Correy and Jemma Price take up the mantle as Australia’s most remote PGA professionals
At times it can be challenging to place a PGA professional in a remote community.
In 2024, Kalgoorlie Golf Course, seven hours east of Perth, will have the benefit of two PGA professionals after Jemma and Correy Price agreed to become the most isolated professionals in the country. Swapping the white sand and crystal blue waters of the south-west of Western Australia for the famous red dirt of Kalgoorlie, the Prices will job-share at the host venue for the CKB WA PGA Championship.
The benefits to the golfers of Kalgoorlie are twofold. Not only do they get the retail and golf operations nous of Correy, but also the coaching and game-development expertise of Jemma.
“The council agreed to let us split our rostered hours 70/30, so that we’re both still able to have a good work/life balance and be home more with the three kids,” Jemma said.
“We’re fortunate that we really enjoy working together and complement each other in terms of what our interests are. Correy’s an excellent coach, but he’s also very good at the retail and golf operations side of things, whereas I’m more interested in coaching and marketing. I enjoy running junior and ladies programs, so that’s where I get to focus my time.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for the club members to have more than one PGA member, and we’re actually really fortunate to have three at the moment. Billy Minns from Broome also joined the team as a casual late last year.”
In the Prices, Kalgoorlie is getting two PGA members with a vast range of experience accumulated in the past decade. Jemma completed the Membership Pathway Program in 2012 and Correy in 2018, their respective qualifications taking them across the country and back again.
“Our careers have had quite a few twists and turns,” Jemma said. “Predominantly we were Perth and Mandurah-based, then we moved over to Melbourne for just over two years, then came back to Western Australia.
“When we welcomed our very premature twin girls, we worked for ourselves, trading under South-West Golf Professionals at Nannup Golf Club and providing coaching and club-fitting services at some of the surrounding country courses.”
It was only an opportune visit to the 2023 WA PGA Championship that planted the seed of a possible move for the Price family. While it is an extreme departure from the more coastal setting they have been accustomed to, Jemma is already seeing the opportunity that the move will afford them.
“Correy went up to the WA PGA last year, had a look around and was really impressed by the facility and the golf course is obviously amazing,” Jemma says. “He thought that there could be a lot of opportunity here and said at that time that if the job ever became available, we’d have to seriously look
at it.
“When Brendon Allanby contacted us to let us know the position at Kalgoorlie had opened up, we thought, Oh man, we said we were going to have to look at it, so we better actually do some homework.
“It’s all happened very quickly and been a big change for our family. It was a bit jarring to start with, because we’ve moved away from our support network of close family, but in a lot of ways it’s been really positive too. The members are great here, and we have a lot of support from the council.”
Correy and Jemma’s plan at Kalgoorlie to divide and conquer is a true demonstration of the vast skillset PGA members have, and the tireless effort they put in to make sure club members have the best experience possible. Wherever they may be in Australia.
To find the PGA professional closest to you, visit pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro/
