How the team around rising star Min Woo Lee is helping the Perth tour pro adjust to life on the PGA Tour and the bright lights of Las Vegas. 

Earlier this year, Min Woo Lee was summoned to the headquarters of apparel giant Lululemon in Vancouver, Canada. The world No.34 – who in January became just the second golf pro to sign with the brand – thought it was a simple meet and greet with executives he’d be working with in the future.

Yet within an hour, Lee found himself on a treadmill within a sweat chamber. It was then Lee realised a company like that doesn’t just become the biggest activewear brand in the world without doing its homework. Lululemon had previously offered several golf items within its range, but with former women’s world No.1 Lydia Ko, and now PGA Tour rising star Lee, as ambassadors, Lululemon is preparing to lean more heavily into golf.

“I was wearing testing material, the fabrics I would wear on a golf course, and I hopped on a treadmill,” Lee tells Australian Golf Digest. “In this chamber, they were able to alter the wind, humidity and heat. I also hit some balls into a simulator and gave them feedback. It was a cool experience. When you are a part of a company as big as Lululemon, it’s awesome to have a team so professional. They’ll probably base [a new line] off me and I’d say it might come out pretty soon.”

Lululemon was quite literally letting him cook, as Lee’s popular social-media catchphrase goes. The dedicated testing session at their headquarters was just one of several hallmarks that indicate Lee’s rapid rise through the ranks.

Last year, he was one of golf’s breakout stars, winning the Australian PGA Championship on the DP World Tour, as well as the Macao Open on the Asian Tour. He successfully transitioned from the European circuit to membership on the PGA Tour, where he bagged a maiden top-five result at the majors – a T-5 at the US Open. That was among four top-10 results from 14 events in 2023, as well as a T-6 at the elite Players Championship last March, when he played in the final group with Scottie Scheffler and even held the lead after 57 holes at TPC Sawgrass. Lee also posted top-10s at the Travelers Championship and Zozo Championship in Japan.

Although his results in 2024 haven’t quite lived up to his whirlwind previous season, they have been solid. At the time of writing, Lee owned four top-25s from nine starts including at the Masters. The highlight of his 2024 PGA Tour campaign through early May was a tie for second at the event in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in February. Lee finished tied for second, three shots behind the winner, Austin Eckroat, at the Cognizant Classic (formerly the Honda Classic) at PGA National. It was Lee’s career-best PGA Tour result, and it came with an Instagram DM from NBA icon Steph Curry.

“He congratulated me on finishing second,” Lee said, who last year admitted he had direct-messaged the Golden State Warriors legend repeatedly until he finally responded. “He said he put [the Cognizant Classic] on TV after one of his games and was watching it intently. He’s obviously a huge golf fan and loves playing.”

Lee’s mutual adulation with Curry [below] paid dividends in the form of selection on a team the NBA star has invested in within the PGA Tour’s TGL – a tech-infused simulator golf league set to debut in early 2025. Lee was added to a team called The Bay Golf Club. Lee will join reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark, Swedish sensation Ludvig Åberg and Shane Lowry as part of the California-based side, whose ownership group includes four-time NBA champions Curry, a scratch golfer who has had a crack at playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as Klay Thompson and former teammate Andre Iguodala.

“I watched Steph’s documentary (“Steph Curry: Underrated”) recently and I congratulated him over DMs,” Lee says. “It’s very cool to be on a team he’s part of and a few other Golden State guys. They’re my favourite team in the NBA; I’ve actually watched them for a long time. Steph is a role model for me. He’s funny, does all the right things and he also has a swagger. I try to play like him on the golf course; that’s how I want to showcase myself.”

While the Masters, where he was a respectable T-22 despite suffering a broken finger the week prior, and the PGA Championship are in the books for 2024, Lee has a golden opportunity at the US Open as it returns to the famed Pinehurst No.2 course, where its organiser, the United States Golf Association, is now headquartered. Pinehurst No.2’s past stagings of the US Open include 2014, when Germany’s Martin Kaymer triumphed; 2005, when New Zealand’s Michael Campbell defeated Tiger Woods, and in 1999 when Payne Stewart won his third major.

Lee is hoping to join his sister, two-time major winner Minjee Lee, as a US Open champion. Coincidentally, both Min Woo and Minjee are already USGA event winners having each claimed the US Junior and US Girls Junior when they were teenagers. They were the first brother-sister combination to win those events. Two years ago, Lee grabbed another USGA title when she triumphed at the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles, just down the road from Pinehurst. That followed her 2021 Evian Championship in making her a multiple major champion.

“It’d be amazing if I could win; I don’t know if any brother and sister combos have won a major,” Lee says. “Hopefully I can perform and play my best at Pinehurst.”

Lee, 25, never played the North and South Amateur Championship, held annually at Pinehurst. The 2024 US Open (June 13-16) will be Lee’s first time to the Pinehurst area of North Carolina, which resembles the Melbourne Sandbelt for its firm soil, treelined holes, sandy waste areas and complex greens.

“I don’t know much about Pinehurst,” Lee says. “I think it’s pretty strong off the tee, so that’s definitely a positive for me. Approach play is going to be tough because of the turtleback greens I’ve heard the No.2 course has. Ollie Goss played the 2014 US Open there (fellow Perth golfer Goss was invited for finishing runner-up in the previous year’s US Amateur) and my coach Ritchie [Smith] was there [coaching Goss]. So, he has told me what to expect and prepare for, technically. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve heard it should suit my game with having to drive it well and have a creative short game.”

VIVA LAS VEGAS

As Lee navigated a move to the US to be based in Las Vegas, his results took a slight hit. Though they haven’t been terrible; he’s only missed one cut, is ranked 62nd on the FedEx Cup standings and made $US1.3 million from nine events up until early May. He’s also learning several new host courses on tour while transitioning from Europe to the US.

Lee has brought his girlfriend, Gracie Drennan, over to the US. “She’s loving the Vegas life and we’re very excited for the future; we have a new house,” Lee says. He’s also finding his feet in practice having joined The Summit Club, a former host of the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup, where he plays frequently with Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama.

“It’s been pretty hectic this year travelling all over the country and moving houses,” Lee says. “I think there’s a bit more pressure or more of a weight on my shoulders since the beginning of the year. But I try not to think of that on the course. It’s all exciting stuff but it is also tough adjusting.”

Guiding him through it has been Lee’s team, which aside from his girlfriend, starts with caddie Stu Davidson. The Scottish bagman, who hails from Edinburgh and has his beloved Hearts football team on his yardage book, joined Lee in August 2022. One of their first events together was the 2022 BMW PGA at Wentworth, where Lee shot an opening 76 and then 62 in the second round.

“I shot 10-under at Wentworth and I was like, Wow, obviously something went pretty well here,” Lee says. “We’ve still have had our ups and downs on the golf course, which every player and caddie has. But he’s really cool. The good thing I think, for me is, he’s pretty young and he’s across the social-media side of things (Lee has a following totalling almost a million across his platforms and is an avid interactor with his fans).”

Lee’s team also includes renowned West Australian coach Smith, who teaches several top Australian players including Lee’s 10-time LPGA Tour winner sister, Minjee, and her fellow top-10 ranked Perth star, Hannah Green. Green has captured two LPGA victories in 2024 to become Australia’s top-ranked golfer.

“I’ve been with Ritchie for a very long time,” Lee says. “He understands the personal side of pro golf, but also the technical side.”

Then there’s Lee’s manager, Brent Hamilton. Representing the firm WME, Hamilton is a one of golf’s best agents and also represents Minjee. “I’ve been with him since a couple years before I turned pro,” Lee says. “I’ve had a good pathway, which he has had a big say in.”

Lee’s sports medicine and performance manager is Golf Australia’s Luke Mackey, who for several years was head of the Golf Australia house in Orlando, Florida, as well as Marty McInnes, a physiotherapist for Golf WA and Golf Australia.

“I’ve got a great team around me; the best thing is, we all communicate with each other, and they make it easier for me to perform,” Lee says.

In other words, they let him cook. 

 Photographs by: Joe Pugliese; (team Lee) min woo lee/instagram; (portrait) dom furore;  rob liggins;  getty images: tracy wilcox; (tee & ball) Min woo lee/instagram

The post 2024 US Open Preview: Team Lee appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Does anyone on the PGA Tour dress better than Keith Mitchell?

Photographs by Steven Brahms

Feature image:
Shirt: Sid Mashburn slim-fit “made-to-measure” white oxford. 
Jeans: Sid Mashburn selvedge rigid denim. 
Watch: Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer II Cream Dial.

The season isn’t half over, but Keith Mitchell wins Golf Digest’s Best Dressed of 2024. If the PGA Tour created such an award, you can bet it’d be remunerative. (Sorry, Cashmere Keith, but our editorial team doesn’t have outsize “financial reserves” to play with, so all you got was this photo shoot.) Now in his seventh season, the 32-year-old from Chattanooga in Tennessee has a win and a respectable lifetime cuts-made percentage hovering about two-thirds. Such a record hasn’t translated into a lot of time on television, but he has made every second count with an elegance so subtle that it can’t go unnoticed. Amid all the loud peacocking and stretchy slim-fitting sameness, Mitchell stands out for quietly placing intention in every article he wears, and it all combines for a fairway strut that is instantly recognisable from the far end of a par 5. Here, Mitchell is interviewed by the only other man in golf whose name is as synonymous with style, Marty Hackel, a.k.a. “Mr Style”, who served as fashion director at Golf Digest for 15 years.  

What is your take on the state of men’s golf fashion on tour?  

Too scripted! Also, I think the white belts need to die. 

A strong sense of fashion is prevalent in other major professional sports, especially football, basketball and soccer. Why is pro golf seemingly allergic?  

All these athletes can wear what they choose walking into the stadium, then put on their uniforms. The problem in golf is whatever players wear, fans equate that to their personal style, when in fact those clothes are most likely outfits scripted by their apparel sponsor. If more golfers could wear their own style on the course, I think a lot of guys would blossom. Then again, I also think some players are helped by their uniforms. 

How do you see the difference between on-course style and off-course style?  

I like to treat mine the same, and that is why my look is a bit different. I like to wear something I can go straight to dinner in at a nice restaurant, or vice versa if there’s something to do before I get to the course. Most golfers are so golf-oriented and not very fashion-oriented. 

When people see you, who is the man you want them to see?  

Oh, wow, a passionate man. 

You’ve been given the nickname “Cashmere Keith”. Is it difficult travelling with all those sweaters? 

Not at all. I just spot clean them if dirty and use a sweater razor if they pill from abrasion under my swinging arms. 

Which golfers of the past have you looked to for style inspiration?

Arnold Palmer and Seve Ballesteros are the easy ones. Johnny Miller when he wasn’t completely loud. So much of what Miller did was one step ahead. His bell bottoms were just that bit wider, for example. The famous black-and-white houndstooth pants he wore, I personally liked and appreciated, but I don’t think I’d wear them. I prefer subtle patterns. 

What’s the hardest trip to pack for? 

The West Coast swing because you go to Hawaii, San Diego, Palm Springs, Pebble Beach and then Phoenix. That’s four different climates, arguably five. I’m definitely checking three bags, as I’ve only ever been upset by underpacking, never overpacking. The hardest single tournament is the Masters because you never know what you’re going to get. Might be 40 degrees [Fahrenheit] and raining, or 80s and sunny and humid. The Open is actually the easiest because you know it’s going to be cold. Even when they say it’s warm, it’s cold.  

Where do your signature visors go? 

Ha! I do travel with a hat case because my Imperial visors would get crushed in a suitcase. I typically pack four or five visors and carry that on. 

Why the “no-see-’em” socks? 

I love the really thick FootJoy ones that won’t roll down, but they don’t make them anymore, so I buy them on Amazon. They’re very comfortable and stable inside in my shoes. 

You were a customer of the Sid Mashburn label long before you wore his clothing on tour. What’s the backstory?  

When I turned pro in 2014, I wore Nike, but it was during college that a good friend alerted us to Sid. He’d heard Sid speak at a retreat and told us what an incredible person he was. I visited the store when I could barely afford to buy a pair of jeans and was treated like a guy buying a $10,000 suit. That stuck with me. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I met Sid for the first time at a pop-up store in New York. It’s fun working together now, being involved in all the little design details of what I’ll wear on tour. When I’m in Atlanta, I bring friends to the store all the time to play ping pong and drink bourbon. 

This is an interesting shirt you’re wearing. Tell us about it.

It’s called a “popover”. It’s basically if a dress shirt and a golf shirt had a child. Sid says he stopped the placket exactly where a blazer would button. This is so that it looks formal under a coat but casual without one. I loved the design so much that I asked if he could make the shirt using piquet [knit] fabric and cut the sleeves off. He decided to also put a tennis tail and an extra inch on the bottom to make it a more athletic cut. I love when things have a specific functional purpose that turns into style. 

What’s the most recent gift you bought for someone? 

A firepit. Nice to be able to sit out there and smoke a cigar.  

Give us a cigar recommendation.  

Montecristo White Label on the course because I cannot play golf and drink. 

A style mistake you’ve regretted?  

Any time my pant lengths were too long. Perfect is no break, when the bottoms just kiss the tops of your shoes. 

Every golfer with a sense of style considers his watch seriously, and from what I understand, you’re no different. 

My grandfather passed when I was in eighth grade, and through my dad he gifted me his Rolex Datejust model, and it was engraved: “To Keith with love, Papaw and Dad.” The backstory is, when my dad graduated from medical school, he bought my granddad this Rolex Datejust as a gift for putting him through school. My dad put me through school and supported me when I started trying to play on tour, so when I got my PGA Tour card, I did the same for him. I purchased a Rolex Datejust and had it engraved: “Thanks for the love and support, Keith,” and he has not taken it off since that day. I also bought my mum a Rolex before I ever bought anything big for myself. My parents made so many sacrifices for me. I’m fascinated by the sophistication of workmanship in watches that goes back hundreds of years. I bought my wife an engagement ring, but when we got married, we each bought Cartier Tank watches engraved with our initials and wedding date. I’ve bought all my watches at Fourtane Jewellers in Carmel, California, which is run by my friend Josh Bonifas. He took the business over from his father, so his knowledge is remarkable. Every time I play Pebble Beach, I visit the store.

Best style advice you ever received? 

“Elegance is in simplicity,” which I got from my dad. After all, a tuxedo is just black and white. My belt buckle is my dad’s, and I’ve worn it since I got my first belt strap at 16. This is why style is timeless to me. 

The post Keith Mitchell: Playing It Cool appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

A sartorial history of the game’s biggest trendsetters

 Photo: Leonard Kamsler/popperfoto

Close your eyes and picture a golfer. Are you imagining the human equivalent of a single man’s “laundry chair” piled with polyester? It’s hard to blame you. For certain periods of time, golf’s redeeming qualities in style were nearly non-existent. Form and function need not combine, most golfers thought.

However, a new spotlight on the game has brought with it an interest in the aesthetic surrounding country-club sports, and through this lens, it’s easier to see the sartorial highlights of golf’s golden past. Golfers and the brands that dress them today are leaning into the long plackets and accentuated collars of the 1970s, the baggy silhouettes of the 1990s and the radical, punk attitude that Tiger Woods infused into the game in the early 2000s. Finally, the best looks of golf’s past are being re-imagined and re-applied to golf in 2024. 

The result is that there has never been a better time to get dressed to go play than right now. No matter how you found the game or what your uniform looked like before you first stepped onto a tee, you have an avenue to explore in the new pantheon of golf clothing that is drawing inspiration from all walks of life. 

With this in mind, we dug through the archives in search of style lessons from the world’s best golfers (and a few celebrities) that you can still steal for today.

Walter Hagen
Circa 1915 

Let’s dial in on Hagen’s pants here. This is the era in which fashion was function, so surely Hagen rolled these pants in pursuit of performance, not a fit pic snapped on the streets. A closer look reveals pinstripes in his pants, which hang loose, and thanks to his personal touch, will remain grass-stain free. Also, this photo does make one ponder what strapping into a bow tie might do for head stabilisation in the backswing. 

Bill Murray
1996 Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Murray’s signature look is that he hardly has one. A stalwart, at least for a while, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, in 1996 Murray walked the fairways of Poppy Hills in a put-together number that looked to be straight out of a J.Crew catalogue. It’s golfy, it’s preppy and another example of why there’s no reason not to wear a necktie on the course –especially on the Monterey Peninsula.

Arnold Palmer
1963 Thunderbird Classic

Arnold Palmer famously carried himself with a level of confidence and kindness unmatched by his contemporaries, which is a phenomenal first step in owning what you’re wearing. Lucky for Arnie, he had exquisite taste, too. We know The King had a thing for yellow, and anyone who looked as good in it as he does here would, too. He paired it with a navy polo and grey cuffed slacks. His shiny black shoes and perfectly weathered leather Wilson golf bag made this his signature look. 

Sam Snead
1949 US Open

Is there anything smoother than Sam Snead’s swing? Seriously, go watch his ceremonial tee shot at the 2000 Masters. He still had it, and he still had style, too – never more than in his heyday. In 1949 at Medinah, Snead married Midwest prep with a spike of the South in his signature straw hat. Don’t sleep on the refined pleated pants or the large, relaxed collar that gives his yellow polo even more character.

Nick Faldo 
1990 Masters

Nick Faldo’s commitment to the Scottish brand Pringle and its unmissable golf jumpers made its way to the biggest stage when Faldo won his second straight Masters wearing one in 1990. Sure, the green jacket pairs well here, but what’s impressive about this fit is that Faldo lets the icon on his sweater do the talking. Toning it down with dark grey slacks, white shoes and a matching collar are what keep this look from going over the top.

Chi Chi Rodriguez
1965 Thunderbird Classic

The wallet chain is a bold move, but Rodriguez was never afraid to express his unique personal style on the golf course, and for that, there’s nothing to serve but respect. Beyond the chain, a perfectly fitted polo, buttoned to the top as was his tendency, and a sleek, high-waisted pair of pants round out one of Rodriguez’s many fits to remember throughout his career. Further, it’s impossible not to look cool with a scowl like that underneath a pair of black Wayfarers.

Calvin Peete
1986 PGA Championship

Any image of Calvin Peete from any point in his career could serve as a timeless style lesson. We’ll focus on this one from the 1986 PGA Championship for no other reason than it’s beautiful beyond adequate description. We love the relentless pleat, the crispy white shoes, a collar simultaneously relaxed and at attention and a hat that looks at home on his head. Look closely and you’ll spy a Coca-Cola logo on his polo. The NASCAR-ification of professional golfwear had yet to begin. Lastly, we applaud this luxurious cardinal red. 

Justin Leonard
1999 Ryder Cup

Team USA’s Sunday polo – a.k.a. “The Shirt” – is certainly a divisive pick for this list. Tiger Woods famously said he threw his in the fireplace afterwards, but no one can argue with its magic. Not only is it synonymous with an iconic comeback, The Shirt speaks to the sort of storytelling we’re seeing throughout golf fashion today. A polo adorned with black and white images of winners past? You would see a million different versions of it today if The Shirt didn’t already exist in ubiquity or if Justin Leonard hadn’t holed that putt.

Nancy Lopez
1978 LPGA Championship 

This is late 1970s style in all its colour-blocked glory, courtesy of Nancy Lopez: a vibrant hue of orangey red blocked with a deep blue bright enough that you can appreciate the pleats. A five-button polo with an extra-wide, elongated collar and perfectly tailored sleeves is ’70s style at its finest, and Lopez shows how she helped define the era making up most of our mood boards in the 2020s. 

LaRee Sugg
1995

The same year she became the third Black woman to earn an LPGA Tour card, LaRee Sugg showed up to the first round of the Rochester International boasting an extremely powerful fit anchored by a Spider-Man snapback. Don’t be too distracted by your friendly neighbourhood hero, though. Underneath, she’s got on a sneakily futuristic pair of shades and one hell of a case for red and yellow, starring a short-sleeved, mock-neck sweater. 

Jesper Parnevik
1994 Open Championship

Jesper had a career full of unconventional looks, and this silhouette could be out of a 2024 lookbook. A turtleneck that channels the classic layering of a sweater vest, pants that hang comfortably and, yeah, a hat with a great backstory (he started wearing it this way in 1992 to get more sun on his face), Parnevik’s style is so enduring it earned him a contract with Malbon this year even though Jesper doesn’t compete on tour anymore.

Ben Hogan
1962 Thunderbird Classic

Hogan walked so Payne Stewart could run, at least in the cap department, but that’s not why we love Hogan’s look here. A polo that fits him just right hangs comfortably over a pair of high-waisted, low-crotch pants with an extended tab enclosure. It’s a whole lot of Parisian beauty – not bad for a guy from Texas. 

Seve Ballesteros
1988 Open Championship

The outline of this image of Seve could easily be considered for a new DP World Tour logo, but that would be a shame because we would miss out on the vibrance of these green pants. In his signature navy, Seve shows how to sport a loud colour effectively by keeping it simple elsewhere with white shoes and a solid colour up top. It’s just another reason why that classic navy jumper worked so well for him. 

Doug Sanders
1960s

It’s not that you don’t see a lot of white pants out there these days. The difference today is nobody seems to deploy them with the grace that Doug Sanders does here. The key is consistency with what you pair with them. Sanders chose a deep red monotone turtleneck-and-sweater-vest layer that looks so good you forget there’s not a collar in sight. The patent-leather, kiltie-laden spikes are the final and glorious touch. 

Lori Garbacz
1990

The LPGA Tour’s Lori Garbacz (GAR-ba-see) may not be a recognisable name, but she had a rebellious streak. (She famously protested slow play at the 1991 US Women’s Open by having her caddie order Domino’s pizza from a payphone near the 14th hole and having it delivered to the 17th tee.) Here, aesthetics and functionality meet the 1980s in the rolled up T-shirt (!) sleeves, magnificent ’do and oversize eyewear, but it’s really how Garbacz puts it together, or maybe the way she’s looking at that shot like it might go in, that’s most enviable. 

Phil Mickelson
1993 MCI Heritage Classic

For a guy who rarely finds an escape from the colour black these days, Mickelson put on a masterclass of loud country-club style throughout his prowess in the 1990s, never more so than here, at the 1993 MCI Heritage Classic, in an argyle-meets-tie-dye top that’s part polo, part overshirt and part… sweatshirt? Whatever the case, it’s surprisingly ‘steezy’, and his caddie, Jim (Bones) Mackay, doesn’t lose points for the Yonex hat, either. 

Joe Pesci and Jack Nicholson
1996 

Pesci and Nicholson were paired at a charity tournament in LA, and we were blessed with this moment: two of the greatest actors of all time, playing the part of capital-G Golfers. Look closely and admire Pesci’s studded leather belt and space-age shades. Nicholson has been photographed with a cigarette in his mouth plenty of times, but might never have looked cooler than he does here in white, baggy, pleated pants and a Titleist hat vintage heads would die to get their scalps under.

Tiger Woods
1998 US Open

Before he ran his own clothing line designed to accentuate his superheroic physique, Tiger embraced the slouchy fits you can see scattered across public courses today. This wide-cut sweater vest feels borrowed from “Happy Gilmore”, and the cropped cut makes it more ahead of its time than even Tiger could have imagined. Don’t overlook Tom Watson hanging in the background in Ralph Lauren wool.

Fred Couples
1992 Masters

There’s so much good happening here, and I’m not even talking about the man in the red blazer in the background. At the 1992 Masters, Freddie won in epic fashion. These baggy, pleated beauties would have been all over Instagram had it existed back then. The brassy hue of brown is just light enough to let those pleats shine. Freddie’s no stranger to an easygoing look, but he has never executed quite like he did the day he slipped on the green jacket. 

Lee Elder
1975 Masters

The Masters, even before it was the commercial powerhouse it is today, has always had a way of bringing out the best in pro golfers’ style, and Elder, the first Black man to play in the tournament, displays a simple yet powerful look. Yes, the greys in his pants and jumper aren’t the same, but they’re both luxe executions of wool that play next to each other like ham and eggs. A pop of red from his of-the-era collar and visor make it a head turner. 

Don January
1963 Thunderbird Classic

Don January was a PGA Championship winner and a Texas sports Hall of Famer. He’s also a first-ballot style Hall of Famer, as demonstrated here in a look that you could easily see on the course today. Don’t shame him for a wrinkled collar – golf can be rough. Instead, admire his confidence in popping it, and the cozy, worn-wool cardigan he wrapped it in. Throw in a nod for wearing merch from the tour stop at the tour stop. That’s support. 

The post Strokes Gained: Style appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Jason Day finds light at the end of a long tunnel. 

There is a fascinating study that can be made of the great professional golfers and how their careers often centred on one torrid stretch that accentuated their body of work.

Arnold Palmer is perhaps the quintessential example. While he was arguably the game’s biggest star for the bulk of the time from 1960 to 1975, he won all seven of his major titles between April 1958 and April 1964. When he won a fourth Masters in ’64, Palmer was just 34 and had you suggested he’d never again win another major, no one would have believed you. But that’s how it unfolded.

Now to use an introduction of Arnold Palmer to morph into a discussion of Jason Day is taking great latitude, admittedly. But remember this premise of torrid stretches of play that punctuate careers of great golfers. With Day, the Queenslander who took his “can’t miss” tag and rode it to the top of world ranking, it is easy to forget in this era of instant gratification just how brilliantly he played at his very best. After all, it wasn’t that long ago.

Crazy, but our focus on PGA Tour golfers in today’s landscape is often fixated on Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Best mates since their American Junior Golf Association days. College rivals while at the universities of Texas and Alabama. Glued at the hip as Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teammates. In their 20s, they each caught fire on the PGA Tour and got to No.1 in the world.

For five years (2013-2017), Spieth won 13 times, three of them majors. Thomas’ five-year stretch (2016-2020) produced 13 wins, one of them majors, while a second major came two years later.

Suffice to say, their legends are cemented, even if as 30-year-olds they are both caught in a drought. Wins have come painfully infrequently since their torrid stretches, and the fact they have fallen to 18th (Spieth) and 28th (Thomas) in the Official World Golf Ranking has people wondering what’s wrong. Which proves that everything is a matter of perspective, because as the golfer currently sitting 21st in the world ranking, Day has people applauding what has gone so right for the personable Aussie.

His story isn’t unlike those of Spieth and Thomas. Day’s five-year hot stretch (2014-2018) was 95 tournaments of impactful play. There were 11 PGA Tour wins, including the 2015 PGA Championship when he outplayed Spieth in a memorable battle at Whistling Straits.

What should never be overlooked is how Day dominated the world ranking – he was No.1 on three different occasions, including a 47-week stretch from March 2016 to February 2017. Like Spieth and Thomas, Day got to the peak of the world ranking in his 20s (he was 27 and 28 years old), but what makes his story so appealing is how he battled through injuries (vertigo and back pain, among others) and confronted a real-life dilemma.

“To be honest, I was very close to calling it quits,” said Day, citing injuries that led to poor play and made him miss being at home with his wife, Ellie, and their five children.

He had followed his monster year of 2015 (five wins, including the PGA) with three marquee triumphs in ’16 (Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC–Dell Technologies Match Play, Players Championship) and in ’17 he signed a lucrative contract with Nike. Day was No.1 in the OWGR for a 51st week in early April 2017 but exactly five years later, he found himself ranked 178th and sliding badly.

Quit? There were signs pointing that way and guess what? “I was OK with it,” Day said, “just because it was a very stressful part of my life.” Ellie, though, wouldn’t hear it. “She never gave up on me trying to get back to the winner’s circle. She just always was pushing me to try to get better.”

Even when Day ended the 2022 season with just $US1,086,460 – his lowest money total since his rookie season of 2008 – there was a sense of enthusiasm. The key, Day has said, was his maturation and he addressed that question in May 2023 when he won for the first time in five years.

“I think the advice I’d have to give [a younger Jason Day] is to be patient, always strive to get better… just try to better yourself.”

The win at the AT&T Byron Nelson, a title he will defend this month, was punctuated with a closing 62 and provided a sense of symmetry for Day. That’s because his first PGA Tour win had come at the same tournament 13 years earlier.

“It’s mainly about the journey,” Day said in the aftermath of that win. And now, at 36, he is saturated in perspective. “At the end of the day, golf is a nice thing to have and winning is a great thing to have. But the people around you (his wife and children) are the most important things at the end of the day.”

The win, Day’s 13th on the PGA Tour, clearly meant a lot to him. But what also provides comfort is a high standard of play that has him firmly entrenched among the game’s elite once again. Sitting 22nd, just behind Spieth and slightly ahead of Thomas, was noteworthy on the cusp of the major season, plus a potential return into the Presidents Cup fold where he last appeared for the International team in 2017.

Day’s greatest strength is his peace of mind. “I just can’t help but feel thankful to be able to play this game,” he said earlier this year, though it’s a sentiment that consumes him every day.

So if you find yourself pondering elite names who have been dropping in the world ranking, stop and pay notice to a quality player who has battled back to be where he belongs. 

Photos: Getty Images

Official content of the PGA Tour

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We rank the single-best seasons of modern-era players

To mark the 50th playing of the Players Championship, the founding of which in 1974 coincided with the dawn of what we might call golf’s modern era, we crunched some numbers. Our goal was singular: to rank the 50 best players of the past five decades by their best single season.

Why, you say? Isn’t longevity and the breadth of a player’s accomplishments more important? Isn’t Jack Nicklaus placing fifth on any list of golfers inherently absurd? Sure, but finding new ways to identify greatness across eras is an inescapable part of being a golf fan. Weighted most heavily towards performance in majors (acknowledging our “big-game hunters”), our formula also accounted for total wins, top 10s, scoring titles and player-of-the-year awards. We also gave a slight advantage to players who won in multiple countries, denoted by our “global conqueror” icon. Strength of the competition was not factored because, after all, you can beat only what’s in front of you.

What follows are golf’s Roman candles. There’s something deeply compelling about considering who burned brightest when.

01: Tiger Woods (2000)

Exhibit A of the case for Tiger Woods as the best golfer of all time is his 2000 season. Winning every major but the Masters for 10 total victories and a record-breaking PGA Tour scoring average of 68.17, Tiger crushed the spirits of fellow competitors in a way no other player has come close to matching.

02: Tom Watson (1977)

His 1977 season signalled a new era. A complete player through the bag, Watson outduelled Jack Nicklaus in two majors that year – the Masters and Open Championship – and won the first of his four consecutive player-of-the-year honours.

03: Nick Price (1994)

His 1977 season signalled a new era. A complete player through the bag, Watson outduelled Jack Nicklaus in two majors that year – the Masters and Open Championship – and won the first of his four consecutive player-of-the-year honours.

04: Jordan Spieth (2015)

Spieth came within four strokes of the Grand Slam and won the Tour Championship. He had a magical ability to make crucial mid-range birdie putts. He ranked first on tour in putting between 20 and 25 feet with a 25 percent make rate, helping him one-putt a tour-leading 44 percent of the time.

05: Jack Nicklaus (1975)

It’s hard to pinpoint one season in which Jack was at his best, but 1975 might have been it. Astonishingly long off the tee and deft with his putter, Nicklaus, 35, finished in the top 10 in 14 of 16 events, won two majors and extended his made-cut streak to a then-unthinkable 91 tournaments. 

06: Rory McIlroy (2014)

He went winless in 2013 after a high-profile equipment switch to Nike, but during the latter part of 2014 McIlroy found his game, winning four times from May through August, including a WGC title and the final two majors of the year.   

07: Greg Norman (1986)

It’s amazing that Norman’s signature season comes with a twinge of disappointment: 1986 was the year of the “Saturday Slam” in which Norman led all four majors through 54 holes. It was also the year Norman refined his raw potential and transformed himself into the leading man of his era.

08: Vijay Singh (2004)

With Tiger Woods struggling after a swing change, Vijay Singh outworked and outplayed everyone, piecing together one of golf’s best seasons. Singh had nine wins, including the PGA Championship, despite losing strokes to the field on the greens (Strokes Gained/Putting -0.09).

09: Nick Faldo (1992)

He won more majors in 1990, but 1992 was when Faldo won regularly. He used his accurate and steady ball-striking to set the 36-hole scoring record en route to winning his third Open Championship and set the record for worldwide earnings with 1.6 million British pounds.

10: Ernie Els (1994)

Before Tiger, there was Ernie, the first of a new breed of modern golfer who tamed the mighty Oakmont with his smooth speed. Els would transform into an even better golfer in later years, but by then big wins were harder to come by: he finished second to Woods, Mickelson or Singh in majors four times. 

11: Mark O’Meara (1998)

At 41, O’Meara became the oldest to win two majors in a season, highlighting his remarkable 1998 hot streak.

12: Seve Ballesteros (1988)

Ballesteros scored seven wins in seven countries: Spain, England, the US, Sweden, Germany, France and Japan.

13: Ian Woosnam (1987)

He was bombing-and-gouging before it was cool, launching 300-yard drives with a persimmon and balata.  

14: Luke Donald (2011)

Short-game wizardry helped Donald finish inside the top 10 in nearly
75 percent of his starts in 2011. 

15: Brooks Koepka (2018)

He was the first since 1989 to defend the US Open and first since Tiger in 2000 to follow with a PGA win. 

16: Sandy Lyle (1988)

His 72nd-hole birdie made him Great Britain’s first Masters winner and the first Scot to win a US major in 50-plus years. 

17: Jose Maria Olazabal (1994)

Olazabal paired his first green jacketin 1994 with a win at the European Tour’s flagship event. 

18: Bob Tway (1986)

He squeezed the most out of his career year, playing 37 tournaments – more than anybody else on this list. 

19: Padraig Harrington (2008)

He became the first player since Tiger Woods to win two majors in a season. Interestingly, those were Harrington’s only two wins that year. 

20: Lee Westwood (2000)

Westwood ended Colin Montgomerie’s seven-year reign atop the European Tour’s Order of Merit.

21: Johnny Miller (1974)

With a 21 percent win rate, he shattered Nicklaus’ money record during a year he said he wouldn’t trade for another major. 

22: Jason Day (2015)

Riding a hot putter, Day finished sixth in Strokes Gained/Putting in 2015 and then led the tour in 2016.

23: Davis Love III (1997)

His consistent power through the bag helped him lead the tour in par-5 birdies and par-4 bogey avoidance.

24: Dustin Johnson (2016)

The ever-dependable ball-striker converted more than 35 percent of his birdie putts this season.

25: Fred Couples (1992)

He won twice and finished second twice during the five weeks leading up to the Masters, then slipped on the green jacket. 

26: Scottie Scheffler (2023)

He gained more strokes tee-to-green than any player since the stat was created, but putted tepidly. 

27: Jon Rahm (2023)

His Masters-winning season began with three wins and five top-seven finishes in seven starts. Then he cashed in for LIV.

28: Justin Thomas (2017)

He shot 59 in January, 63 at the US Open in June and lifted the PGA Championship trophy in August. 

29: Hal Sutton (1983)

He won the Players and PGA, marking the high point of a career that included another Players win in 2000.

30: Martin Kaymer (2010)

He was the first since Tiger Woods to win three consecutive tournaments and ascended to world No.1 in 2011. 

31: Cameron Smith (2022)

With the best putting average (1.68 per hole) on the PGA Tour, Smith won the 150th Open, then joined LIV Golf.

32: Retief Goosen (2001)

The US Open win was in the middle of a run with one international victory from 1995 to 2007, except for 1998.

33: Tom Lehman (1996)

After years of toiling on the satellite tours, Lehman had his hottest year with two of his five PGA Tour wins. 

34: Colin Montgomerie (1994)

His seven-year run atop the European Order of Merit was marked by many major near-misses. 

35: David Duval (1995)

Duval overtook Tiger Woods as world No.1 while winning four times and shooting a 59 at the Bob Hope.

36: Phil Mickelson (2004)

A Masters win and three near-misses in majors in 2004 highlighted the greatest season of many for Mickelson. 

37: Curtis Strange (1998)

Two wins in May and one in June – the US Open – made him the first player to win more than $US1 million in a season. 

38: Adam Scott (2013)

Scott snapped years of shoulda-coulda when his Strokes Gained/Putting got to within a whiff of tour average. 

39: Jim Furyk (1993)

Forced into a last-minute putter change when his was declared non-conforming the week before the US Open, Furyk tied the US Open’s 72-hole scoring record. 

40: Ray Floyd (1981)

He won across four decades and four majors, and his 1981 Players victory came during his most solid season.

41: Lee Trevino (1980)

Trevino’s early years didn’t make the 1974 cutoff date for our ranking, but his stellar 1980 season did.

42: Mark McNulty (1990)

McNulty’s career year came during a stretch when he spent 83 weeks inside the top 10 of the world ranking. 

43: Tom Kite (1981)

Kite finished inside the top 10 in more than 80 percent of his starts during his most consistent season.

44: Ben Crenshaw (1976)

He grabbed the first of five runner-up finishes in majors before eventually winning one in 1984. 

45: Henrik Stenson (2016)

He hit more than 70 percent of his fairways and greens and gained 1.55 strokes from tee-to-green. 

46: Paul Azinger (1993)

Three wins and a major was the zenith of a career that was soon sidelined by a cancer diagnosis.  

47: Corey Pavin (1995)

Among the shortest drivers on tour at 254 yards, Pavin slayed mighty Shinnecock Hills for his US Open win. 

48: Craig Stadler (1982)

Stadler got putting advice from pal Dave Stockton, then nabbed four of his 13 career wins, including the Masters. 

49: Bill Rogers (1981)

In an era of limited travel, Rogers won in England, the United States, Australia and Japan. 

50: Sergio Garcia (2002)

Three wins and four top 10s in majors left many wondering if Garcia would be Europe’s counterpart to Tiger Woods. 

The post The 50 Greatest On Tour Since ’74 appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

It’s the rare few that can play golf for a living. But there’s an array of career opportunities for people wishing to work in golf – from caddieing to clubfitting, administration to landscaping. We asked a variety of people how they came to get a job in golf. 

Feature Image – Getty images: CHLOE ZOLA

Never too late to change career path

John Stephens, Turf Manager, Cootamunda Golf Club, NSW

In his early 50s, John Stephens was seeking a less stressful lifestyle. He would eventually sell his equipment-hire business and take a job as a groundsman at Cootamundra Golf Club in the New South Wales Riverina.

Stephens had been on the Cootamundra board when ‘greenkeeper’ Wayne Loiterton expressed an intention to retire after 34 years. Without any staff to replace him, Stephens offered to maintain the 18-hole course, which is the oldest in country NSW.

“I watched what he did and thought, Geez I can do that. As a small club, it fixed one of the problems for the board,” Stephens says.

After a year being tutored by Loiterton about how to maintain Cootamundra’s kikuyu fairways and bentgrass putting surfaces, Stephens now maintains the club’s 96-hectare property (including lawn bowling green and croquet court) with a part-time employee and two volunteers. He receives supervision from club board member Chris Dawe, a certified turf manager who works as a sales representative for Toro.

It’s a far cry from when Stephens supervised a dozen or so employees in his equipment-hire business that lent machinery to tradesmen and erected wedding marquees anywhere between Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga, Yass and Canberra.

“Just a change of lifestyle. Looking for that outdoor exercise and a bit of peace and quiet,” Stephens reflects about the decision to sell the equipment-hire business.

“I was looking for a less stressful lifestyle… Have you ever tried to deal with five brides in a weekend? You’ve seen weddings. Then multiply that by five and times that by 15 weeks in a row. Throw in the weather. Throw in staff. It gets ugly quick… So there was a lot of supervision and co-ordination. A lot of logistics… There’s nothing more peaceful than mowing the grass. Getting paid to mow stripes.”

It’s been a relatively seamless transition for Stephens, who is two years into a turf apprenticeship. Without prior experience in the turf industry, the now 57-year-old reasoned he could adapt quickly.

“I’m probably lucky in a sense because of my life experiences. Like in the hire game, I can drive just about any piece of machinery. I’ve got a working knowledge of repairs and things like that. So the machinery has been easy in that sense. Just being older, you’ve got more life skills. You don’t panic. Irrigation – I actually sold spray units for a while, so spraying doesn’t worry me. And I’ve got some pretty good supervision that’s helped me through it.”

A passionate advocate for golf

Monina Gilbey, Biodiversity Manager, Glenelg Golf Club, SA

Golf was never on Monina Gilbey’s radar growing up. Yet now as biodiversity manager at Glenelg Golf Club, she’s playing a leading role in promoting the benefits of golf courses to the wider community.

Gilbey, 50, used to work as a public servant, writing legislation for the National Environment Protection Council (such as for air-quality standards, national pollutant inventory and used packaging-material standards). “From writing legislation – which I really felt like it wasn’t doing enough to protect the environment – I was looking for some other way to make a difference,” she recalls.

Gilbey went and studied to be a garden designer at TAFE SA in Urrbrae. While studying, she began doing voluntary work for her local council (City of Holdfast Bay) in revegetation projects. That led to design work for the council and she eventually became a contractor with projects in wildlife strategies and biodiversity-management plans.

From there she was a contractor engaged by superintendent Tim Warren for two projects at West Beach Parks Golf (formerly Adelaide Shores). When Warren eventually relocated to Glenelg Golf Club, he offered Gilbey a job as vegetation officer.

“I really didn’t know what I was in for, because golf was never on my radar,” she says.

Six years later and now in the role of biodiversity manager at Glenelg, Gilbey uses her administrative skills and horticultural knowledge in many ways – from establishing habitats for rare species (such as butterflies), assisting with fauna surveys (often insects and birds), applying for and administering grants, ordering plants/liaising with growers and general weeding/landscaping.

In 2022, Gilbey’s perseverance was rewarded when she and Warren won the Claude Crockford Sustainability and Environment Award from the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association. Gilbey was just the second woman to win the award in 24 years. She was also recognised as 2022 Employee Of The Year by Clubs South Australia.

Significantly, it’s not just the golf industry where Gilbey is leaving an impression. She’s been able to influence environmental authorities about how golf courses can be important wildlife refuges.

“Green Adelaide has seen the value of having a golf course as a protective urban environment. So it’s an area that can be managed by golf staff when other areas like [nature] reserves with councils can’t be managed as closely.

“If golf courses can be part of that re-wilding and contribute to urban biodiversity, then that shows they have a purpose for being around – more than just [for] golf. Because that is the issue golf courses face. There is a lot of pressure on their land because they take up such a big part of the urban environment. But they actually contribute a lot to the urban environment.”

Gilbey says there are many opportunities for horticultural jobs in the golf industry. As for what she enjoys most about her role, she says: “I like being able to provide a habitat for local fauna and to preserve indigenous plants for future generations. Because our seed stock and our cuttings can be used for plant [propagation]. In Adelaide, a lot of the remaining indigenous plants are at golf courses. So what we’re doing here is really important.”

From fixing bikes to fixing clubs

Alex Briggs, Club Repairer, Mullumbimby, NSW

A

n addiction to golf led Alex Briggs to fix his own golf clubs. Now after 28 seasons travelling the world as a motorcycle mechanic for the likes of Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi [below], that addiction has morphed into his own club repair business.

A natural tinkerer, Briggs always used to re-grip his own golf clubs. It’s no different to changing grips on a motorcycle, according to the 54-year-old who is a ‘reluctant’ president of Mullumbimby Golf Club.

“But the mechanic in me assumed the reason I can’t play properly must be [because] these clubs are faulty. So I decided, ‘Oh, well, I better fix these golf clubs I’m using because that’s clearly the reason I can’t play golf properly. Turns out it wasn’t. But anyway.”

That’s exactly how the 11-handicapper became a motorcycle racing mechanic. He would fix his own bike. And that led to three decades following the Moto GP circuit where he worked as one of four mechanics in a pit crew maintaining two motorcycles.

Briggs worked for Australians Daryl Beattie (1993) and Doohan (1994-1999) before entering a lengthy association with nine-time world champion Rossi (2000-2020). And at every racetrack, Briggs made sure he knew the whereabouts of a top golf course on which to play.

On the circuit for six months of the year, Briggs would return home to Mullumbimby in the Byron Shire of the NSW Northern Rivers with plenty of time to play golf. When he finished with racing, that’s when he decided to start a stand-alone club-repair business.

“Towards the last five years of my racing-mechanic career, I started buying some of the tools that you would need [to fix clubs]. And learning and reading about repairs. It wasn’t a big step at all because a lot of it’s very basic mechanical skills that you need. So it was easy. I started accumulating the tools and now I have a business at home repairing [clubs]. I also live on a property, so I have a driving range at my home and a short-game area. So, yeah, all because of motorcycle racing. A very strange game.”

Briggs assembled all the necessary equipment in his garage: club lie-and-loft machine; putter lie-and-loft machine; linishing belts, buffs and cutting wheels that are golf-specific for cutting shafts and polishing ferrules by hand; shaft pullers to dislodge the heads of graphite shafts; frequency/CPM machine for consistent shaft matching; and a digital swingweight machine.

Briggs says he would easily average a job per day, whether it be changing a worn grip to refitting an entire set of shafts. Most work comes by word of mouth from Mullumbimby, Ocean Shores, Ballina and Byron Bay. For instance, the club member who has just broken a shaft or a local pro may contact Briggs to adjust the clubs for one of his students. Briggs also uses Twitter, Instagram and has two websites with his contact details (wrenchracer.com and wrenchracergolfdept.com).

“Because I work from home, people can just come and we just have a cup of coffee and go up the shed, turn the radio on and do it. It’s kinda fun,” Briggs says.

At this stage it’s a part-time business since Briggs has other work related to motorcycle racing. But he offers encouragement to would-be club repairers.

“I think, going forward, if you really wanted to make a business out of it, you would align it with a proper clubfitting and coaching business. I think that would probably be the real way to make the money. And that’s what some of the places are doing now with the TrackMan [launch monitors]. That’ll be my next step. Hopefully they’ll be able to come and swing indoors and we can make some adjustments based on what we see.”

A multi-faceted career in golf

Paul Howard, Clubfitting Specialist, Drummond Golf, Sydney

When Paul Howard attended the Jack Newton Celebrity Classic in 1989, little did he know it would lead to an association with golf as a caddie, travel agent and clubfitting specialist over the next four decades.

Howard left school with the intention of undertaking a traineeship under legendary Sydney professional Bill McWilliam. But his parents had other ideas and his father pushed him into a job as a clerk at the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac).

After seven years at the bank, Howard left to become a sales representative for Air New South Wales (which was taken over by Ansett in 1993). This job led to an invitation to attend ‘The Jack’ at Tewantin-Noosa Golf Club on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast where Howard struck up a friendship with professional Russell Swanson. Howard caddied for Swanson when he attempted to pre-qualify for the 1990 Open Championship at St Andrews, missing out by two strokes at Ladybank Golf Club in Fife.

“It escalated from there,” says Howard, 60, who caddied each summer on the PGA Tour of Australasia from 1990-2002 while maintaining a full-time job in the airline industry. “I enjoyed caddieing so much that I then got some gigs with Andre Stolz, Paul Sheehan, Wayne Riley and Brett Ogle.”

It’s worth noting Howard is no slouch with the clubs. He has won four club championships at Beverley Park and attained a 1-handicap at Bonnie Doon where he played in the club’s Group 1 pennant-winning side in 1993.

For anybody wishing to become a caddie, he says: “To make it happen, it’s about getting on the practice fairway at tournaments and making yourself known. The most important attribute is punctuality. And obviously the three golden rules: turn up, keep up and shut up.”

When Ansett collapsed in 2001, Howard started his own travel business (St George Travel) and managed several professional golfers as clients. As a licensed travel agent, he would book flights, accommodation and travel arrangements for the likes of Peter Lonard, Paul Gow, Nathan Green, Brendan Jones, Paul Sheehan, Gavin Coles and Stolz.

Then in 2003, when a Drummond Golf store was opening at Taren Point in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney’s south, Ogle arranged for Howard to meet the franchise owners (Jacqui and Simon). While still in the airline business with Jetstar, Howard has now worked at Drummond Golf as a retail sales consultant for the past 19 years, assisting customers as a clubfitting specialist.

As to the qualifications to work at Drummond Golf, Howard says: “Drummond Golf employs staff that are passionate about golf. Then they will train you in everything from retail to clubfitting.”

Taking golf to the streets

Sally Peers, Local Government Co-ordinator, Golf Australia, VIC

Sally Peers is veritable proof you can forge a career in golf without being a golf tragic. A latecomer to the game, the former tennis professional and Commonwealth Games gold medallist is playing an important role in liaising with local government and growing the sport’s participation numbers.

As a crack junior, Peers won the Wimbledon Girls’ doubles in 2009. The next year she reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open women’s doubles. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, she won gold in women’s doubles and a bronze in singles. Perhaps her most notable tennis achievement came in 2012 when she won the prestigious Nottingham women’s doubles title alongside a rising star by the name of Ash Barty.

Peers retired from tennis in 2017 after competing in her last Australian Open. Subsequently, she coached tennis but was keen to move into an office role. Fortuitously, a staff member at Golf Australia suggested she apply for an administrative role at the governing body’s headquarters at Sandringham. Peers started working there two years ago as a part-time receptionist/administrator.

“I love sport, so I really wanted to stay in the sports industry but move outside of tennis – to learn something different,” says the 32-year-old, who never played golf growing up but was around keen golfers such as her father and brother.

Apart from mini-golf, Peers’ first 18-hole round was at Melbourne’s Wattle Park public course a couple of years ago. But that hasn’t curtailed the 28-handicapper’s career prospects. In late 2022, Peers successfully applied for a new internal position at Golf Australia as local government co-ordinator. The role involves building relationships and educating government about the benefits of golf.

“We do a lot of work with local council with a focus on public-access golf,” Peers says. “We also do a lot of work with councils to activate golf in different ways, using different formats of the game.

“It’s quite a varied role, which I really enjoy. Depending on what support councils need with their golf facility. And we’ve done a lot with the team on championing public golf and golf-course land.”

One of last year’s bigger projects was with Maribyrnong City Council. Peers helped plan a family-orientated golf activity in the Nicholson Street Mall in Footscray, which is home to a vibrant, diverse community.

“Trying to open up golf to people that may not previously have considered golf a sport for them. We got about 250 people with a golf club in their hand that day, many for the first time.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I feel like golf is really on the front foot, we are changing the perception of the game.” 

The post How To Get A Job In Golf appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

How the Arizona desert town became the underworld of professional golf

It’s a desert town paved over the cracks of golf’s caste system. Only in Scottsdale can the wannabes compete against PGA Tour players on a public par-3 course – the only requisites for entry are a few bucks and an ability to run your mouth, preferably with a drink in hand. Away from the Papago Shootout, you can find the hopefuls working as caddies at upscale joints like Whisper Rock, Estancia and Silverleaf. If you want to see them pursuing their dreams, visit the practice facility at Talking Stick Resort. Not many ranges in the United States can rival the talent here, particularly in the weeks before Q-School. The carpark is full of Corollas, Civics and beaten-up Jeeps. The iron grooves are worn and the golf bags weathered. These players don’t have the accoutrements of their occupation because depending on the day that occupation is up for interpretation.    

“[A lot of] the guys out here have the pieces to the puzzle,” says Andre Metzger, a veteran of the mini-tour life. “The hard part is that the pieces are always scattered, or one piece is missing. That one missing piece can be the difference in making it.” That’s why they are in Scottsdale, Arizona. This town gives them the best chance to make those pieces fit.  

Reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and US Open winner Wyndham Clark live in Scottsdale, as do Max Homa and Joel Dahmen, two of the most popular players in the game. Past major winners Tom Lehman and Geoff Ogilvy do, too. LIV Golf’s Paul Casey, Pat Perez and Bubba Watson have homes in the area, and Phil Mickelson is associated as a member, designer or owner of multiple golf properties. In all, about two dozen players with PGA Tour cards populate the area alongside hundreds of golfers on developmental tours struggling to make it to the next level.   

This didn’t happen overnight. A town of no more than 2,000 people when it was incorporated in 1951, Scottsdale blossomed as planners and the United States Army Corps of Engineers studied the infrastructure of north-eastern cities to learn from their mistakes. The upshot was a grid system with water service reaching into the desert, service that was supposed to be for residential properties but was conducive to building and maintaining golf courses. One of those first courses was Desert Highlands, which hosted the inaugural Skins Game in 1983 featuring Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Gary Player. It’s hard to overstate the reach of the Skins Game in that era. In its first years of existence the Skins Game’s average weekend rating beat the US Open’s. Millions tuned in on Thanksgiving to see the warm weather and beautiful vistas of Scottsdale, scenes that looked very appealing to those stuck in cold climates during the American winter.  

TPC Scottsdale, a venue built and operated by the PGA Tour for the Phoenix Open, played a key role, too. Courses in the TPC network allow players with status on PGA Tour-affiliated mini-tours free access to their practice facilities. Players competing at the Phoenix Open became enamoured with the region, enticed by the then-cheap cost of living and near-perfect weather. About that time, Arizona State University in nearby Tempe developed one of the best golf programs in the country, introducing fledgling stars to the town.

Word spread through the tour ranks, and Scottsdale communities began to cater to golf’s best, understanding the magnetism a tour pro brings to a club. In turn those clubs conferred a level of privacy and normalcy that Florida and Texas often do not; already plush with retired athletes, the unspoken acknowledgement in town is that celebrities enjoy Scottsdale because they’re not treated as celebrities. This fusion led to the creation of oases like Whisper Rock (Mickelson’s first-designed course), Silverleaf and Estancia.

Golf is a copycat sport, and endeavouring pros took notice. Young players with PGA Tour aspirations moved to Scottsdale, first during the autumn and winter months and then year-round. Until a few years ago Talking Stick had a $50 monthly deal for unlimited balls with $25 tee-times after 3pm. The hundreds of courses needed staffing, so players took jobs in the golf shop or caddie barn in exchange for free or discounted golf. Independent leagues like the Cactus and Asher tours sprang up, as a wealth of male and female players needed a place to compete outside qualifying events, and players began running their own competitions against each other to keep their games sharp. Eventually, some of those games became their own attractions, to the point where the Korn Ferry Tour and even some PGA Tour players would compete.   

Papago golf course, which is home to Arizona State University’s golf complex, breaks the desert-golf stereotype. It’s long, tight and tough. It’s partly what attracts so many good golfers and produces some of the fiercest competition anywhere. “I remember playing in a bunch of local games when I first got out here. Papago is another level,” says Metzger, who has played on numerous tours. “I remember going up to the Dakotas Tour, and in the first event I finished fifth. I thought, Compared to [back in Scottsdale], this is easy.”    

The Papago game received notoriety last year thanks to Homa: after winning the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open and its $US1.5 million prize, Homa teed it up at the muny’s Monday skins contest. “I’m on the range, and next to me is a guy in a sweatshirt with a beard and a Dodgers cap. I’m thinking, No way that’s Max; I just watched him beat everybody at Torrey Pines,” says Jon Chaffee, a Papago regular. “Then I see the swing, and I go, Yeah, that’s Max.” Homa shot 67, good enough for low gross and its $400 pot.

At Mountain Shadows Resort, PGA Tour players compete in games on a par-3 course where the longest hole is just under 200 yards, and the shortest is 55. The game is run by former pro and current caddie Mike Glennie, 37, and he makes sure the buy-ins aren’t extravagant, ranging from $20 to $30. “We want guys competing, but we also want to keep it fun,” Glennie says. “Guys are going to be messing around, letting loose, talking trash and playing in fivesomes.” 

Glennie wants the field to play in 2:40 or less. On paper that might strike an intramural tone, but the Mountain Shadows game draws regular tour pros like Dahmen, Adam Hadwin, Brandon Harkins and Jimmy Gunn. Rising star Brady Calkins often takes the low-gross game – seven to nine-under for 18 – but he can never seem to win a skin. “One time Brady made a hole-in-one,” Glennie says, “and I had to break it to him that someone made an ace a few groups before.” This underlines the depth of the competition, which is why so many good players flock to it, but Glennie also keeps spots open for anyone, regardless of handicap. Often visitors will hit Glennie up on Instagram, asking to play, and Glennie abides. Two of his regulars are a married couple in their late 50s. “The only thing we have in common is a love of golf,” Glennie says. Oh, and gambling. “Well, we are a bunch of degenerates,” Glennie adds.

Most of the games around town don’t play for huge sums. Much of it is for B and C: beer and Chipotle money. Should someone want to play for big money, those games are around, but for the most part it’s not about that. “Even if it’s a couple of bucks, it gives you pressure, something to play for,” says Jhared Hack, 34, a player with Korn Ferry Tour status who once shot a 57 at Las Vegas Golf Club. “You’re playing against people you go up against at qualifiers. It’s as good a test as any.”

Glennie says he’s always surprised how much a little bit of money means to players who don’t need it. “One guy, fresh off making just less than a million on tour, wins a little more than $80 one week,” Glennie says. “I do all cash, no Venmos. This guy had to leave the game early, so once he found out, I got a call. ‘Hey, I’m at TPC; any chance you can drop off the money?’ Dude, you just banked a million, and you’re worried about this? It’s cool, though, because it reveals the honour and joy they play for, even in stakes as little as this.”

Most players without status on a tour will play two to three games in a week and fill the rest of their time with practice or work. The games are the fulcrum of their existence, and the post-round libations serve as a respite, where players trade stories about bad breaks and worse travel. If the clubhouse shoos them away, the Old Town district has plenty of bars with cheap drinks to keep the festivities going.

“Some guys do their own thing, but this is such a unique lifestyle that it becomes a brotherhood,” Hack says. “These are the people that understand you.” 

Adds Mark Baldwin, a journeyman pro and Scottsdale resident, “You would think it would make for a cutthroat environment, but most players would do anything to help their fellow players out. Guys are there for each other.”

Scottsdale has become golf’s equivalent of Hollywood, a place where the untouchable feels attainable. No, these players don’t see Mickelson, Homa or Rahm and think they are equals. The player who gives others hope is Kevin Streelman, a guy who looks more like the dad in charge of the neighbourhood barbecue than an athlete. Streelman was the third man on a mediocre Duke University golf team. He put 200,000 miles on his mum’s Nissan Altima traversing the Dakotas Tour. He applied for an assistant coaching job at Duke and was turned down. He was a legend on mini-tour circuits like the Hooters and Gateway tours but had to supplement that income by caddieing at Whisper Rock. He birdied the final four holes just to make it to the second stage of Q-School in 2007, and when he finally made it to the PGA Tour, he needed 153 starts before his first victory at age 34. Streelman eventually returned to Whisper Rock as a member and won its club championship five years after working there. He’s hung around the tour for 16 seasons and earned more than $US26 million. He still competes in most of the local games and has an avuncular relationship with the 30-and-younger crowd. 

“He’s someone who was on the bottom of the food chain,” Metzger says of Streelman. “He worked for everything he got. I say this with respect, but when you play against him, it’s not like he’s hitting 350-yard drives. He flushes his irons, but a lot of players out here do that. He has a game that’s not dissimilar to the game we play.”   

Another late bloomer is Scottsdale resident Scott Harrington, who reached the PGA Tour for the first time at 38. The most recent example is Eric Cole, who spent more than a decade grinding it out on the mini-tours, reaching the PGA Tour last season at 34. In his rookie year Cole made more than $US5 million and is ranked inside the world’s top 50. “Cole was good, really good,” Metzger says. “But you never looked at him and thought, Oh, yeah, he’s a no-doubt tour star. He was just one of the guys because everyone is really good.”

These players are “the sell”, and there is no shortage of those willing to buy in. In Scottsdale, the Hollywood proverb holds true: many will come, but only a few will make it.  

It costs so much to compete for so little. That’s professional golf for those outside the PGA Tour’s walls. The expenditures are what you would expect: travel, accommodation, food, tournament fees, practice fees and non-golf bills. The devil is how quickly they add up. “A lot of mini-tour events cost $1,200 to enter, and the winner gets just $5,000, sometimes as low as $3,000,” Glennie says. “You’ll usually get a practice round in. You’re usually staying at a hotel. You got to get to that town, got to eat. If you don’t win, you don’t break even. Miss a few cuts in a row, and you can be in the hole $10,000 within two months.”

A few good players have the financial backing of country-club benefactors. Attempting to play at the highest levels of golf without this assistance is very difficult. It’s one of the many reasons why so many in Scottsdale work at courses. Discounted rates (or free access to the course and practice facility) are the only way they can afford to play. For years one route was to caddie at one of the cosmopolitan clubs, hoping to build a strong enough rapport with wealthy clients who were happy to finance their dreams. However, clubs picked up on this scheme and have cracked down on the practice in recent years after one notable benefactor believed he was being taken advantage of. The punishment isn’t only a reprimand from management: caddies and bag boys have been fired for attempting to secure patronage on club grounds. 

Metzger started delivering pizzas when he moved to Scottsdale. Hack drives for a car service. Calkins has done construction. Landscaping and pool service are popular jobs with too many bartenders, servers and telemarketers to count. Many will go on Craigslist or Facebook and offer to give lessons. At one point Glennie worked four jobs at the same time. Byron Meth, who is a weekly presence at the Mountain Shadows game, is vice-president of sales at a solar power company. The zealous will recognise Meth as the final winner of the now defunct US Amateur Public Links, a victory that earned him a spot at the 2015 Masters. That’s why, after insisting the weekly money games are not about the money, players will eventually concede that the money doesn’t hurt. It may just be a few hundred bucks, but that could be a food stipend for the month. “When you’re thinking about making the tour as a kid, driving strangers around for $100 during a convention week was not what you envisioned,” Hack says. “You have to swallow your pride, but a lot of guys do it. It’s a good test. How bad do you want it, and to what lengths are you willing to go?”   

In Scottsdale, Andre Metzger is something of a golf god. He has been player of the year on circuits most have never heard of, and he has almost 50 career wins across these tours. Ask anyone on the Scottsdale scene about Metzger, and the response is inevitably, “Legend.”

“I hate admitting this, but when I’m at a tournament and see Andre, it’s like, Ah, damn, Andre’s here,” Hack says, laughing. “To win, you know you have to go through him.”   

Hack is pretty good, too, a past winner of the Arizona Open. Calkins’ star is maybe as bright as any. The 28-year-old has cultivated a mystique around his ability to balance his side jobs and golf. An often-told story is Calkins shutting down the bar at a Dakotas Tour event, then waking up three hours later to shoot a course-record 62. 

Even the non-players are still players. Carson Kemp is the owner and head trainer of Motionlab, a gym that specialises in golf fitness. Kemp is something of a golf-pro whisperer, working with Dahmen, Mark Hubbard, Chez Reavie, J.J. Spaun and three-time LPGA major winner Anna Nordqvist. He also works with juniors and golf-crazed amateurs, and it’s not uncommon to see all the groups together in one of Kemp’s training classes. 

“Hey, I don’t care if you’re famous or rich or some 12-handicapper just trying to save a few strokes in your Thursday game,” Kemp says. “If you have the golf bug, you got my attention.” That includes Kemp himself. He looks more like the guy who comes knocking at your door when rent is due than a golfer, but despite picking the game up late, he has turned himself into a great amateur player who is more than capable of taking money from his tour-pro clients.

Chaffee is a Papago regular. He once played on the PGA Tour but could not square with the rhythms of tour life, deciding to transition to the more stable confines of commercial real estate 40 years ago. At 67, he still competes with the up-and-comers and plays from the tips at Papago at 7,500 yards. He routinely breaks par. “It’s a good way to measure yourself,” Chaffee says. “Yeah, they’re better than me, but once you get a taste for competition, it’s hard to give it up.”    

In other sports, the athlete is cut, his or her chances run out, and he or she has nowhere else to go. In golf, for those with financial mobility and fortitude, those chances run in perpetuity. It’s part of the game’s beauty, yet there is an underside. No one wants to be 50, wondering where life went. When Metzger was 29, he gave himself to 32 – what he figured was the average age of PGA Tour players – to reach a level with status and security. He’s now 41. “I’ve probably come close to quitting three times in the past 12 years,” Metzger says, “but I always keep coming back.”   

Metzger is married with kids. Because of family responsibilities he doesn’t play as many games as other Scottsdale players, and a few days a week are dedicated solely to family responsibilities like dropping the children off at school or preparing meals. Metzger knows first-hand how hard it is to let the dream go. His wife, Kim Kolb, was once a highly touted mini-tour player whose career ended abruptly because of injury. He knows what he’s trying to do has a shelf life, even as that expiration date continues to be pushed back.   

Last year Metzger Monday-qualified into the WM Phoenix Open, and he believes he is playing the best golf of his life. He also knows that the top of the moneylist is filled with more players in their 20s than in their 30s. He understands the changing landscape of professional golf has protected the game’s upper class while further limiting the avenues to break through. 

Glennie is another player on the fringe. In the Papago event Homa won, Glennie finished right behind him. He came close to beating a player who had outscored 155 PGA Tour players days before, but Glennie knows he wasn’t really that close. To Glennie, it’s the days when he falls short of playing his best that are the real barometer. “People who I caddie for, they would tell me, ‘Man, you’re better than some of the pros!’ I don’t say this to brag, but, yeah, I can be,” Glennie says, “but a lot of people can be. You have to come to peace with that. Maybe you’re not as special as you think.”   

Glennie was approaching his mid-30s. He had bills to pay and a marriage he wanted to start. He realised the golf lifestyle he loved was putting the rest of his life on pause. He still plays in games and tries out for a qualifier or two but only to satisfy his competitive appetite. Caddieing, where he can get $300 to $500 a bag at certain clubs, is now his full-time profession. “You can convince yourself you’re almost there,” he says. “It comes down to confidence and belief, but it also comes down to a lot of things going your way. At my age, I didn’t want to keep waiting for things to break my way.”   

 An exodus is coming. “Compared to just three years ago, I feel like what guys expect to what they are finding has shifted,” Baldwin says. The Phoenix metro area was the fastest growing region in the United States during the past decade, according to the 2020 census. That growth has been amplified since the pandemic. Scottsdale is part of that population ascent. Its demographics are changing, too. According to Henley & Partner’s 2023 wealth report, Scottsdale ranked third on the fastest-growing cities for millionaires. Accordingly, the cost of living has skyrocketed. What used to be a cost-efficient community now runs 13 percent higher than the national average. Those already tight budgets of mini-tour players can stand only so much. The nationwide golf boom hasn’t helped, either. With many amateurs returning to the game or discovering it, the upshot means fewer and more expensive tee-times. “Just a few years ago, a lot of courses begged to hold a mini-tour event. It guaranteed 60, 80 spots at $50 a head,” Baldwin says. “Now, most courses want nothing to do with events.” 

Scottsdale has also become a new epicentre for bachelor parties, which is good for the local economy but not so much for players looking for a weekend tee-time or who are seeing their rentals increase because of Airbnb housing options. Even TPC Scottsdale, thanks to the WM Phoenix Open, draws so much tourist interest that the club has restricted access to areas that the professionals use. Some have left town, with many looking towards Las Vegas. Some players see the rising costs and shrinking playing opportunities as a sign it’s time to pack it in. “From afar,” Metzger says, “I’m sure people wonder why we can’t let go.”  

Heading into 2024, Metzger had only conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s aware he’s 10 years past the age when he thought he would hang it up, but Metzger thinks he has figured out how to make the pieces fit. 

“Once you’re in it, and the juices are flowing, it’s hard to kick,” Metzger says. “It’s the best feeling in the world. Everything starts making sense.” 

Photographs by Adam Riding

The post Down And Out In Scottsdale appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Among the attractions in Eslov, a small town in southern Sweden with a population of less than 20,000, are a toy museum, a handful of castles and several churches. There are 10 golf courses in the area, most notably the Barsebäck Resort. The golf season is short, too. Winters carry average temperatures in the minuses while summers barely get above 21 degrees. It begs the question: how on earth did Eslov produce Ludvig Åberg, a golfer with a technically perfect swing who is seemingly destined for greatness?

In January, Australian Golf Digest spent some time with Åberg during an adidas product launch for its Tour360 shoe. Despite having several weeks off in Europe, Åberg’s swing was as mesmerising as it had been during a whirlwind 2023. The Swede won on the DP World Tour while trying to earn a debut on the Ryder Cup’s European team before he had even played in a major. He also grabbed a maiden PGA Tour win in November.

On the range at Kapalua’s Bay course, the site of the adidas photoshoot, the 190-centimetre Åberg was hitting balls while cameras rolled. Everyone in proximity was working, sure, but they were taking mental notes for their own golf game: the way Åberg waggles away any tension at address; how his swing is compact, but smooth; the way he generates power yet remains balanced; his perfect swing plane. It was poetry in motion.

It helps that Åberg’s hand path – the distance the hands travel away from the ball during the backswing – is a whopping 70 inches. That’s 10 inches more than the PGA Tour average. It allows him more time, or a bigger runway, to both square the face and gather speed into the ball.

Åberg’s ball-striking is elite. That’s obvious. But four-time major winner and Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy, says there are more subtle tools in his arsenal. “Everyone talks about what a great driver of the golf ball he, and he is, but I was really impressed with his wedge play and how he can control his trajectory with the shorter clubs,” the Northern Irishman said. “I was on the bandwagon before, but I’m on the front of it now.”

The polish you see on 24-year-old Åberg is because of his upbringing in southern Sweden, not despite it. What seemed like obstacles in Eslov in truth were advantages. We’ll start with the shorter golf season.

Åberg was not coughing up precious developmental time to rising junior stars from the warm-weather countries like parts of Spain and US states such as Florida, California and Arizona. Rather, he was forced into splitting a perfect amount of time between working technically on his swing and competing when the sun was out.

“Our season was quite limited,” Åberg tells Australian Golf Digest. “We can’t play year-round because the snow creates challenges unless it’s [an uncharacteristically] warm year. It was a balance; you don’t want to get too far on one side; you want to have a good mix between competing and being technically sound. I’ve always liked the idea of playing a lot, because [it’s the closest thing to] competing. I like to [simulate competing] in my training and in my practice. There are situations that show up on the golf course that you can’t practise on the range.”

Åberg was first taken to Eslov Golf Club at age 8 by his dad, Johan, a 5-handicapper. At first, he wasn’t into golf. He worshipped soccer, or “football” as real fans call it. It’s hard for golf to compete with the world game, especially in a country that exported players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the megastar whose clubs include Inter Milan, Barcelona and AC Milan, and former Arsenal stalwart Freddie Ljungberg. Instead, Åberg Snr would bribe his son with ice cream in exchange for staying longer at the course.

“It’s true,” Åberg laughs. “My dad is an avid golfer. I didn’t quite enjoy it. At first, it was something I liked to do over the summers. But once the winter came, I’d just put my clubs in the closet and not touch them for a while. I loved playing football. That was my favourite thing to do up until I was 12 or 13. That’s when I first started playing more golf tournaments and spending more time on the course, training and practising. I thought, OK, this might be something I want to do for a living.”

Playing golf for a crust certainly became more appealing once Åberg started paying attention to the professional scene. His countryman, Henrik Stenson, was on Swedish TV mixing it with the world’s best. Åberg had certainly read about 10-time major winner Annika Sorenstam, and how she remains Sweden’s best golf export and arguably the greatest woman golfer of all time. But Sorenstam retired in 2008, before Åberg’s heart was truly in golf closer to 2011. The career of Stenson – the tall, swashbuckling golfer from Gothenburg – began to take off. That second wind came after a drought that almost ended his career when he battled the driver yips between 2009 and 2012. From 2012, Stenson won four PGA Tour events and four other European Tour titles, highlighted by a victory over Phil Mickelson at the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon in 2016.

“Henrik is the most successful golfer we’ve had on the men’s side and what he’s done for Swedish golf, and is still doing for Swedish golf, is really important,” Åberg says. “He helps a lot with junior tournaments and inspires us. He still inspires me.”

Åberg’s early fundamentals were installed by Eslov Golf Club’s head pro, Tomas Setterhill. The natural talent was obvious. “Ludvig was an easy kid,” Setterhill said years ago. “Some people just have it; they can hit the ball without being told. He didn’t have to be taught that position.”

Just like the contrasting seasons, hailing from a southern Swedish town with a population 19,600 also worked in Åberg’s favour; he stood out enough to be selected to attend Filbornaskolan, an elite sports boarding school in Helsingborg. He was in the same year group as future Solheim Cup players Maja Stark and Linn Grant.

At Filbornaskolan, about the age of 15, Åberg met his coach, Hans Larsson. “I would say he had really good basic fundamentals,” Larsson recalls. “My philosophy is to look at the golf ball, listen to the sound. Does the golf ball do what it needs to do? Always look at the ball flight first. You want a golf swing that can produce a ball flight without too much curve and that gives a good sound at contact. I like to coach players in all aspects that actually improve their score; [Ludvig] loved playing golf, but he didn’t really want to practise that much and he didn’t really like the gym. Over the years, he’s learned to develop those other areas.”

There was some practice, clearly. One doesn’t develop a swing so efficient without elite fundamentals, coaching, analysis and repetition with video. In fact, there was a lot of practice, mainly driven by the school. Student golfers at Filbornaskolan were up at 6:30am for breakfast, followed by school lessons, then 90 minutes of training. After lunch, more academic lessons were held before a six-kilometre cycle to the 54-hole Vasatorps Golf Club outside Helsingborg. Golfers would play and practise before cycling back to the school for homework and a 10pm bedtime.

“I was super fortunate that I joined a high school where we practised all year round and we would go on trips if there was cold weather,” Åberg says. “With the season being a little bit limited, we went indoors whenever it got cold. It gave us a lot of time to work on our swings technically. That’s why I think Swedes in general have very sound technique; we strike that balance. We’re well educated in our own golf games and swings. I’ve had a lot of support from the from the Swedish team, the Swedish Federation, and my coach.”

Clearly, the system worked. In 2017, aged 17, Åberg entered a European developmental tour event, the Landeryd Masters, as an amateur. He finished equal 30th. If that didn’t put him on the radar of US college coaches, his European Tour debut the next year did. Still an amateur, he finished T-34 at the Nordea Masters. The college offers came flooding in, and Åberg settled on Texas Tech University. While in college, he won the Ben Hogan Award as the best collegiate player in the US in 2022 and 2023. He finished at the top of the inaugural 2022-2023 PGA Tour University rankings to earn membership on the circuit. He turned pro in mid-June and debuted at the Canadian Open.

A FRENETIC FIVE MONTHS

Life came thick and fast for Åberg during the northern summer. Last August, Åberg began a furious charge as a captain’s pick for the European team at the Ryder Cup. He tied for fourth in the Czech Republic and then won the European Masters in the Swiss Alps. It was enough to earn a wildcard from European skipper Luke Donald. No golfer in the history of the Ryder Cup had made their Cup debut before their major-championship debut.

As laconic as he appears, Åberg admits the second half of 2023 was wild.

“Once I had turned professional, there was just so much going on,” he recalls. “But I was OK with everything; I tried to embrace it. It might sound so cliché, but all I tried to do was to have fun while I was playing golf and made sure that I really enjoyed it. I felt my last couple of years of Texas Tech really prepared me for everything. You play against a lot of good players, and you play tough courses every now and then.

“But it was also a huge step up. I’ve always known my capabilities; what I’m most proud of is that I’ve been able to transition into the pro circuit. I think I’ve handled it well. It was exciting; in December I finally flew back to Europe for a little bit. I was with my girlfriend in England and then I went home to Sweden. It was nice to come back and recharge a little bit.”

Aside from winning on both tours in his first five months out of college, Åberg was just the second golfer, after Sergio Garcia, to make a Ryder Cup team in the same year as turning pro. Åberg posted a 2-2-0 record from four matches while the European side won the Cup, 16½ to 11½. In the Saturday foursomes session, he and Viktor Hovland recorded a 9&7 victory over the pairing of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and reigning PGA champion Brooks Koepka. That set a new record for the largest winning margin in an 18-hole Ryder Cup match.

“They usually say, once you’ve played on a European team at the Ryder Cup you don’t want to miss it ever again,” Åberg says. “That’s so true. It’s such a different dynamic and there’s no tournament like it; you’re in a team room, playing on a team – and not against – all these great players you’ve looked up to. It was the first time I’d interacted with some of those guys. To do that and to create relationships was a really cool experience.”

Donald, the smooth-swinging Englishman who managed to ascend to world No.1 in his career despite being regularly bludgeoned by Tiger Woods, predicts big things of Åberg.

“I really do have a lot of faith and belief in Ludvig,” Donald says. “He is a generational player, he’s going to be around a long time and he’s going to do amazing things. If he wasn’t going to play this [Ryder Cup], he was going to play the next eight. That’s how good I think he is.”

Buoyed by a taste of the Ryder Cup, Åberg captured his first PGA Tour win in record fashion. At the RSM Classic on Sea Island, Georgia, Åberg equalled the 72-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour, matching the 253 of Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii. Over the closing rounds, Åberg’s 61-61 set the PGA Tour record for lowest closing 36 holes, one shot better than the number shared by Matt Jones at Kapalua in 2022 and Patrick Rodgers at Sea Island in 2019.

KEEPING HIS FRIENDS CLOSE

The population of Tallahassee, Florida, is exactly 10 times that of Eslov, Sweden. Yet the capital of Florida is still considered a small city, at least relative to the larger hubs of Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. It’s also where Åberg has chosen to set up shop; his fellow Swede and PGA Tour winner, Vincent Norrman, offered a room in his house to Åberg.

“Yeah, it’s definitely [different] to Sweden,” Åberg says with a laugh. “But I went to [Texas Tech] in Lubbock, Texas, which is also a little town. But it’s nice. Tallahassee for me, provides almost that same social network that I had in Lubbock, where the most important thing is to have people around who you know and who care about you. People you like to hang out with.

‘Vinny’ is one of my closest friends and he’s a tremendous golfer as well. I think we can learn a lot from each other. I know his girlfriend quite well, and we all stay in the same big house. It’s good fun. Vinny and I also travel a lot together. We play a lot of the same tournaments, and it makes things easier.”

From Tallahassee, Åberg will launch his bid to make 2024 even bigger than his breakout 2023 season. Although he finished outside the top 25 in his first two starts of the year, both in Hawaii, it seemed to be just rust after hanging up the clubs for Christmas.

Hopefully, that rest will count when it matters most. With the majors season starting next month at the Masters, all eyes will be on Åberg to see how his “generational” driving and ball-striking fare at Augusta National. And don’t forget the flighted wedges McIlroy loves about Åberg. Among the bizarre occurrences in golf over the past three years, Åberg winning on the PGA Tour and DP World and playing in a victorious Ryder Cup before teeing up in a major ranks high.

As a debutant, does he have the minerals to break the hoodoo of the Masters rookie? Not since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has a first-timer won at Augusta.

“I’m really excited,” Åberg says. “It’s one of those events I’ve watched growing up. I feel I know exactly what the holes are like during the Masters tournament itself. I actually have been to Augusta before; I’ve played it. In my freshman year of college, [the team] did a weekend trip with a couple of [Texas Tech University] donors. We got to spend a day at Augusta, we played the golf course, and we played the Par-3 course and just had the best time.

“It’s one of those tournaments where you feel the holes are so famous. And it is one of the events I’m most looking forward to this year. I can’t wait to get on the grounds [again]. What I love about [the Masters] is the history, the whole environment. To compete there will be really special.”

Åberg will also be attempting to become the first Swede to win the Masters, a curious hole in the nation’s résumé given it has produced male stars like Stenson, the only Swede to win a men’s major, as well as David Lingmerth, Robert Karlsson, Alex Norén, Jesper Parnevik, Carl Pettersson and Jonas Blixt. On his first appearance at Augusta in 2014, Blixt posted the best finish by a Swede with his tie for second behind Bubba Watson.

“I try to prepare for each event the best I can, and it might look a little different from a normal tour event to a major. I also know what I’m capable of. Hopefully, I’ll be able to compete and see where that takes me.”

A Masters green jacket would take him some places; certainly back to Eslov where it all began. 

THE SWEDEST SWING

Few players have amassed so much hype as quickly as Ludvig Åberg. To understand how Åberg’s minimalist technique launches such high, booming, laser-straight drives, you must understand a concept called hand path.

Dr Sasho Mackenzie is one of golf’s leading biomechanists and founder of the Stack training aid. He has studied power extensively in the golf swing. Basically, golfers generate power in a few different ways, but the most important of all these factors is hand-path length, which is the length your hands travel on the backswing.

Pros overall have a much longer hand path than amateur golfers. The average single-digit handicap has a hand-path length of about 50 inches or shorter. The average PGA Tour pro has a backswing hand-path length of more than 60 inches. And because tall players have longer arms, their hand path can stretch even longer, sometimes past 70 inches.

Åberg, who stands 191 centimetres (6-foot-3), benefits from this. The club itself doesn’t even reach parallel, which to the naked eye makes it seem like he’s not making a big swing. But that’s something of an optical illusion. Åberg’s tall frame and long arms means his hands are travelling a deceptively long distance. The same thing is true in fellow Ryder cup rookie bomber Nicolai Hojgaard’s golf swing.

At the very end of their backswing, tall golfers like Åberg and Hojgaard stretch their way back behind their head. Far past other players whose swings appear longer to the naked eye, based on the shaft. Shorter hitters have their hands finish more to the side of their body on the backswing.

A longer hand path allows your muscles to stretch before exerting on the backswing. Crucially, it also gives your hands, arms and club a long time to accelerate, and gather speed smoothly, without any need for jerkiness or forced acceleration. When your hands have completed the backswing, they effectively start the downswing from scratch, at 0mph. The more time they have to speed up, the more speed they’ll transfer into the golf ball.

It’s really no different than a plane accelerating down a long runway before taking off. If the runway was too short, the plane simply wouldn’t have enough time to reach top speed. It needs time to ramp up, just like your golf swing.

The further your hands travel on the backswing isn’t the only factor in distance, of course. Jon Rahm is perhaps the best counter-example: his hands travel a shorter distance than many of his peers, but he still boasts plenty of power through sheer brute force. The result for Åberg is a forceful action, somehow made to look simple and effortless. The kind of golf swing that defies belief, and one that we’ll be mesmerised by for years to come. –Luke Kerr-Dineen

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Butch Harmon shares lessons from an incomparable career

Editor’s note: Starting in 2001, Butch Harmon was voted by his peers No.1 on US Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America for more than two decades. In a sport obsessed with records, it’s hard to imagine that one ever being broken. Harmon’s historic run as a coach, from Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, proves his enduring influence. Here, we ask Harmon about his approach to teaching and the secrets of his success. – Peter Morrice 

There are two things you won’t hear in a lesson I’m giving – one from me, one from my student. First, I never say, “I think.” That’s like saying, “Hey, let’s see what this does.” No. My job is to be 100 percent sure of how I can make you better. The student’s job is to try, so the second thing you won’t hear is, “I can’t.” They might say it once, but we’re going to have a conversation. If I hear a tour player utter those words, I stop cold. When you have your name on your bag, you better believe you can do anything. Skill level aside, if the player is willing, we’re ready to go. 

I learned to teach at a time when we didn’t have any technology to analyse the swing or ball flight. We had our eyes – and the ball is the ultimate teacher. If you watch what the ball does, it tells you the clubface angle and the swing path at impact, and those are the biggest things. I see teachers today who rely on technology way too much, looking at all the data more than the student or the actual swing. We’re teaching people, not robots. Find me something that works better than my own eyes, and I’ll change my tune.  

In August 1993, Earl Woods brought Tiger to see me for the first time. He was 17, skinny as a rail, but he could unwind his body on the downswing faster than anybody I ever saw, except maybe Ben Hogan. His swing was pretty loose, and a lot needed to be cleaned up, but with that speed, I knew he’d be able to do things other players couldn’t do. Tiger had incredible natural gifts, and it turned out his work ethic was beyond belief. How do you beat that? Nobody could’ve guessed who Tiger would become, but I saw the makings of it from the very first day. 

As a young teacher working for my dad at Winged Foot, we had a member who would come up from New York once a week for a lesson. One time, he had the shanks. I thought he needed to close the clubface more at impact, so I spent 30 minutes trying everything I could to get him to shut the face. He shanked every ball. I finally went to my father and asked for help. He said, “Ah, Butchie’s got a shanker. I can see what you’re doing over there, but he’s closing the face too much – that’s why he’s shanking. You’re making it worse.” Dad came over and gave him a drill, and he hit the first one right out of the middle of the face. My lesson: it’s important to know what you don’t know. I never forgot that.

The two biggest mistakes I see from average golfers are not taking enough club on approach shots and using too much loft around the greens. When’s the last time you saw a 90s-shooter hit a solid shot that carried past the hole? It almost never happens. Figure out what you want to hit, then add one more. For greenside shots, most amateurs just grab their sand or lob wedge without looking at the lie, hole location, nothing. If you’re  Phil Mickelson, have at it with your  60-degree, but I chip with everything
up to a 7-iron. You should, too. 

One misconception I constantly have to talk players out of is keeping their head still. Last time I checked, the head is attached to the shoulders and upper body, and they move quite a bit during the swing. Locking the head restricts motion and speed. Let your head move back freely as you swing to the top, and then follow the ball out with your eyes. You’ll swing faster and hit the ball further. Isn’t that what you want more than anything? 

A lot of golfers have favourite old clubs in their bags, usually a putter or a wedge. Putters I’m OK with, but not old wedges. The grooves get worn out, and they don’t perform the way they were designed to. Tour players have wedges they practise with and a second set with the same specs that they use in competition. Even the gamers are switched out a lot more often than you might think, like every few weeks. But if you have a putter you love, don’t mess with it. 

My first tour player was Steve Elkington, in 1986. Elk had a beautiful, flowing swing, the envy of the tour. When I worked with him, I remember having my father’s voice in my head: “Take what a player does well and make it better.” In other words, don’t try to fix what isn’t broken. I was lucky to start with Elk because there was a lot to love in his swing, and I treaded carefully. He introduced me to Greg Norman, who was my first big star, and my career took off. I’ve been very fortunate to get the players I did. A lot of guys came to me because of who they saw me with on the range. 

What’s the one club every golfer needs to add to the bag? A high-lofted fairway wood. They’re so easy to hit and so versatile. You look down and see all that loft on the clubface, and it just gives you confidence. If you think they’re only for bad players, you might want to tell Dustin Johnson, who carries  a 7-wood – and a 9-wood! The 7-wood is my favourite club. If you want to hit a lot more greens, get one. 

Before you go to the first tee, do two things. Hit a handful of bunker shots, then stroke some putts on the practice green from one end to the other. Why? Because on the first hole, you’re going to either miss the green in a bunker or have a 50-footer. I’m not trying to be negative. Golfers can’t believe the situations they get themselves into, but they probably did the same thing last week. Give yourself a chance to be successful by practising things you’re not good at. That’s one of the big differences between you and the pros: you practise what you like; they practise what they need. 

Here’s how to get your tee shots out there another 20 yards: move up another set of tees. Ego is the biggest killer in the game. Each of us can only hit the ball so far. The answer is hitting it out of the middle of the face and swinging at a speed you can control. I like to joke that most golfers swing as hard as they can in case they hit the ball. Make the most out of the speed you can handle, and if you’re still not reaching the par 4s, go up to the next tee. 

People ask me, what’s my secret to teaching. All I can say is, I’m a very positive person, and I think that comes across. If you want to get better and you’re willing to work at it, I’m your guy. I know the Xs and Os, but so do a lot of teachers. I know I can quickly diagnose what’s going on in your swing, but more importantly, I will convince you to come along with me. I like helping people, having fun with people, seeing that moment when something clicks. This game is all I know, hooks and slices. If they made golf illegal, I’d be in trouble. 

Photographs by Sam Kweskin

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There is a changing face of our sport that’s seeing growth in traditional on-course golf being fuelled through the popularity of off-course alternatives – driving ranges, indoor golf and mini-golf. We take a closer look at the facilities responsible for golf’s newfound popularity.

The complexion of golf in Australia continues to evolve. Much like our cosmopolitan society, today there isn’t one ‘look’ to our sport. Diversity reigns, with innovative and exciting ways to interact with the game emerging all the time. Where once upon a time all golf took place on familiar terrain, in 2024 you can play on pitch-and-putt courses, ingenious short-course designs, Himalayas putting greens, indoor practice facilities, plus state-of-the-art simulators – both at home and in public venues. The list goes on.

The mixed appearance is clearly having an impact. Our national body, Golf Australia, proudly announced during the week of the Australian Open participation figures that showcase the impact of offering various formats. Golf here is celebrating a fourth consecutive year of participation growth, with 17.6 percent of adult Australians hitting a golf ball in 2022-2023. The latest annual participation report revealed 3.5 million adult Australians played golf in that 12-month period – at golf courses, driving ranges, simulators or mini-golf facilities.

The report also revealed that 2.2 million Australians played on a golf course at least once in 2022-2023, with half of those playing at least one form of alternative golf – either on the driving range, on a simulator or on a mini-golf course. A further 1.3 million people only played off-course.

Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland said golf continues to surge in popularity both on and off the course.

“Golf is clearly one of Australia’s biggest participation sports,” Sutherland said. “It has always been big, and it is getting bigger. The 10-percent increase in golf club membership over recent years is one thing, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Australians flocking to the game. There is a changing face of our sport that sees growth in traditional on-course golf being fuelled through the popularity of off-course golf – driving ranges, indoor golf and mini-golf.”

More than a million ‘golfers’ who don’t play the game on a conventional golf course is substantial evidence of the “changing face” Sutherland speaks of, and that we recognise. There’s every reason to believe that figure will rise in time – especially considering the growth in the number of off-course golf options now available. After all, many indoor and simulator facilities offer 24-hour access, meaning you can ‘play’ 18 holes at an array of courses across the world during the dead of night. What’s more evolutionary than that?

With that in mind, we highlight a selection of Australian facilities changing the face of the game here.

Morack makeover set to be a big hit

The much-anticipated unveiling of Morack Public Golf [above] stands as a testament to the evolving landscape of golf in Australia and New Zealand.

This $15 million state-of-the-art modern golf facility – a joint venture between Whitehorse Council and golf entertainment brand Swing Factory – redefines the concept of public golf, blending cutting-edge technology, modern design and a commitment to providing an unparalleled experience for golfers and non-golfers of any age, gender or ability.

Featuring 28 bays, including eight premium lounge bays and Swing Factory’s signature MEGA bay, Morack Public Golf is equipped with the globally acclaimed Toptracer Range technology, ensuring golf enthusiasts from beginners to seasoned players can enhance their skills with precision and data-driven insights.

The joint-partnership reflects a shared commitment to fostering a vibrant golf community and contributing to the increased demand for local sporting infrastructure. Erich Weber, managing director of Swing Factory, emphasises the brand’s progressive vision.

“We have been working on the Swing Factory concept for more than three years and it’s exciting to see Morack Public Golf open and people getting to experience what the brand is all about,” Weber said. “Swing Factory is committed to catering to the modern golfer, providing a space that not only improves their game but also entertains the entire family and – importantly – welcomes new players and demographics to the sport of golf.”

Beyond the cutting-edge technology, Morack Public Golf boasts a full-service hospitality offering, adding a social element to the golf experience. The modern clubhouse, designed by the renowned architectural firm Centrum, enhances the overall aesthetic appeal and functionality of the facility.

Adding to the allure, Morack Public Golf features an 18-hole, state-of-the-art mini-golf course designed by Richard Chamberlain, which is set to open in early February. This innovative addition further positions Morack Public Golf as a ‘entertainment destination’ for the entire community. The existing 18-hole golf course has already undergone some renovation with more planned over the coming 12 to 18 months.

This marks the first of two Swing Factory facilities set to open in early 2024, with the business investing more than $6 million into the renovation of the iconic Golf Paradise in the northern Sydney suburb of Terrey Hills. Spread across 7.2 hectares, upon completion Swing Factory Terrey Hills will boast 58 bays, all equipped with Toptracer Range, and an architecturally designed mini-golf course, as well as an extensive food and beverage offering.

“This expansion reinforces our commitment to help shape the future of golf entertainment across the country,” Weber says. “Swing Factory has emerged as a leader in the new age of golf entertainment, dedicating more than three years to build a brand that caters to the evolving needs of the modern golfer. We look forward to unveiling more locations and continue to set a high standard for the integration of technology, design and golf entertainment in Australia.”

Turning dead space into five holes of fun

Latrobe Golf Club in Melbourne’s eastern reaches is a course that has successfully embraced the philosophy of ‘less is more’.

The club has received rave reviews since the introduction of its dynamic five-hole short course [above] that loops around a triangular-shaped dam – one of the club’s primary water storages. The bold decision to venture beyond the traditional 18-hole layout has proven immensely successful, resulting in increased membership, heightened engagement among junior and senior golfers, and a substantial boost in corporate golf revenue.

Aptly named ‘The Island’, this clever use of dead space officially opened its fairways for play a little more than two years ago and removes everything that has, historically, turned people away from the game. The club’s vision for a short course offering began in 2013 when it collaborated with Yarra Bend public golf course to support junior golfers with a makeshift short course. Fast forward to 2016, and a workshop unveiled plans for a more formal short course on a prime piece of land framed by the Yarra River.

Championing the initiative were long-time club professional Tony Craswell, along with former board members Rosalie Flynn and Linda Nguyen. Craswell emphasised the all-encompassing success of the five-hole course, a layout he says was designed to cater to players of varying skill levels, genders and ages.

“The five-hole course, to me, just nailed everything,” Craswell says. “It takes care of time, creating a facility that is welcoming, non-intimidating and is skill-appropriate for people beginning the game. You imagine women, all-abilities [golfers] and juniors just being able to drive through all the stress of what a private golf club is, to their own little carpark, jump out and just be able to play golf at their own pace.”

He’s not wrong. The Island’s design encourages a quick yet fulfilling playing experience, with most greens reachable using a wedge, except for the challenging fifth hole that demands a mid to short iron. The tees and greens showcase top-tier quality with Santa Ana couch for tees and fairways, and Pure Distinction on the greens – a grass highly acclaimed on the Melbourne Sandbelt.

“What I love about The Island at Latrobe is, whilst the focus has been getting new people into the game, it’s equally important to remember those on the way out and who are no longer able to play 18 or 9 holes,” says Golf Barons host Philip Wall.

“Just as The Island can be a golf kindergarten, it can also be a retirement village. Keeping people playing golf for as long as possible, irrespective of performance, helps nurture better health, friendships and communities, something I know my own father would have loved. Latrobe is a club that’s actually taking the ‘Grow the game’ mantra well beyond a marketing hashtag.”

Clever ways to target youth

In an effort to infuse youthfulness into the oft-perceived serious realm of golf, Black Bull Golf Club in the Murray River town of Yarrawonga is strategically leveraging social media connections to help it sell the sport. Through the vibrant presence of social media influencers Jackson Brazier and Joel Naburgs, the dynamic content-creating duo known as ‘Aussie Golf Lads’, Black Bull is trying to inject more fun and excitement into golf and show today’s younger demographic that it’s OK to not take yourself too seriously on the links.

Using Naburgs’ social media expertise and Brazier’s experience as a solo music artist, they quickly amassed a significant following across multiple social media platforms, accumulating millions of views with their humorous takes on the many on-course predicaments golfers find themselves in, all while trying to master it themselves.

Mentored by Black Bull Golf Club’s director of golf James McCully, the pair aim to evolve beyond content creation, aspiring to build a golf community. And their influence already appears to be rubbing off – they’ve inspired McCully to turn to social media to provide his own insightful tips for struggling golfers, all while putting Black Bull Golf Club further in the spotlight.

Just a few minutes away, Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort continues to leverage on a winning formula of its own – a 66-seat movie cinema that’s brought more people to its fairways than any discount green fee promotion ever could. But this is no ordinary regional cinema. This big screen boasts reclining leather seats and regular new-release screenings in one of Australia’s most iconic tourism hot spots.

“We like to think of ourselves as bringing the gold-class cinema experience to the bush,” says the club’s digital marketing manager Rod Alexander, formally of Melbourne. “I couldn’t believe just how impressive this resort was when I first arrived. Having 45 holes and bowling greens was one thing, but when I saw the club’s very own cinema for the first time, I knew I wasn’t joining your average golf facility.”

Alexander says the cinema had, inadvertently, introduced countless visitors to its fairways and familiarised them with the club. “Moviegoers look out the windows when they’re here and see fairways and greens and naturally want to go play golf,” Alexander says.

So popular have been the pictures, a neighbouring club down the river has built one of their own. “Our cinema staff must hate us during the school holidays,” Alexander jokes. “This place is swarming with kids and our popcorn machine gets a big workout.”

A popcorn shortage… it’s a problem most clubs have probably never thought about but would love to have.

Glenelg attracts more than just golfers

Monina Gilbey is not a golfer. In fact, she laughs as she tells people that she is “actually not interested in playing golf”.

Instead, she has been drawn to the game by the beautiful garden beds, the singing birds, the frogs in the ponds and all the other natural wonders that can be found living within the green space of Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide.

“Golf was never on my radar,” Gilbey says. “I’d known [Glenelg course superintendent] Tim Warren for years through my garden design stuff. I was between jobs, and he rang me one day and offered me this job at Glenelg Golf Club and I was like, ‘Why would I want to work at a golf course?’

“He said, ‘You never know. You might enjoy it. Just see what happens.’ And I love it. It’s a great place to work.”

Her passion is clearly reflected in the quality of her work. Gilbey and her Glenelg colleagues recently took out the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association’s (ASTMA) Claude Crockford Sustainability & Environmental Award. Such awards are nothing new to Gilbey as she claimed many during her days making public gardens, schools, coastal areas and other spaces more sustainable, but a significant difference in her move to golf has been navigating the male-dominated landscape. She is one of two women on Glenelg’s team, while the ASTMA figures show that only 1.4 percent of the workforce are female. Gilbey is not intimidated by those numbers, although she is very eager to have more female colleagues.

“I’m hoping that this encourages more women to pursue working in golf,” she said.

“I don’t think women really think about it, and I guess you can’t be what you can’t see. You don’t really see photos of female greenkeepers or see them on the golf course or meet them. In my job, which is even more specialised on the biodiversity and vegetation side of it, you don’t even know those things exist.

“I get to work in 49 hectares of land every day, which is fantastic, and I think people don’t realise how great an environment it is to be in. They don’t really realise what’s there.”  – Dane Heverin

Making the most of your location

Another sign of the changing times golf finds itself in is that golf destinations needn’t focus solely on their golf course offerings to attract new crowds. Take Sanctuary Cove Resort on the Gold Coast, for example. Here’s a place with not one but two outstanding golf courses – including Arnold Palmer’s only Australian design – yet its popularity continues to soar on the back of its world-class off-course offerings.

This waterside precinct provides an array of activities, making it an ideal destination. You can indulge in exquisite dining at waterfront restaurants, rejuvenate at the on-site spa, or explore the vibrant marine village for boutique shopping. Accommodation ranges from opulent suites to private villas, ensuring a comfortable and stylish stay. The marketing slogan says it all: “Some stay for the weekend. Some stay forever.”

The resort’s commitment to providing a holistic experience makes it the perfect destination, promising not just an exceptional golf retreat but a luxurious and diverse getaway for all.

The same can be said for a high-profile neighbouring course. At Links Golf & Wellbeing (formerly Links Hope Island), management are looking to engage and embrace an even wider demographic than has previously been the case. It’s why their focus has shifted to a greater emphasis on wellness, lifestyle and leisure, while all the time embodying the concept of ‘casual-elegance’.

“What sets Links Golf & Wellbeing apart is its holistic and modern approach to wellness,” says the facility’s marketing executive Tegan Deas. “With a world-class, links-style golf course, a café, restaurant and bar, a dedicated yoga space, a vast array of event and conference facilities, a serene hair beauty day spa and now a well-appointed art gallery, Links Golf & Wellbeing offers an unparalleled experience for its members and visitors alike.”

While Links Golf & Wellbeing has established its reputation as an outstanding golf facility capable of hosting events such as the 1997 Johnnie Walker Classic won by Ernie Els, management recognises the needs of the new generation and is committed to promoting a healthy lifestyle to complement its fine golf layout. With this in mind, Links Golf & Wellbeing introduced a membership category designed specifically for Next Generation golfers, aged 18 to 29, with a reduced joining fee, and see this as an excellent way to encourage young adults into membership of a golf club.

In addition, to take advantage of its position as a premier golf resort, Links Golf & Wellbeing recently launched the Links Autumn Classic, an event destined to become a mainstay of competitive golf in the region. This event offers 54 holes of competitive golf over three consecutive days in a single Stableford format. The event takes place from April 17-19 and promises to be a popular addition to the Gold Coast golf calendar after a difficult period of inclement weather to start the new year.

Art exhibitions are a proven means for artists showcasing their talents. However, traditional exhibition spaces are often perceived as being too formal or intimidating for some. To address this issue, Art Lovers Australia and Links Golf & Wellbeing have teamed up to create a distinctive collaboration. The clubhouse has a designated gallery area where various art exhibitions will be displayed throughout the year.

To celebrate this collaboration, Links Golf & Wellbeing is offering a 10-percent discount on all art on the Art Lover’s Australia website. Use the discount code GOLF at the checkout to avail.

“Being open to the changing needs of members and visitors alike has been a hallmark of Links Golf & Wellbeing’s success to date,” Deas adds. “The introduction of the new and innovative activities and facilities will ensure its reputation as one of the most popular golf and leisure resorts in the country is not only maintained but enhanced further.”

From scenic golf resort to bustling Olympic village

If you think Kooralbyn Valley Resort’s appeal begins and ends with golfers travelling to the Gold Coast Hinterland, think again. The sprawling 800-acre retreat, nestled in the heart of the tranquil Scenic Rim, has long transcended the ordinary to become an all-encompassing haven for relaxation, exploration, and play. Beyond its championship golf course – home to the likes of Adam Scott and Jason Day in their younger days – visitors have been able to revel in complimentary lawn bowls, mini-golf, tennis and an array of activities spanning the skies to the water’s edge.

It’s that last part, however, that earmarked this world-class facility to be transformed into a satellite village for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. Kooralbyn Valley has been officially signed up as the Olympic village for the water sports at Lake Wyaralong – a nearby venue for the Games’ rowing and canoeing events at both the 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Kooralbyn Valley resort owner Peter Huang said his facility was the ideal accommodation nearest the dam, suitable for “international champions”.

“The resort has been reserved for athletes for a few months in preparation of the events,” he told the Jimboomba Times.

It won’t be the last time a golf resort of this nature is utilised for such a prestigious event and continues a trend of elite sporting codes turning to golf resorts in times of need. At the height of the COVID pandemic, several NRL and AFL teams were forced into non-contact team ‘bubbles’ in order to complete their respective seasons.

Membership with added incentives

For a snapshot on how far golf has come – or perhaps how creative clubs are getting with their value-adds – one only needs to look at today’s wide range of membership offerings. Gone are the days where your hard-earned only bought you access to the golf course on certain days of the week or a $100 bar tab if you were lucky. Now, it’s all about catering for the entire family, or those whose disposable income isn’t enough to justify a golf membership without added extras.

One such club taking the bells-and-whistles approach to its membership program is Hidden Valley Resort, 65 kilometres north of Melbourne and even closer to Tullamarine Airport. Known by many for its stunning Craig Parry design and unique island-green finishing hole, Hidden Valley doesn’t just offer all its members discounted food and beverages. They also enjoy use of the resort’s 20-metre indoor heated pool, 10-percent discounts on swimming lessons with Hidden Valley Swim School, access to a fully equipped gym with discounted personal training, tennis, pickleball and bowls activities, plus further discounts on golf-cart hire and driving range balls. It seems more expensive not to join, right?

The same thinking can be applied to the very progressive Curlewis Golf Club on Victoria’s beautiful Bellarine Peninsula. Apart from transforming its course into a Top 100-ranked layout, its owners also invested heavily in other areas to make it arguably one of the most complete golf facilities in the country. Among the add-ons, a state-of-the-art driving range fully kitted out with Toptracer Range technology, a two-tiered mini-golf course that welcomes golfers of all ages and abilities to navigate water, rocks and tunnels, even X-Golf simulators with dedicated kiosks serving up virtual reality gaming, food and beverages, competitions, golf lessons and social events. On top of this, the club can now lay claim to having its own award-winning, on-site accommodation with several eco-suites nestled amid the property’s indigenous native landscape, sleeping up to 120 people.

Weddings, corporate functions, kids’ parties – you name, they do it all at Curlewis. This is golf in 2024. 

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