Golf Industry Central Spring 2014 | Page 23

better and faster ways of communicating. Hart’s vision is that the ruling body, New Zealand Golf, have a direct line of communication with golf clubs rather than going through district associations. “He was only supposed to speak for 30 minutes and went on for an hour,” Topp said. Finally, Australian Peter Davidson spoke about management under pressure. “He spoke about growing up in Northland in a very simple Maori background. There was no power, no water and 12 kids. Davidson told the story of one of the worst marine disasters in Australia’s history. It was during the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Currently, the line of communication is from NZ Golf to district associations and then to clubs. “When he finished school he wanted to try out the ‘big smoke’ and came to Auckland. “That means the 15 district associations will be out on a limb and will be responsible for tournament golf and that type of thing,” Topp said. “It is a radical approach, but it has been talked about before.” “He went from there to playing for the All Blacks to his business life. He owns a supermarket, but he has also returned to his roots.” Guest speaker and former All Black Eric Rush had delegates spellbound as he relayed his story from childhood to playing for his country and going into business. A sought-after speaker, Rush motivates and inspires his audiences as he parallels his thoughts on coaching for excellence with examples from business and sport. I would like to thank you and your organising team for giving us a very enthusiastic, provocative and enlightening conference. My team and I all took some great information and ideas away from it. It was also good talkin