My grandfather used to run The Lakes and Eastlake back when they were combined in the 1930s, my dad was a member of Eastlake and you just follow on. I caddied at The Lakes and got on really well with Billy Holder who I did my apprenticeship with. It was all I ever wanted to do. I would hate to think what it would have been like if I’d had to work for a living.

I used to pester Billy all the time. I’d pick up balls of an afternoon and sometimes I’d get the impression, Oh, here’s this kid again. He did a lot of teaching so he put me on to run the shop in 1968, look after people when they came in and I learned my club-making trade under him.  I finished my apprenticeship in ’71 and stayed with him at The Lakes until he died in 1976.

At that time he was the best friend I’d ever had. And he was the hardest man I’ve ever known in my life. That’s where I earned so much respect for him because he was fair, but he was hard. If you wanted to be a golf pro, you did what was required. If I wanted to play a trainee match on a Monday, I had to buff 300 sets of clubs on a Sunday afternoon. We got on really well so it wasn’t a hard gig. It was hard work, but it wasn’t a hard grind.

He was renowned for his teaching and I picked up his methodology with teaching but club making was his specialty. He used to have his own clubs. Towards the end of his life, I was probably the only trainee or assistant who he let finish off and make golf clubs for him. I’ve still got one in the shop. One of the old blokes brought it in to me for the last club that I made for him. It’s a 4-wood with the Billy Holder plate on it and his sticker on the top. We used to have to shape them, cut it out of the block of wood, and put the screws in all matching. And then swing, weight it and stain it, and cut it back and polish it and bind it. And then we used to put a celluloid sleeve over the binding so it was tidy. Club making was a big part of our trade.

Bill was a very handsy player and very right hand dominant. His methodology was very simple. Keep it on plane and hit it as hard as you can. He got a lot of his methods from back in the 30s when some of the American guys came out and he was spending a lot of time with them, picking their brains as to how they were teaching. And I’ve just followed on with keeping it simple.

I went and worked with Alex Mercer at Royal Sydney for a couple of years in the late ‘70s. Alex was a well-renowned teacher so I had the best of both worlds as far as working on methodology and putting the stuff in the mix for what I wanted to teach.

Alex didn’t focus so much on the hands, but the hands were an important part of what he was teaching. They were the two at the time that were recognised as the best teachers. I remember Tony Gresham came to Billy. He compared him to Alex and there wasn’t a great deal of difference. Jim Ferrier came and caught up with him and the same sort of thing. Basically their principles were the same, but they interpreted it different ways.

Glenn Whittle used to annoy me as a little whipper snapper up at New Brighton when he was seven or eight years old. He came through there when I went to Concord and he did his traineeship with me. Paul Riley, Wayne’s brother, he did his traineeship with me, Matthew Laverty, Anthony Summers went through with me, so there’s been a few. And now I’ve got young Corey Cruickshank.

I talk to them about what they want in their future, what they’re looking to do. Some have an idea of what they want to pursue and others will take what comes but I’m there to offer anything to anybody. Put in and you’ll reap the rewards. And never be afraid to ask or talk to anybody. Any pro that’s been around a while, I’m sure they’d be happy to give them their knowledge or tell them what their experiences are and give advice.

Back in the ‘70s we were taking bets to see if we’d make it so the greatest gift to me is being a PGA member for 50 years. All the great people that I’ve met and the friends that I have – being in a place where I’ve been able to meet my wife and have my family, all through golf and being a PGA Member. At the end of my career, I’m now at a place at the golf club where the feedback to me is terrific. They really enjoy me being there and they’re a great bunch of people, so it’s not a hard gig. Life has been really good.

PGA Professionals have the experience and knowledge to bring the best out in your golf. To find your nearest PGA Professional visit www.pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro