start on the first hole with Kennedy making a tap in birdie from two feet to take the early lead.
Papadatos’s length off the tee helped the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia champion take advantage of the par-5 third hole, finding the green in two and making birdie to square the match.
Paddison and Kennedy hit back on the par-4 fourth thanks to a birdie from Paddison that restored his team’s lead.
After a win on the seventh hole Kennedy and Paddison found themselves 2UP through nine holes. An additional birdie on the 10th took the pair to 3UP with the Papadatos, Smyth duo fighting to make up the deficit.
On the extremely difficult par-3 13th, however, Smyth made a magnificent shot. The New South Welshman knocked his 5 iron to six feet to make birdie and win the hole, elevating hopes that a win was still within reach.
A crucial 15 foot par from Kennedy to halve the 16th hole kept the game steady for the Paddison, Kennedy duo with two holes to play.
On the par-4 17th both Kennedy and Paddison found the fairway and the green, putting huge pressure on Papadatos and Smith in the closing stages. When Smyth’s chip in for birdie narrowly missed all Kennedy needed to do was two putt for the win and victory was theirs.
“We’ve really enjoyed getting to play some competitive golf and catch up with our fellow PGA Members. It’s been great,” said Kennedy.
The PGA would like to thank all of the clubs that hosted our PGA Members for this event, in particular the Pennant Hills Golf Club for giving the PGA access to their course for the final.
He received $100 for topping the Section Qualifier three weeks ago and now Australian PGA Professional Craig Hocknull will compete for a share of the $US7 million on offer at the PGA TOUR’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Drawn in the last group of the opening round alongside Michael Gligic and Matt Wilson, it’s a rare chance for the 45-year-old to continue to test his game amongst the very best in world golf.
A two-time participant in the US PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019, Hocknull’s only previous appearance at a regular PGA TOUR event was the 2017 Waste Management Phoenix Open, rounds of 75-72 not enough to qualify for the weekend.
“The confidence that I gained from Phoenix was huge because I got to hit balls next to Phil Mickelson, play practice rounds with Webb Simpson,” Hocknull said prior to the 2018 PGA Championship.
“There wasn’t anything that I saw in their games that was so far above and beyond my own that it would have intimidated me.”
The Director of Instruction at Glenwild Golf Club and Spa in Park City, Utah, Hocknull is a former trick-shot exponent who spent time in Darwin and Adelaide before completing his schooling at the Kooralbyn International School west of the Gold Coast.
An invitation to play golf at Jackson University in Mississippi took Hocknull to the United States where in 2015-2016 he was named by Golf Digest as the Best in State Teacher for Arizona.
Other Aussies who Hocknull will run shoulders this week are Jason Day, Cameron Smith, Matt Jones, Cameron Davis and Greg Chalmers as well as Kiwi Danny Lee.
After a strong showing at last week’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open the Aussies in Europe move down to London for one of the European Tour’s most storied titles, the BMW PGA Championship.
It’s been 30 years since Mike Harwood joined Rodger Davis as the only Aussies to win at Wentworth but the likes of Lucas Herbert, Wade Ormsby and Min Woo Lee will enter the week full of confidence on the back of strong recent performances.
Hannah Green will endeavour to defend her KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club and veteran John Senden joins the Korn Ferry Tour contingent at the Orange County National Championship in Florida.
Round 1 tee times (AEDT)
LPGA Tour
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
11.49pm Su Oh, Alison Curdt, Sei Young Kim
2.50am* Sarah Kemp, Kendall Dye, Sarah Schmelzel
4.01am Lydia Ko, Charley Hull, Nelly Korda
4.07am* Hannah Green, Brooke M. Henderson, Danielle Kang
4.18am* Katherine Kirk, Cydney Clanton, Bianca Pagdanganan
4.23am Minjee Lee, Sarah Jane Smith, Eun-Hee Ji
* Starting from 10th tee
Defending champion: Hannah GreenPast Aussie winners: Jan Stephenson (1982), Karrie Webb (2001), Hannah Green (2019)
Top Aussie prediction: Katherine Kirk
TV schedule: Live 4am-8am Friday and Saturday; Live 2.30am-6am Sunday; Live 2.30am-5am Monday on Fox Sports 503
PGA TOUR
Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada
1.25am Cameron Smith, Lanto Griffin, DA Points
1.55am* Greg Chalmers, Troy Merritt, Brendan Steele
2.35am Cameron Davis, Vaughn Taylor, Scott Stallings
6.15am Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Hideki Matsuyama
6.55am Danny Lee, Doc Redman, Harry Higgs
7.15am* Matt Jones, Maverick McNealy, Kristoffer Ventura
7.25am* Craig Hocknull, Michael Gligic, Matt Wilson
* Starting from 10th tee
Defending champion: Kevin Na
Past Aussie winners: Greg Norman (1986), Stuart Appleby (2003), Andre Stolz (2004), Rod Pampling (2017)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Day
TV schedule: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 503
European Tour
BMW PGA Championship
Wentworth Golf Club, Surrey, England
6.15pm Min Woo Lee, Haotong Li, Kristoffer Broberg
6.45pm* Scott Hend, Joachim B. Hansen, David Horsey
7.05pm Lucas Herbert, Joël Stalter, Jorge Campillo
10.05pm* Jason Scrivener, Sami Valimaki, Andrea Pavan
10.25pm* Wade Ormsby, Ryan Fox, Lucas Bjerregaard
* Starting from ninth tee
Defending champion: Danny Willett
Past Aussie winners: Rodger Davis (1986), Mike Harwood (1990)
Top Aussie prediction: Lucas Herbert
TV schedule: Live 9.30pm-3.30am Thursday and Friday; Live 9pm-2.30am Saturday; Live 10.30pm-2.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 503
Korn Ferry Tour
Orange County National Championship
Panther Lake Course, Winter Garden, Florida
10.30pm Brett Coletta, Scott Langley, John Chin
10.30pm* Curtis Luck, Rick Lamb, Grant Hirschman
11.10pm Brett Drewitt, Tyrone Van Aswegen, Taylor Pendrith
12.10am* Harrison Endycott, Zach Wright, Mickey DeMorat
4am* John Senden, Trey Mullinax, Alex Cejka
4.20am* Jamie Arnold, Brian Campbell, Taylor Moore
4.50am Nick Voke, Conrad Shindler, Chip McDaniel
5am* Ryan Ruffels, Callum Tarren, Braden Thornberry
* Starting from 10th tee
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Coletta
Champions Tour
SAS Championship
Prestonwood Country Club, Cary, North Carolina
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling
Defending champion: Jerry Kelly
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: 11am-12.30pm Saturday; Live 6am-8am Sunday; Live 5.30am-8am on Fox Sports 503
Golf is experiencing a pandemic-inspired boom, a new report has confirmed.
In its Australian Golf Rounds – Trends and Impacts of Covid-19 report, Golf Australia confirms that despite parts of Victorian golf being shuttered for extended periods of 2020, year-to-date rounds played nationally are down only 1 per cent by the end of August.
If Victoria is removed from the data, that figure has actually surged to a four per cent gain.
Importantly for the industry and its future, rounds played by people in the 20-49 age range have skyrocketed in the past four months.
Since the “first wave” of Covid-19 restrictions in April, demand in that cohort has climbed by 44 per cent, meaning a total 22 per cent lift on 2019.
Golf Australia’s general manager of golf development David Gallichio was cautiously optimistic about the findings, compiled by Golf Business Advisory Services.
“Obviously 2020 has been full of extraordinary challenges that we wish nobody had to confront,” he said.
“But given the problems we’ve all faced, it’s very pleasing for so many clubs around Australia to see some positive news.
“More importantly, it gives us data and an opportunity as an industry to reset our focus towards ensuring we capitalise when things `normalise’.
“It’s no secret that clubs around Australia have sought younger members for years now, so if we can convert this surge in interest into meaningful long-term numbers for our clubs and facilities, then that’s a blessing, albeit in a heavy disguise.
“It is important to note that our clubs and facilities in Victoria have been heavily impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, with golf in metropolitan Melbourne still shut down.
“While there are some positives across the country, our clubs/facilities in Victoria will need significant assistance moving forward to ensure that the good results we have seen elsewhere can be replicated and built upon in Victoria.”
Among the report’s findings, the month-to-month figures had been slightly down to start 2020 than in 2019. That figure then compounded when the initial wave of closures was experienced nationally in April, dropping rounds played by an alarming 16 per cent.
But since the first Covid-19 wave, all markets have enjoyed a material bounce with both male and female demand up by 21 per cent since.
Metropolitan markets are 27 per cent up, while regional numbers are up 17 per cent in comparison to 2019.
Click here to read the full report.
Those closest to David Mercer will tell you; it wasn’t what he taught but how he taught it that made him one of the most endeared figures in the history of the PGA of Australia.
A Life Member of the PGA and of Killara Golf Club, Mercer passed away on September 12 aged 89, his son Richard’s final words a gentle encouragement to round out a heavenly foursome with Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle and Arnold Palmer.
One of eight children, David and his six brothers – including fellow legendary PGA Professional Alex – were drawn to golf in part due to their proximity as kids to North Ryde Golf Club, the other a chance to make pocket money by selling balls dredged up from the course’s lakes.
Their sister Jean wanted no part of it yet by the time the youngest Mercer boy was 16, the highest handicap of the seven – including the two who suffered from polio – was just four.
A traineeship that began at North Ryde in 1951 was soon transferred to Killara Golf Club where Mercer began to learn his trade under Jim McInnes.
When McInnes moved to Royal Sydney Golf Club Mercer followed to complete the final year of his apprenticeship but prior to leaving received an offer from the top brass at Killara that would come to define his career.
“They loved Dad so much that when he left to finish his apprenticeship at Royal Sydney they told him to come back in a year to be the club’s Head Professional,” explains Richard Mercer, himself a 43-year PGA Professional whose love for the game developed as a six-year-old while watching his father teach.
“Dad was only 21 or 22 at the time but he came back and was there for the next 43 years.”
As he began to entrench his place at Killara, Mercer continued to mix with the leading players of the day.
Although suffering what became known as the ‘Mercer Curse’ – an affliction that affected only the shortest club in the bag – his playing ability was of the highest calibre.
He bested Open champions Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle to claim the Killara Cup shortly after becoming the club’s Head Professional, he twice won the NSW PGA Foursomes Championship with close friend Len Woodward (1958 and 1967) and led the qualifying at Lundin Links to play his way into the 1973 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Joining the caddy ranks at Killara as a 12-year-old, Rodger Davis was invited to carry Mercer’s bag in a pro-am at Moore Park Golf Club and saw first-hand just how talented a player he was.
“Except for the odd shot he’d hit on the practice fairway I hadn’t really seen Dave play and had no idea how good a player he was,” says Davis of his coach of some 40 years.
“On the first tee he blistered this thing with a little draw down the middle and I just thought, Wow!
“He was a hell of a player from tee to green. From tee to green he was one of the best.
“The ‘Mercer curse’ was the putter, it certainly was.
“I remember ‘Thommo’ saying to me one time when Dave Mercer’s name came into conversation that he was the best ball-striker we had. That was Peter Thomson!
“Even though he was a great coach and great with people, I think he would have loved to have been a tour player.”
Mercer would regularly host the likes of Thomson, Nagle, Billy Dunk and Col Johnston in his home yet his greatest contribution would be the way he encouraged players of all abilities to find enjoyment in the game he held so dear.
By pure chance Greg Hohnen attended Forestville Primary School with Richard Mercer, the invitation for a game inside the exclusive Killara enclave facilitating an introduction that would change Hohnen’s life forever.
Perhaps the only Australian professional to have undertaken a traineeship with both David and Alex Mercer – Hohnen did his first six months under Alex at Royal Sydney – Hohnen would become business partners and then David’s long-time successor at Killara, carrying forward the Mercer legacy.
“It was his rapport with people,” says Hohnen, who has been at Killara for 43 years this year and the Head Professional since 1995.
“He used to do 50 lessons a week every week and he was booked out six weeks in advance.
“He had incredible knowledge of the game but lessons with Dave were centred around enjoying the game no matter what your handicap was.
“He would tell people, ‘You’re going to get a lot of enjoyment out of the game, you’re going to meet a lot of great people and you’re going to have a lot of fun.’ It was his ability to relate to people and encourage them at any level.
“Not everyone is going to be a great player but as long as they enjoy their game of golf, that’s the No.1 priority.”
Two of Davis’s finest moments as a player came following a five-minute refresher from his coach.
On the Wednesday of the 1981 State Express English Classic at The Belfry Davis was on the practice fairway “hitting it sideways”, calling Mercer back in Australia desperate for a swing fault he was unable to fix himself.
“I was on the phone for two minutes and he said, ‘I think your right elbow is flying a bit with the shots you’re telling me you’re playing. Keep it tucked for a little bit and then forget about it’,” Davis recalls.
“I beat Seve (Ballesteros) and Greg Norman by two shots and won the tournament and he fixed me in a two-minute phone call without looking at my swing.”
Six years later, on the eve of the 1987 Open Championship at Muirfield, Davis received some surprise input from his coach that very nearly etched his name into golf immortality.
“I’d been there for a couple of hours after playing in the morning and I’m just about to pack it in when a security guard came over to me and said, ‘Mr Davis, there’s a fellow over here that says he’s your coach’,” Davis says.
“And it was Dave! He came over and said, ‘Same old problem, your right elbow is starting to fly a bit.’
“Straight away I started hitting it good. The next day, the first round of the tournament, I set a course record 64. I finished second that week to Nick Faldo by a shot.”
Decorated PGA Professionals such as Hohnen, John Halliday, Tom Linskey and Jimmy Ballard were among the estimated 35 PGA Trainees who graduated to the Professional ranks by virtue of Mercer’s guidance and leading tour players regularly sought his counsel.
When Hohnen introduced the David Mercer Senior Classic to the Legends Tour schedule in 2014 – “He thought that was the best thing ever,” adds Richard – the crème of Aussie touring pros converged on Killara, the 2020 edition scheduled for November 12 sure to be an emotional occasion if it can go ahead.
“Dave was one of life’s true gentlemen. An incredible family man, mentor and friend,” says 1991 Open champion and PGA of Australia board member Ian Baker-Finch.
“He set the standard for all PGA Professionals in Australia as a player, coach, club pro and a great bloke!
“He was just a regular guy that did everything the way it’s meant to be done.
“Dave was an excellent leader and role model.”
Whether it was advising his sons Richard and Gregory to steer clear of flashy cars, showing his trainees how to keep calm in the face of challenging members or simply steer rebellious youngsters into a more productive pastime, Mercer’s influence went far beyond the swing plane.
“When I was 14, 15 I was going down the wrong path,” Davis reveals.
“Dave brought golf into my life and set boundaries without me really knowing and manoeuvred me away from the path of destruction.
“At 16 I got in the state junior team and became a member at Pymble Golf Club.
“All of a sudden golf opened all the doors and the path of destruction closed.”
As he copes with the loss of his father with the support of wife Sharilyn, sons Andrew and Stewart, family and friends, Richard Mercer reminds himself of the Rudyard Kipling poem ‘If’ and the passage his dad would often recite.
“If you can walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch, you’ll be a Man, my son!”
David was preceded in death by his siblings Don, Jim, Jean and Ivan, and son Gregory. He is survived by his wife of 66 years Barbara, son Richard (wife Sharilyn), siblings John, Alex and Kevin, granddaughter Rebecca, grandsons Andrew (wife Jordan), and Stewart and great grandchildren Hayden, Fletcher and Grace.
David’s funeral will take place on Sunday, 20 September at midday (AEST) at Knox Grammar School Chapel in Warrawee, NSW.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a maximum of 60 people can attend to the funeral and has been limited to close family contacts.
A live stream of the funeral can be viewed via https://www.funeralvideo.com.au/DavidMercer
Images: Killara Golf Club
