In golf, as in life, timing is everything.
Brisbane Golf Club just 10 kilometres from the centre of Queensland’s capital always had a junior program, it was just never a priority.
Long-time PGA Professional and director of golf Joe Janison developed a three-level program six years ago that attracted between 20-30 kids but it was the arrival of fellow PGA Professional Asha Hargreaves from the Northern Territory that brought the program to life.
Prior to beginning the PGA of Australia Membership Pathway Program Hargreaves had already completed her Level 2 Junior Titleist Performance Institute accreditation so it was little surprise that upon her arrival at Brisbane turned her attention to the club’s youngest participants.
“The whole reason I started the PGA Membership Pathway Program was to give the golfers what I never had,” Hargreaves says. “I grew up in the NT where the resources are pretty slim so I’ve always wanted to grow the juniors.
“That’s always been a big thing for me and give them a bit more than we got when we were younger.
“I started changing the program up when I first got to Brisbane. I identified that there needed to be more structure. I started doing prizes and getting the kids more incentivised to want to do things. Little challenges and skills tests.
“Joe let me take control of that and the kids really enjoy having the diversity of it all as well.
“For me the structure was paramount because that was something that I only got in the later years of my amateur golf.”
Hargreaves’ enthusiasm had an immediate impact and gave Janison the impetus to expand the junior program, a program that in 2021 was honoured with the Queensland Golf Industry Junior Program of the Year award.
“Asha has an absolutely brilliant connection with them,” Janison said of the club’s growing junior base.
“We started with three introductory levels – B1, B2 and B3 – and we have now expanded that to seven levels purely out of the demand we’ve had from kids who want to be part of the program.
“At the moment we’ve got 62 kids across the seven levels with eight or nine in each group with two of myself, Asha and our current PGA Associate Tyla Vinter involved with each session.
“I’ve seen clinics with larger groups which can be a great way to get kids started but their progress stems more from that personal service that you get with the smaller groups.”
Using the TPI guidelines as a blueprint, the program at Brisbane is all-encompassing, parents needing to be educated when they see their kids throwing frisbees down the fairway or engaged in a pilates class for the first time.
It’s all part of Brisbane’s desire to establish itself as a club that fosters young talent and develops them into elite amateurs and, potentially, globe-trotting professionals. And Hargreaves wants to be the one leading the charge.
“I wanted to have a program here where I could take these kids from young all the way through and give them everything they need without having to search for it themselves,” says Hargreaves, a nominee for Queensland’s Game Development Coach of the Year and currently studying for her Certificate III in Fitness.
“My biggest goal is to have a high-performance program, a Brisbane academy that feeds into the Golf Australia programs where we also provide mentoring for young players.
“They need to be mentored in how to train and how to prepare for events so my biggest goal would be to establish that and be that program all kids want to be part of.”
For Janison, the development of good golfers is only surpassed by their development as young men and women.
“Parents all say the same things, it isn’t just about the skills that we’ve taught them on the golf course, but how to be responsible socially and all that sort of stuff,” says Janison.
“They come along because of the connection that they have with us, as well as the golf.
“It isn’t just about coming along to play golf, which was really nice to hear.”
– Tony Webeck
• All PGA Professionals receive extensive training in inclusive golf coaching methods, including the effective coaching of junior golfers of all ages and abilities. To help get your kids into golf, contact your local PGA Professional, find a PGA Professional at pga.org.au/find-a-PGA-pro/ or go to https://www.golf.org.au/mygolf/home/ to find a MyGolf Program near you.
