PGA professionals are applying their skills to map a prosperous future for Australian golf
From one hour to the next, Grace Lennon can find herself teaching a 5-year-old to swing a golf club for the first time, to an 85-year-old whose love for the game will not abate.
Proud of the fact that as a PGA professional she can tailor a golf offering to suit the needs of any player, Lennon meets a wide range in her role as a teaching professional at Albert Park Driving Range in Melbourne. Ultimately, however, regardless of their skill-level, age or background, one thing remains the same: “I just want to help people to enjoy the game,” she concludes.
Delightfully simple, it’s a philosophy that Lennon, and more than 2,000 PGA professionals across the country adopt as they work passionately to help more people fall in love with golf than ever.
“Helping someone to get the ball in the air or shoot under par – whatever their goal might be – helping them to achieve that is a success,” she explains.
With that as her definition of success, Lennon works hard to ensure that wherever her students might be on their golf journey, after spending time with her, they are set on a path to become rusted-on golfers.
“Now that I have the opportunity to help people, I am conscious of keeping things as simple as possible,” Lennon notes. “We don’t want to give so much information that a player might become overwhelmed. In that way, they can continue to enjoy the game.”
With extensive experience as a player on the WPGA Tour of Australasia as well as overseas, Lennon is well-placed to help everyone appreciate the nuanced lessons that golf provides.
“It’s not always the fairest game,” she laughs. “But I’ve learnt that it generally pans out overall and the more you stick at it, it tends to come together. These are the skills and broader life lessons that golf teaches you.”
After completing the PGA Bridging Program in 2020 to become a fully qualified member of the PGA of Australia, Lennon now has the chance to impart these lessons on the next generation of golfers. Something she is proud to do, it is a responsibility that she believes PGA professionals are privileged to embrace to help golf thrive.
“Ultimately, we all want to see golf boom and have more people – especially the younger generation – involved in the game,” Lennon says. “As PGA professionals, we are all working to try to make golf as fun as possible and show people what a great game it is.”
Something she witnesses first-hand on a daily basis, Lennon was thrilled to play in the history-making ISPS Handa Australian Open alongside the men’s and All Abilities fields and knows that the flow-on effects of this coming together will be positive at the grass roots.
“We have already seen a big spike in golf over the last little while,” she says. “Generally speaking, there are more people – especially women – getting into the game and coming to the range and getting started. That’s the biggest thing I’ve seen.”
As this new wave of golfers receive the time, dedication and care from PGA professionals like Lennon, they are bound not only to enjoy the game, but to form an enduring and life-long connection to it.
Full support
Golf’s boom in the past two years has been particularly noticeable at club level, where memberships and playing opportunities have been in hot demand. A 36-hole facility that sits just on the New South Wales side of the border with Queensland, Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club [above] is not only providing the foundation for a strong future for its membership, but also actively promoting both ends of golf’s spectrum.
The club boasts a proud history of hosting high-class tournament golf. Greg Norman returned as the reigning Open champion to win the 1986 Queensland Open at ‘Cooly-Tweed’ – in front of an impressionable Karrie Webb, no less – and last year alone the club hosted the Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned NSW Women’s Open and the Queensland Amateur. The COVID-induced golf boom has not only bolstered Coolangatta’s membership base but provided new opportunities, such as hosting the Women’s Golf Network, which the club will do for a second time in March.
Whether it is the popular member events, external tournaments or corporate days, golf development manager Nicole James is tasked with bringing them to life. A graduate to full PGA membership from the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program in 2000, James has held numerous roles throughout the industry in the past two decades and plays a critical role in ensuring Coolangatta-Tweed helps to foster all levels of golf.
“From a club perspective, we try to do our bit to support the industry,” James explains. “We’ve held lots of big tournaments and lots of very prominent names have played here so it’s nice to keep that going.”
Host to the WPGA Tour Qualifying School in January, Coolangatta-Tweed is playing a prominent role in the promotion of women in golf.
James herself continues to coach one day a week at Mullumbimby Golf Club where she played as a junior and is passionate about the club’s opportunity to bring new people into the game… and keep them there.
“It’s nice to be able to support women and girls in golf, whether it be through hosting events for professionals or clinics for beginners,” James adds.
“We need to be growing the game. Not only as a club and our membership but providing opportunities for new golfers to come here. Whether that’s as part of a coaching clinic or social play, it’s about exposing people to the game. That will help to keep the game really solid and help us to all retain the current influx of players.”
But as James learned in her time under Bill Exten at New South Wales Golf Club, maintaining a high level of service for members underpins much of the club’s ethos. It is about giving members – whether new or established – a better experience than they enjoyed the year before.
“My role in 2023 will have more of a focus on member experiences and more of that member service side of the club,” she says. “Jared (Love, Coolangatta-Tweed’s PGA professional) and I need to keep looking at the one-percenters and how we can continually improve our offering and provide better experiences for everyone.
“Coming off the back of COVID, every single club has done really well. It was a wonderful time for us in terms of getting more players into the game, whether through social play or growth in membership. A big focus now needs to be on retaining those golfers and we achieve that by ensuring we’re providing a great experience at the club, whether through social play or through the experience and engagement of our membership.”
• To find your local PGA professional and work towards setting up and achieving your own handicap goals, visit https://pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/
