Tiger Woods’ former coach American Hank Haney is under no illusion as to why Australian golf is booming.

In short, the quality of Australian coaches is second to none.

So far this season the world has watched on as Jason Day, John Senden,

Steven Bowditch and Matt Jones have achieved standout PGA TOUR victories while Karrie Webb continues to dominate on the women’s circuit.

Outside the United States, Australia remains to be the only country to have won on the PGA TOUR so far in 2014.

And while much has been rightfully made of Adam Scott’s ‘green jacket’ influence, Haney was forthright in his opinion of why Australian golf is going from strength to strength.

Regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the elite game, Haney took to Twitter following Australian Steven Bowditch’s PGA TOUR win tweeting;

"I’ve said it before, no PGA does teaching better than the Australian PGA, they just have a lot of great teachers and the results keep coming."

That’s high praise from the man who guided Tiger Woods to 31 PGA TOUR titles and six Majors; but warranted according to the PGA.

"Australia is spoilt when it comes to quality PGA Professionals, so much so that our Members are in increasingly high-demand in international industries," said Brian Thorburn, Chief Executive Officer of the PGA of Australia from Augusta.

"An Australian PGA Professional’s skills, knowledge and training are of a world class standard. In fact the PGA’s education and training staff have even been engaged by international associations to assist with the development of their own coaches and industry personnel."

After completing the PGA’s three year Trainee Program, Australian PGA Professionals graduate with Vocational (Level 3) Golf Coach accreditation, recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as the highest level of golf coaching accreditation available in the sport.

In addition, Trainees graduate with the nationally recognised qualification of Diploma of Sport Coaching, achieved by completing industry-based training and assessment across the program’s four subject areas of Coaching, Game Development, Small Business and Management.

That’s a lot to take in for those not familiar with the PGA’s extensive education and training programs, but a far cry from the general perception that PGA Professionals are qualified merely because of their love of the game.

Thorburn says that whilst PGA Professionals aren’t in the job for the recognition, any one of them will tell you that seeing their students succeed at any level is motivation enough.

"And if it means that they might just help develop the next Adam Scott, Jason Day, John Senden or Steven Bowditch, well that’s just icing on the cake," he said.

Australia’s flourishing ranks are on show this week with the staging of the year’s first Major, the Masters at Augusta, where Adam Scott is defending his 2013 title.

He’s joined in the field by PGA TOUR victors Day (coached by PGA Professional Col Swatton), Senden (coached by PGA Professional Ian Triggs), Bowditch and Jones (coached by PGA Professional Gary Barter) while Marc Leishman (coached by PGA Professional Dennis McDade) and Amateur Oliver Goss (coached by PGA Professional Ritchie Smith) take Australia’s total representatives to seven.

Australia’s representation at Augusta will be equal third only to the United States and England while South Africa will also have six representatives in the field.

Quick Facts:

• The PGA’s Membership includes approximately 2000 Vocational PGA Professionals
• There are currently 225 Trainees enrolled in the PGA Trainee Program
• The PGA Traineeship is open to both men and women
• Former PGA Trainees include Greg Norman, John Senden, Peter Lonard, Rod Pampling and most recently up and coming Professional Jack Wilson
• Adam Scott was introduced to the game by his father Phil, a PGA Professional

Find your local PGA Professional at www.findapgapro.com.au