The 50-year PGA professional on the defining quality that made Karrie Webb a champion, pioneering video analysis of the golf swing and walking away from a potential rugby league career.
Karrie Webb’s toughness and mental attitude was through the roof. There’s just no way she was going to come second. She was a very driven individual and anything she was doing – even in training – was of a high level.
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When she was playing, Karrie demanded 110 percent from herself, 110 percent from her caddie, 110 percent from her coach. When you walked to the range, it was on. She would hit her shot and ask, “Why has that moved a foot that way?” She made me a better coach because she demanded answers on every shot. That’s why she drove herself to reach the level she did. An incredible individual and, off the course, a wonderful lady.
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John Senden had one of the best swings in the world in the early 2000s, without a doubt. It was unbelievable to be on the range at the K Club in Ireland and see Seve Ballesteros come over and watch him. Seve’s in there shaking his head in disbelief that anyone could hit the ball like that.
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John is just such a nice, soft guy, which probably stopped him from being right up there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get angry – ever. That’s probably the one ingredient that was missing out of John Senden to not reach the absolute heights.
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My father was an exceptional sportsman. He took up golf at 28 and was playing off scratch by the time he was 30. I was swinging in the backyard and chipping and stuff like that, and Dad said, “You’ve got to go with it.” He stopped me playing rugby league in Bundaberg. I’d already got in the Queensland team; I was a very good halfback, fullback-type scenario. Loved it. But he said, “That’s it, you’re finished now.”
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Dad was my first coach and got me down to plus-3 by the age of 15. I was selected in the Queensland team at age 16, making me the youngest in the seniors since Randall Vines. I came down to Brisbane to play pennants for Royal Queensland and that’s where I got to spend time with Charlie Earp.
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My amateur days were at RQ, but I started my PGA traineeship at Pacific Golf Club. But then I was back with Charlie after a year or so and what I absorbed from Charlie was the amount of care he had. Even though he had a very joking manner, he really cared to get people going better. Hard work, looking after the customer, all those sorts of things were very much Charlie Earp. Always at work, totally committed to his profession. You learned a lot of great things from Charlie.
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My first club job was up at Townsville and that’s when I fell in love with coaching. The local NEC rep was a member of the golf club and showed me these new cameras, the big ones you put on your shoulders. This was in 1979. I had the little black and white TV set and the cassettes that used to go into it. I started teaching with that and just absolutely loved it. I thought, Wow, this is what I really want to do.
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We’re at a stage now where everyone wants to play golf. All the young ones want to play golf. All your rugby league teams, your union teams, your AFL teams, they all love golf. People are playing the game a lot more aggressively than in the past when it was more dink it down the middle, knock it up near the green, chip and putt. Today, they’re trying to hit it like Bryson DeChambeau. How will it go? Well, there’s going to be a lot of lost balls, so the ball manufacturers will be fine. I don’t know how that’ll all mesh together, but it’s certainly very different.
Photograph by PGA of Australia
