PGA Professionals Archives - Page 5 of 40 - PGA of Australia

Prices take mantle as Australia’s most remote PGA Pros


At times it can be challenging to place a PGA Professional in a remote community. In 2024, Kalgoorlie Golf Course, seven hours east of Perth, will have the benefit of two PGA Professionals after Jemma and Correy Price agreed to become the most remote professionals in the country.

Swapping the white sand and crystal blue waters of the south-west of Western Australia for the famous red dirt of Kalgoorlie, Jemma and Correy will job-share at the host venue for the CKB WA PGA Championship.

The benefits to the golfers of Kalgoorlie are twofold.

Not only do they get the retail and golf operations nous of Correy, but the coaching and game development expertise of Jemma.

“The council agreed to let us split our rostered hours 70/30, so that we’re both still able to have a good work-life balance and be home more with the three kids,” said Jemma.

“We’re fortunate that we really enjoy working together and complement each other in terms of what our interests are.

“Correy’s an excellent coach, but he’s also very good at the retail and golf operations side of things, whereas I’m more interested in coaching and marketing.

“I enjoy running junior and ladies programs, so that’s where I get to focus my time.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the club members to have more than one PGA Member, and we’re actually really fortunate to have three at the moment. Billy Minns from Broome also joined the team as a casual late last year as well.”

In the Prices’, Kalgoorlie is getting two PGA Members with a vast range of experience accumulated over the past decade.

Jemma completed the Membership Pathway Program in 2012 and Correy in 2018, their respective qualifications taking them cross country and back again.

“Our careers have had quite a few twists and turns,” said Jemma. “Predominantly we were Perth and Mandurah-based, then we moved over to Melbourne for just over two years, then came back to Western Australia.

“When we welcomed our very premature twin girls, we worked for ourselves, trading under South-West Golf Professionals at Nannup Golf Club and providing coaching and club-fitting services at some of the surrounding country courses.”

It was only an opportune visit to the 2023 WA PGA Championship that planted the seed of a possible move for the Price family.

While it is an extreme departure from the more coastal setting they have been accustomed to, Jemma is already seeing the opportunity that the move will afford them.

“Correy went up to the WA PGA last year, had a look around and was really impressed by the facility and the golf course is obviously amazing,” said Jemma.

“He thought that there could be a lot of opportunity here and said at that time that if the job ever became available, we’d have to seriously look at it.

“When Brendon Allanby contacted us to let us know the position at Kalgoorlie had opened up, we thought, ‘Oh man, we said we were going to have to look at it, so we better actually do some homework’.

“It’s all happened very quickly and been a big change for our family.
“It was a bit jarring to start with, because we’ve moved away from our support network of close family, but in a lot of ways it’s been really positive too. The members are great here, and we have a lot of support from the council.”

Correy and Jemma’s plan at Kalgoorlie to divide and conquer is a true demonstration of the vast skillset PGA Members have, and the tireless effort they put in to make sure club members have the best experience possible.

Wherever they may be throughout Australia.

To find the PGA Professional closest to you, visit pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/


Last Sunday, Bill Webb conducted a junior clinic for 26 kids in the town of Theodore, four hours west of Bundaberg.

If that doesn’t sound like a large number, consider that in the most recent Census, Theodore had a reported population of 438.

The Theodore Golf Club currently boasts just 24 adult members.

With lollies hidden beneath cones spread across the practice putting green, Webb conducted chipping and putting games, giving kids a taste of a sport they had previously very little exposure to.

Now in his 40th year as a PGA of Australia Member and honoured with the Sport and Recreation Award at the Gladstone Region Australia Day Awards last month, Webb’s philosophy towards golf is simple: Opportunity.

“That’s the key to it. Just make it available,” said Webb, who is based primarily at Calliope and Boyne Island Tannum Sands golf clubs in Central Queensland.

“If I can get the kids playing, it just teaches them a little bit of discipline. It teaches them a little bit of empathy for themselves and others, when you have bad scores and when you have good scores.

“And you have friends for life in golf.”

Introducing kids to golf has been a passion of Webb’s ever since he completed the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program under the legendary Bren Alman at Mackay Golf Club in 1983.

In the final year of his training, Webb sought to grow the junior numbers at Mackay, first by targeting teenagers attending the local TAFE College.

A big believer that even if kids take time away from the game that they will return and become golf club members later in life, Webb has seen first-hand the societal impact golf can have on young people.

During a stint coaching at Hamilton 20 minutes south of Glasgow in Scotland, Webb’s junior program at the local driving range brought plaudits not only from the Scottish PGA, but from leaders within the community who were struggling to come to grips with youth crime.

“Where I lived, at nighttime, you’d have to catch a cab to go up the corner shop. Pretty rough,” Webb said.

“I provided free golf lessons for kids at the driving range and we had 50 kids turn up.

“They were mainly teenagers I was chasing and just hitting golf balls got rid of all their worries and anxiety and stuff.

“Those kids kept turning up.”

Heavily entrenched in a host of sports in the Gladstone region, Webb is the driver of the Free Sports for Kids campaign and sourced a base for Special Olympics in the area.

He has introduced golf to Kin Kora State School and Calliope High School and would like to see more Government support for the provision of sport in schools.

“We’ve got to start with the schools first,” Webb believes.

“We’ve got to provide more money in schools so they can have inter-school sport in all the local little schools in all sorts of sports, including golf.

“That competition against other schools is a good start for kids because more kids will then start talking about it.

“When I first started off, I went to 17 different schools off my own bat and I did it for free.

“The good thing about golf is that if a child has a little bit of anxiety playing sport with other kids, the child can actually go out to golf and be in their own space.”

And those 26 kids in Theodore?

They’ll be back again in three weeks’ time for a free clinic, sausage sizzle and with plenty of lollies to be won.

Looking for a junior clinic near you? Head to Find-a-Pro, to find a Pro near you.


When Jarryd Collis began exploring ways to bring new golfers into Curlewis Golf Club, his primary motivation was to expand his own coaching capabilities.

Graduating from the PGA of Australia’s Membership Pathway Program just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Collis had an unusual first few years in the industry.

Working at Yarra Yarra Golf Club in Melbourne, Collis was fostering his passion for coaching yet remained uncertain where his particular niche would be.

Starting a family, and a move to the Bellarine, landed Collis at Curlewis, which is where his career as a coach took an unexpected yet but endlessly rewarding turn.

“When I first landed at Curlewis, for me at the beginning it was ‘How can I get customers in the door so I can have a coaching business?’,” Collis explains.

“I had no real prior experience working with All Abilities players or multicultural youth programs, but I just thought, Why not?

“To be honest, it’s now my favourite part of my week.

“When I have my All Abilities players come through the door, it’s a very humbling and eye-opening experience.”

Under the guidance of Collis, Curlewis now boasts one of the most successful All Abilities golf programs in the country.

The progressive club near Geelong has upwards of 20 participants taking part in its All Abilities program every week where they not only learn about the game, but have dinner, interact with others around the club, and develop relationships. 

Curlewis is working with genU, a profit-for-purpose organisation who offer a diverse range of services that include disability support, senior services, training, and employment across Australia.

The partnership has blossomed and been able to thrive due largely to Curlewis’s willingness to open its doors with the aim to make golf as inclusive and welcoming as possible.

Collis explains that beyond just golf, this program has provided these All Abilities golfers with something that genU refer to as a “third place”.

A “third place” is an environment where the participants feel safe and isn’t their home or work. Unfortunately, many people living with a disability do not have a third place, but Collis and Curlewis have helped create one through this program.

“When they first walked in, they were very quiet and weren’t very familiar with the space they were in,” Collis adds.

“Now, fast-forward 20-odd weeks, seeing these participants walk up to a staff member and feel comfortable ordering their own dinner is awesome.”

The feedback from the participants has been humbling for Collis and is inspiring he and the team at Curlewis to do all they can to keep growing the program.

“For them to come to me and say, ‘We just want to part of a club’… It’s a good reminder that these little things can be such big things,” he adds.

“My motto now is, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’. If I want to do these programs, and these participants want to keep going with golf, we just keep finding ways to make it happen.”

Becoming an All Abilities-accredited coach has helped Collis to become a more well-rounded coach and made him think about swing mechanics and other facets of traditional golf in completely different ways.

It also highlighted that there is opportunity within the unknown; an opportunity to impact the lives of people purely through the game of golf.

“I’d be lying if I said it was any more difficult than it is to do any other program that golf clubs offer,” he said.

“For other PGA members, if you think you could be interested in jumping into this space, or doing an All Abilities program, it’s actually quite simple.”

Collis urges all PGA members to consider obtaining All Abilities coaching accreditation and for club boards and management to consider how their club can facilitate an All Abilities program.

For information on obtaining All Abilities coaching accreditation, visit pga.org.au/play/all-abilities-coaches/


When David Northey was presented with a list of 63 grievances by a member at Castle Hill Country Club in Sydney’s north-west, he didn’t see a problem.

He saw opportunity.

With more than 20 years’ experience having completed the Membership Pathway program under Joe Moore at Glenmore Heritage, Northey understood the situation clearly.

Satisfy this member and not only will that win them over but set a tone that would permeate throughout the entirety of the membership.

Following 16 years at Castle Hill Country Club, Northey was appointed the Director of Golf at Concord in January 2021.

Last November, he was named the 2023 PGA National Club Professional of the Year at the annual PGA Awards, largely due to the connection he set about forming with the members at Concord from day one.

A concerted effort to deliver a warm and friendly atmosphere within the pro shop that has been a hallmark of Northey’s career as a PGA Professional saw Concord rank No.1 of 40 clubs – consisting of 20,000 member responses – who participated in the 2023 Member Survey.

How he achieved that was to simply inform the members that the lines of communication were now open.

“Listen to them,” is Northey’s simple piece of advice.

“I advocate for an open door policy. They can come and see me anytime of the day if they’ve got something they would like to discuss.

“Provide them with someone to lean on, talk to, vent their frustrations or express some ideas.

“Members just want to be heard.”

More than opening his door, Northey instilled responsibility on his staff to enhance the experience of every member at Concord.

Typically, there will be a staff member near the entry to the pro shop to welcome members and guests.

Every tee time on competition days is announced to the tee. That not only delivers clear communication of who is on the tee next but further embeds the sense that the pro shop staff know exactly what is happening at all times.

“The first few days at Concord I heard that members were frustrated because they didn’t know who was on the tee, whether they were behind this person or that person,” explains Northey, pictured with wife Kim at the PGA Awards last November.

“I explained to the staff that the members like to know exactly where they are. When there’s no calling to the tee, they feel like they’re watching the clock all the time.

“It’s giving members the confidence to know that the pro shop knows exactly who’s on what tee and at what time.”

With an attention to detail instilled by a father who built motorbikes and which has manifested outside of golf in the build of an award-winning Datsun 1600, Northey’s pro shops are renowned for their presentation.

Each month he asks staff to move the displays to give the shop a fresh look, further adding to the experience of members when they walk in.

That, and the trust he and the staff have built up, translates to a profitable business.

Northey allows for members to order items such as clothing with no obligation to buy if they are unhappy with the fit.

It is an extension of the member experience that Northey is trying to enhance every single day.

“It’s providing our members with the confidence to purchase through us with a level of service they won’t get anywhere else,” Northey adds.

As for that list of ‘suggestions’, Northey was able to ensure 59 were acted upon before his departure and has plans to institute a permanent suggestion box within the pro shop at Concord.

“I said to him, ‘Look, I can’t do anything until you write it down.’ So he wrote them down,” he says.

“I got 59 of those 63 fixed. He never complained again.

“All he wanted was for someone to hear what he had to say.

“They were all miniscule things that members typically notice but there was nothing where I didn’t think, ‘That’s fair enough.’

“A chipped paver, a slightly bent bubbler, a ball-washer leaking water, just little 1 per centers that were easy to fix.

“But the important thing was that someone took the time to listen.”


In his later years, Norman von Nida could tell you the flight of a golf ball simply by the sound that was made at impact. Peter Thomson would warm up for a round at Victoria Golf Club by hitting a half-dozen balls on the range to ascertain his shot shape that particular day.

Neither man could possibly have imagined that the future of golf instruction would be found indoors, hitting off mats into a simulated golf course.

The proliferation of indoor golf centres is growing at a rapid rate.

Some are designed as entertainment options with food and beverage, some are the modern equivalent of a golf club but with hundreds of courses to choose from while others have a primary focus on game improvement.

Established in 2021 by PGA Professional Adrian Lawson, Golf24 now has centres in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Melbourne and is helping golfers to lower their handicaps at a rapid rate.

“I’ve seen people halve their handicaps in no time, where they may well have beat their head against the wall forever,” says Lawson, General Manager of Golf24 Australia.

“I’ve got some people that have fully transitioned to the point where all the golf they play is now indoors.

“We run Australia’s largest tournament golf network on Trackman and provide our members with a vast range of tournaments to play in.

“They’re getting their golf competition and they’re doing it at time convenient to them and at a cost that suits them.”

Integral to maximising the experience of each golfer at each centre is the onboarding process delivered by PGA Professionals at each Golf24 location.

After a basic introduction to the facility, members are given a crash-course in Trackman and how to best interpret the data.

With members enjoying access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Lawson says that this understanding is crucial in working on the right things in the swing.

“They’re getting accurate data feedback, which they get nowhere else,” Lawson explains.

“They get an understanding of what face-to-path relationships are to the ball direction and its spin. Getting more of an understanding of what dictates the ball going left or right in a controlled environment.

“We have video cameras in every bay so even while you’re playing virtual golf, when you hit a bad shot, you can look up and see why.

“You learn how it feels to hit the different shots and feels become real.

“That kind of data and that kind of learning of the swing, learning how to play better in a controlled environment, that’s why people are improving so much.”

With further Golf24 centres planned for Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra and Sydney, Lawson is looking for new and innovative ways in which to bring the simulator experience to more and more golfers, including potential partnerships with green-grass facilities that will enable golfers to take their improved swings directly onto the golf course.

Yet as far as technology advances in the years to come, Lawson is adamant that nothing will replace the sensation of a golf club onto the back of a ball.

“Golf’s one of the few sports where you need to be hitting the ball itself with a real club,” Lawson adds.

“If you’ve played the Oculus or whatever, waving that wand like a Nintendo, do that for a week and then try and hit a golf ball afterwards. It’s impossible.

“That’s the great thing about golf. You can’t do it with a pretend club.

“In time we might move into a holographic environment but you will still be hitting a golf ball with a golf club.”


Assistant Professional at The Brisbane Golf Club, Asha Flynn, was honoured at the 2023 PGA Awards when she was named the PGA of Australia National Coach of the Year – Game Development.

The Coordinator and Head Coach for golf programs at both Ambrose Treacy College and St Aidan’s Girls College, Flynn has engaged with 252 school students in the past 12 months.

At The Brisbane Golf Club, Flynn is the Junior Program Coordinator and Head Coach, overseeing 80 students across eight levels of development. She is also the Coordinator and Coach for the High Performance Program.

Here she outlines the strategies she uses to communicate effectively with juniors to not only improved their performance but to embed a life-long love of the game.

How we communicate with juniors is crucial in developing their passion for golf.

Golf is a game of discovery, and when kids first start showing an interest we need to feed that desire for experimentation.

How we do that is dependent on the language that we use.

I have seen many well-meaning parents with the best of intentions try to tell their kids what to do and how to do it.

My philosophy is to give juniors the core basis of the golf swing, let them hit shots and then provide me with the feedback on why the ball went where it did.

Where was our ball position at set-up?

Have you checked the alignment of your feet in relation to the target?

Did we take the time to read the putt correctly?

Let them answer and move on.

As they progress, that language remains important.

Don’t tell them where not to hit it; ask where they think the best miss is. Plant the seed of a positive thought that they can apply to the next shot.

Early on in their learning, it also needs to be fun.

Technique can come later. Get them playing games. Relate what they are doing to other sports they may have played. Make it competitive and give them an incentive to complete the exercise to the best of their ability.

And don’t be afraid to let them hit drivers as hard as they can.

After all, what’s more fun than that.


One-on-one lessons building towards joining 18-hole competitions with established golfers is not how most women want to engage with golf for the first time. It’s perhaps a key reason why so many women were reluctant for so long.

But with participation numbers continuing to increase, the establishment of the Women’s Golf Network by the PGA of Australia and WPGA Tour of Australasia is designed specifically to provide an entry point that makes women feel welcome and connects them with other new golfers.

Katie East plays her golf at Windaroo Lakes in Brisbane’s south but says attending a Women’s Golf Network event at Royal Queensland Golf Club showcased everything that the game has to offer.

“I entered the event thinking that I would take away a few tips and improve on the skills on offer,” East said.

“Well, I was wrong. I didn’t think a single day could possibly improve every element of my golf game – but there I was at the end of the day, mind blown and thirsting for more.”

The all-encompassing nature of Women’s Golf Network events separate them from standard clinics or coaching sessions.

Skills stations facilitated by female PGA Professionals provide coaching in chipping, putting and long game elevates the golf IQ of each participant. That is followed by a ‘Learning Lunch’ featuring guest speakers, the opportunity to play on-course and rounded out by drinks in the clubhouse.

It is this final element that gives Wembley Golf Course Professional, Claire Elvidge, her greatest thrill.

“The best thing that I see is when they start exchanging numbers or getting a WhatsApp group together,” Elvidge says.

“It’s the camaraderie. When women are in social surroundings, they enjoy it more. They love having different coaches at each of the stations and the flexibility that comes with that.

“We know that if we can build friendships in the game, they’ll keep on coming back and playing.”

Elvidge has been integral in two Women’s Golf Network events staged at Wembley, drawing a total of 180 women to take part.

Elvidge has staged additional events at Wembley targetting women under the age of 40 and believes golf is getting better at understanding what women want from the game.

“Golf can be a hard sport to take up in the initial stages so anything we can do to make it fun and engaging is going to get people through that phase and more likely to become long-term golfers,” says Elvidge.

“At the end of the day when they are having drinks up top, they’re laughing and having a good time, they’ve just come off the course for probably the first time and they realise what it’s like.

“They enjoy their golf because they are having fun but they are learning at the same time.”

Such was her experience at RQ, East is looking at when she can sign up for a second Women’s Golf Network event in 2024 and is encouraging other women showing an interest in golf to do the same.

“I met some amazing women that day, ones that I hope to play golf with in the future,” she adds.

“Numbers were exchanged and offers of playing at local clubs and in upcoming competitions.

“It was a great networking event to meet like-minded women with a passion for the sport.

“It is a gift that you should give to yourself.

“I know that I’ll be coming back again and again.”

To view the Women’s Golf Network schedule and register for an event near you, visit pga.org.au/womens-golf-network/


Scott McDermott is well aware that coaching in the All Abilities space is changing lives. What is perhaps less obvious right now, is how it is changing his.

Based at the PGA Academy at Sandhurst in Melbourne’s south-east, McDermott’s first exposure to coaching people with a disability was initially with a hearing-impaired student. A non-verbal wheelchair-bound student with cerebral palsy and limited physical movement was his next project of discovery.

In more than a decade since, McDermott has coached people across the full gamut of physical and mental disabilities, but all with the same simple intention.

“I am here to help them to achieve their goals,” explains McDermott.

“Golf itself may only be a small part of that. They may want to lose weight, spend more time exercising outdoors or to develop a social connection.

“Are you changing someone’s life? One hundred per cent.

“Are we doing it through playing golf? Absolutely.”

A joint initiative of the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia, the PGA All Abilities Coach Accreditation has given Professionals such as McDermott the framework to offer coaching to people with a disability.

Funding is available through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which makes golf coaching not only financially viable, but accessible to a great many more people.

The impacts are wide-reaching and, in some cases, life saving.

McDermott has a golfer with Prader-Willi Syndrome that causes obesity, intellectual disability and shortness in height.

“When I first met him he was a touch under 160 kilograms and now he’s at 139,” says McDermott.

“In the time that he has been playing golf, his blood glucose levels have gone from from 15 to 6.8.”

Another of McDermott’s students had his licence suspended six times because driving in excess of 150km/h on the freeway was how he emotionally regulated.

In 18 months of playing golf, he didn’t have his licence suspended once.

“He was able to communicate better, he was regulating better, he was making friendships again,” McDermott explains.

“It was because he was able to take his frustration out on an impact bag as opposed to jumping in his car and going 155km/h.”

Another became an incomplete quadriplegic but is back to playing golf and regularly hitting drives 240 metres down the middle of the fairway.

McDermott is quick to point out that any PGA Professional working in the All Abilities space will have similar stories to share.

Such is his passion for the impact he is having on people’s lives, McDermott wants to become the pre-eminent All Abilities golf coach in the world.

He wants to understand the physical and mental challenges faced by people with a disability so that he can help to devise a pathway into golf for anyone and everyone.

Watching how All Abilities golfers interact at tournaments such as the Special Olympics and the sense of accomplishment they receive from it is all the fuel McDermott needs to commit his professional life to it.

“Sam Smyth came third at the Special Olympics and said, ‘This is the greatest achievement of my life,’” McDermott adds.

“That comment makes it all worth it and gets you ready to do it all again, because this is bigger than me and I am here to assist people to reach their goals.

“There’s a great quote in Ted Lasso where he says, ‘I’m curious, not judgmental.’ We all need to be more curious and less judgmental.

“I love what I do because they create a humility that makes you realise we need to behave more like they do. It’s all OK and we’re here for each other.

“They’re just golfers and friends and part of something bigger than themselves.”

To find an All Abilities-accredited PGA Professional near you, visit pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/


Sebastian Howell grew up obsessed with rugby league, with big dreams of being of being a star footy player. These hopes were put on hold however when he developed arthritis in his toes at a young age.

Like many before him, Howell’s first exposure to golf was watching Tiger Woods take professional golf by storm, but it wasn’t Tiger’s incredible distance, or his killer stare, that captivated Howell.

It was the game Tiger was playing, a game that Howell could play even despite his arthritis.

“The first time I teed it up was a Sunday junior comp, and I just remember flushing it about 150 metres down the middle,” Howell recalls.

“I was hooked from the get-go.”

Howell now helps juniors experience that same feeling.

As the assistant professional at The Coast Golf Club, Howell was recently recognised as the 2023 MyGolf Deliverer of the Year.

His journey to becoming one of the best junior coaches in the country has not been all smooth sailing. He shied away from coaching kids throughout his traineeship after some bad experiences, but admits that he actually didn’t know how to properly coach kids at that point.

“I didn’t really know how to break it down and use the simplest form of like ‘throw this’, ‘catch that’, ‘balance here’, ‘kick this’, make it as easy as possible for them to understand,” he said.

One key resource Howell credits to transforming his abilities as a junior coach is a video on the PGA by highly regarded coach, Denis McDade.

“He explained that you can’t tell kids this and that, you have to play games and actually make it enjoyable.”

His move to The Coast Golf Club in Little Bay brought an opportunity for Howell in that he identified a problem at the club and set out to fix it.

“As a golf club we were looking at our junior base and it was just dying off rapidly,” he said.

“So I sat down with some board members and said ‘alright if you guys back me in getting in some equipment, getting the right stuff going, I reckon I can get the junior stuff kicked off’.

“Getting the MyGolf program in place was really important, and it just worked! Yeah I love it, it’s the best.

“The MyGolf program makes everything so much easier. They come to me, I don’t have to go to them.”

The Coast Golf Club certinaly backed Howell in and it has paid off. He has had a positive influence on more than 100 new young golfers who have come into the game.

The support Howell has behind him is enormous, receiving an incredible 60 nominations from club members and students for the MyGolf Deliverer of the Year Award.

“This award acknowledges the effort and how much I love this game, and how much work I’ve put in towards it,” he said.

“There’s a lot of days where I’m buggered like I’m exhausted, usually I’m doing 6am to 6pm, but coaching the juniors is the best part of my day.”


The latest participation report commissioned by Golf Australia stated that of the 2.7 million Australians who played golf, 1.2 million didn’t set foot on a golf course.

After completing the Membership Pathway Program at Maroochy River Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast, Will White moved to Tasmania to take up the role as Club Professional at Launceston Golf Club.

The combination of the participation report, and Launceston’s vastly different weather conditions, convinced White that there would be demand for an indoor golf facility.

White opened WillFit Golf in December 2022 with a simple philosophy to appeal to the entirety of the population who had participated in golf, and those who might want to.

“We’re fully in alignment with Golf Australia’s and the PGA’s vision to make golf a lot more accessible to everyone and really inclusive,” says White.

“We’re all about building that inclusive golf community and really welcoming all levels of golfers.

“From first timers wanting to participate in a fun, indoor activity, the new golfer who wants to learn the game and get started through to the regular club golfer and high-level golfer.”

After opening with four TrackMan-powered bays, WillFit added a fifth mid-year, the technology providing the capability to dial in every club in the bag or get your friends together for a bullseye shootout.

WillFit Golf also boasts an 11-metre artificial putting green so golfers can work on every element of the game, however they want to do it.

“We definitely saw a gap where we could create this awesome, inviting facility and build a community of golfers,” says White.

“It’s really a place to go to learn the game, practice, to play indoor rounds. It’s a quicker format and all-weather and here in Launceston it’s wet and cold half the year.

“That’s a big drawcard as well.

“There is something for everyone. That’s really want we want to be about. We’re a facility for golfers.

“Any skill level, we’re for golfers.”

The way in which White and the WillFit team are engaging their community also breaks down any barriers to entry.

They host a women’s high tea once a quarter, there is a ‘New Dads’ group that runs every fortnight and Club Orange for people with a disability.

There are also golf leagues and even a hole-in-one challenge where visitors can take an unlimited number of shots to try and make an ace and win prizes.

With a focus on exceptional customer service at a 24-hour alcohol-free facility that is staffed seven days a week, White says the demand from patrons continues to expand into new areas.

“We branded it in a way that was not the traditional golf club feeling or performance studio,” he says.

“We’re a 24-hour facility for members but we also chose to staff the facility seven days a week.

“If someone comes in, we’re there to support them, help set them up on the technology and make sure they have the best golf experience possible.

“Ultimately, everyone is there for the same reason; have fun with golf.”

Whether you want to play indoors or out, there is a PGA Professional to enhance your golf experience. To find the nearest PGA Professional to you, visit pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/.


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