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.”

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.”

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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.”

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?

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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.

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/

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/

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.”

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.”

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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/.

After a successful championship at the venue this year, the PGA of Australia (NSW/ACT division) has partnered with Tura Beach Country Club to be the host venue of the NSW/ACT championship from 2024 to 2026.

Players, PGA staff and the Tura Beach community gave overwhelming positive feedback following the 2023 event this August and are more than happy to be back.

PGA Membership Manager for NSW/ACT, Paul Sainsbury is pleased to be headed back to Tura Beach for the next three years.

“Tura Beach Country Club hosted us earlier this year for our State PGA Associate Championship and they did an amazing job at doing so,” he said.

“The players, their support personnel and PGA were welcomed to their club and community with open arms, and it was certainly a reason why we expressed an interest in going back.

“We wanted to enter a long-term agreement with a golf club for this championship to secure the future of the event over the next three years with a view of increasing prize money as well to attract the best PGA Associates from around the country to play our event.”

Along with the venue partnership, the prize purse for the next three-years will increase to $50,000, from the current $35,000, to match the Queensland and Victoria PGA Associate Championship events.

The community at Tura Beach Country Club are also pleased to have their beautiful course and facilities showcased for the long-term. Head professional, Loraine Lambert says the club is excited.

“Tura Beach is not just a pure challenge but a delight to play whether you’re the next Australian Open Champion or a newbie to the game of golf,” she said.

“As a proud PGA member and current head professional, I’m delighted to host the up-and-coming NSW/ ACT Associates Championships to Tura Beach Country Club for the next 3 years.”