76 | Sydney | PGA Of Australia Life Member
Above: Eddie Emerson [left] is presented with his PGA of Australia Life Membership award.
I’M NOT sure if it is easier now or in the past to work with young golfers – just different. Helping kids play golf since 1959 has always been rewarding. In the early days before television, life expectations were different. Kids played sport for fun with their mates. Now, with social media and international coverage of sport, kids see themselves being able to achieve at higher levels.
“Now, with social media and international coverage of sport,
kids see themselves being able to achieve at higher levels.”
To engage today’s young golfers, I welcome kids as members of the Kids Golf Club program and reward and acknowledge their achievements. For the kids to play the game, it helps to have these regular sessions on the golf course. It also helps to involve their parents and/or carers in this participation.
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Should kids play a team sport first before getting into golf? Well, depending on the school they attend, kids will usually play a team sport anyway. Although golf is recognised as an individual sport, it is still played as a team sport, i.e. junior teams, Regional Academy of Sport teams, Encourage Shield teams – and on up to the World Cup, Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, etc. Kids in any sport, as an individual or a team player, will benefit from either or both.
In the early 1950s, PGA Life Member Bill McWilliam staged state and national championships for school kids at Beverley Park Golf Club in Sydney. This event allowed kids to compete without having to be a member of a club, as the tournament was played off scratch. As a 13-year-old schoolboy and caddie, this event inspired all of us to play golf! Another PGA Life Member, Dan Cullen DFC, staged the Junior Professional Championship at St Michael’s Golf Club each year. By holding this event, Dan, in his giving back to golf, allowed me and my fellow PGA apprentices to go to the next level and become PGA Members.
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In 2004, Sharon Nott, then Jack Newton Junior Golf’s Western Region development officer, and myself founded Country Junior Golf Western New South Wales. CJG travelled throughout the Central/Lachlan Valley and Far West regions of NSW, giving kids in remote areas opportunities through golf and “Better Life Skills”, as we dubbed it. Without the support from golf mates at our golf fundraising days, plus volunteers and contributors, the country kids program would not have been the success it is today.
I have many fond memories over the years during CJG events. At “Bush to City” one year, our CJG team would meet at Dubbo train station to travel to Sydney, escorted by Sharon, arriving at Central Station at 9 o’clock on Sunday night to be picked up by me in the JNJG bus. That year we bunked them down with their own sleeping bags at Clovelly Surf Life Saving Club, my surf club. They would wake to the sound of the surf and smell of salt water. For some it was a brand new experience! During the week, the team experienced sightseeing, undertook golf clinics at St Michael’s and competed in JNJG events. That year, 15 or 16-year-old Matt Egan from the copper-mining town of Cobar – nine or ten hours’ drive due west – played without knowing the courses and finished with par figures to be in the top level after coming from the dirt greens and fairways at Cobar.
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The advantages for kids in remote rural western NSW is they have greater access to playing on country golf courses. The disadvantages? The availability of, or lack of, PGA lessons and advice, plus travel costs to junior events.
In recent years, CJG has subsidised a team to attend the Australian Open. A favourite attraction for the kids is a 1938 Dennis Fire Engine, with the driver/owner Anthony showing off Sydney Harbour Bridge while travelling over the harbour to the delight of his country-based passengers. Another year, the kids had fun at Darling Harbour watching Circus Oz and going to Luna Park – just for fun!
– with Steve Keipert
