Now based at Alice Springs Golf Club, Longstaff’s transition from the Membership Pathway Program into a career as a PGA Professional has been a circuitous one.

Shortly after completing the MPP, Longstaff and her partner embarked on an eight-month trip around Australia, stopping to play golf courses along the way.

Longstaff also took time to offer the occasional golf lessons, including at Katherine Country Club three hours south of Darwin.

Yet when Longstaff’s partner was offered a job in Alice Springs, she didn’t immediately seek to return to the golf industry.

Challenges Longstaff faced while completing the MPP gave her cause to consider other potential careers.

She had stints as a flight attendant and working in the Northern Territory Police Force call centre, but when the chance to work under Justin Speirani at Alice Springs was offered late last year, Longstaff jumped at it.

As she introduced herself to the Alice Springs members, it was an opportunity to conduct MyGolf clinics that reminded Longstaff why she wanted to coach in the first place.

“When the MyGolf Girls program came up, my boss, Justin, said, ‘That’s perfect for you’,” Longstaff said.

“I’ve been doing those every week and we’ve actually been getting quite a few junior girls.

“Most of them are quite young – like five or six years old – but we’ve had about 15 to 20 kids rock up each week and we’re like, Where have you come from?

“A lot of them have never picked up a golf club before. The parents see free clinics during the school holidays on Facebook and they come down and we have to start from the very basics.

“It’s kind of hard to tell whether they’re going to be the ones that continue golf or if this is just a free holiday activity, because none of the girls have ever come to our Tuesday junior clinics.

“That’s why I was so surprised when I got so many of them.”

But it’s not just the little ones who are inspiring Longstaff’s coaching progression.

As she establishes her presence at Alice Springs, Longstaff is still connected with those she worked with during her time at Darwin Golf Club where she had a lasting impact.

“I feel like it’s definitely brought me back,” Longstaff said of her work with juniors.

“Even the couple of Alice Springs members that I’ve coached, they’ve come back to me after they’ve won the comp a couple of times since then.

“I saw a member from Darwin who was playing the Alice Springs Open.

“I gave him a lesson probably two years ago and he said that ever since that lesson, he’s been able to get out of bunkers first try.

“That sort of feedback is what is keeping me coaching and that’s what has made my passion come back.

“The more I do it and the more positives I see out of it, the more I realise that this is where my heart is.

“I’m glad that I came back.”